William Clarke (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1897–1900), also known as Billy Clark, was a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who made 35 appearances in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for Lincoln City in the late 1890s. Before joining Lincoln, he spent a season with

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, a predecessor of the modern

Aberdeen F.C. Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They compete in the Scottish Premiership and have never been relegated from the top division of the Scottish football league system since they were ...

He played mainly as an inside left.

Career

During the 1897–98 Scottish season, Clarke (who was then referred to as Billy Clark) scored 4 goals from 8 appearances for

in the

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

. He signed for English

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club Lincoln City in July 1898. Upon his move to Lincoln he was described as "playing a grand game when in the humour" by Aberdeen's ''Bon-Accord'' newspaper. Clarke was signed to play as an outside left and it was noted that he could also play as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

and at inside left. According to the '' Lincolnshire Echo'', "a considerable sum was paid for his transfer." Clarke was a regular in Lincoln's team in his first season, appearing in 30 of the 34

matches. He began at outside left, with George Fern inside him, but after five matches the two changed places. He was ever-present in the side until a match against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

at Hyde Road in February 1899: with the scores level at half-time, Lincoln's defence held out for much of the second half, but the hosts scored twice late on, provoking "a degree of unpleasantness, which led to Clarke fouling an opponent badly and being ordered off the field." During April, he played four times in the

half-back line In the sport of Australian rules football, the half-back line refers to the positions of the 3 players on the field that occupy the centre half-back and left and right half-back flank positions. Centre half-back The role of the centre half-back ...

. He appeared infrequently in the first half of the 1899–1900 season, and had taken his totals to 7 goals from 35 league appearances by January 1900, when Lincoln cancelled his contract and paid his train fare back to the Scottish borders where he had been working over the summer. The ''Echo'' described him as a "rather erratic forward" who "could play when he liked, but the trouble was that he so rarely liked".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, William 19th-century births Year of death missing Place of birth missing Men's association football inside forwards Aberdeen F.C. (1881) players Lincoln City F.C. players English Football League players Place of death missing British men's footballers