William Dyer (footballer)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

William Llewellyn Dyer (11 September 1883 – 1936) was an English businessman and a professional footballer who played as a
striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...
for Athletic Club. He was one of the first pioneers of
football in the Basque Country Association football has been a part of Basque Country culture since the end of the 19th century. As of 2021, three Basque teams play in La Liga, the top division of the Spanish football system: Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Deportivo Alav ...
, standing out as a great striker for some of the earliest Basque clubs in existence such as Bilbao FC,
Club Bizcaya Bizcaya, also known as Bizcaya FC or Club Bizcaya (Vizcaya in Spanish) was an association football representative team from Bilbao, Spain, which participated in the 1902 Copa de la Coronación and the 1907 Copa del Rey, winning the former. In th ...
, and Athletic Club, winning three back-to-back Spanish Cups with the latter two between 1902 and
1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...
, and being the joint top scorer in the
1902 Copa de la Coronación The 1902 Copa de la Coronación was a football competition in honour of the coronation of Alfonso XIII of Spain. The Royal Spanish Football Federation does not recognize it as the first season of the Copa del Rey, which began the following year. ...
with 5 goals. In addition to being an outstanding football player, a sport to which he owes his career, he was also an outstanding
athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...
who also performed in other modalities such as sailing,
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
, tennis, and boxing, among other sports of the British bourgeoisie. His business with his shipments of iron and coal was going very well.


Playing career


Early years

Dyer was born in
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
on 11 September 1883. He arrived in Bilbao at the hands of his father, Sidney, who devoted himself to the mineral purchase business. After the death of his father, who had been Britain's honorary consul in Bilbao, he took over the family business while becoming involved in the town's affairs. Dyer became interested in
bullfighting Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms wh ...
and participated in the creation of the ''Cocherito de Bilbao club'', in honor of the local bullfighter Cástor Jaureguibeitia Ibarra. In 1901, together with fellow Englishmen George Langford,
George Cockram George Peterson Cockram, sometimes referred to as George Cochran (21 August 1870 – 25 April 1929), was a Scottish football pioneer who played for some of the first Catalan and Basque clubs in history, most notably Athletic Club (now known as A ...
and Walter Evans, he was one of the young English workers and residents in Bilbao who joined the recently established Bilbao Football Club.


Bilbao Football Club

At the end of 1901, the two most important clubs in the city were Bilbao FC and Athletic Club, so a rivalry soon arose between them, and they played several
friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...
at the Hippodrome of Lamiako. Dyer was a key element in this historic rivalry that served as one of the drivers of football as a mass phenomenon in Bilbao, since their duels aroused great expectation. On 19 January 1902, in the match that went down in history as the first paid match held in Biscay since they charged a ticket price of 30 cents of a peseta, Dyer scored a consolation goal in a 2–4 loss.


Club Bizcaya

The two rivals agreed to join the best players of each club to play two games against the Bordeaux-based side Burdigala. This temporary merge became known as
Club Bizcaya Bizcaya, also known as Bizcaya FC or Club Bizcaya (Vizcaya in Spanish) was an association football representative team from Bilbao, Spain, which participated in the 1902 Copa de la Coronación and the 1907 Copa del Rey, winning the former. In th ...
, and Dyer ousted Athletic's forwards for a spot in the first-ever line-up of the Bizcaya team against Burdigala on 9 March, helping his side to a 0–2 win in France, the first time a Bilbao team played on foreign territory. Three weeks later, on 31 March 1902, he was again in Bizcaya's starting XI for the return fixture at home, the first visit by a foreign team to Bilbao, and he netted four goals to help his side to a 7–0 win over the French side. Together with Juan Astorquia,
Armand Cazeaux Armand Cazeaux was a French footballer who played as a forward for Athletic Club. Although little has been recorded of his life, he was one of the most important footballers in the amateur beginnings of Athletic Club, netting a goal in both the ...
and fellow Englishman Walter Evans, Dyer was part of the Club Bizcaya that participated in the
1902 Copa de la Coronacion Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * 19 (film), ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * Nineteen (film), ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 sci ...
, the first national championship disputed in Spain and the forerunner for the Copa del Rey. In the quarter-finals on 13 May, he scored against Club Espanyol (now RCD Espanyol) to help his side to a 5–1, doing it from the penalty spot, in what was perhaps the first-ever competitive penalty taken in Spain. On the following day, Dyer netted a poker in the semi-finals against New Foot-Ball Club in an 8–1 win, thus helping Athletic reach the final, in which he started in a 2–1 win over FC Barcelona. These five goals earned him the top spot in the top scorers of the tournament alongside his teammate Walter Evans, who also scored five goals for Athletic.


Athletic Club

In 1903, Bilbao FC collapsed and its remaining members were officially absorbed by Athletic Club. Dyer played four competitive matches for Athletic between 1902 and 1905, in which he scored five goals (Athletic Bilbao counts the matches played by Club Vizcaya as its own). He was part of the team that won the
1904 Copa del Rey The Copa del Rey 1904 was the second staging of the Copa del Rey, the Spanish football cup competition. The competition was played in 1904 in Madrid. It was notable for its chaotic development and the fact that Athletic Bilbao won the trophy wit ...
, which Athletic won without playing a single match since their opponents failed to turn up. Together with
Alejandro de la Sota Alejandro de la Sota may refer to: * Alejandro de la Sota (footballer) (1881-unknown), Spanish former footballer, co-founder and president of Athletic Bilbao * Alejandro de la Sota (architect) Alejandro de la Sota Martínez (October 20, 1913 - ...
and Hermenegildo García, he was part of the team that reached the
1905 Copa del Rey Final The 1905 Copa del Rey Final was the third final of the Copa del Rey, the Spain, Spanish Association football, football cup competition. The match took place on 18 April 1905 at the Estadio del Hipódromo, Hipódromo, Madrid. The match was contested ...
, starting in a 0–1 loss to Madrid FC (now
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
), courtesy of a goal from Manuel Prast.


Death

Shortly after the start of the Spanish Civil War, William Dyer died in San Juan de Luz, in 1936, at the age of 53. William had at least one son, Patrick (born in 1916), who was responsible for the English espionage service MI-16 in the Biscayan capital during World War II, controlling the port movement of the Germans and collaborating with the Basque nationalist groups after the fall of Bilbao.


Honours

''Club Bizcaya'' * Copa de la Coronación: **Winners (1):
1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's f ...
''Athletic Club'' * Copa del Rey: **Winners (1):
1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...
**Runner-up (1):
1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyer, William 1883 births 1936 deaths English footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Association football forwards English expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain English expatriate footballers