William Grassam (20 November 1878 – 1943) was a Scottish

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 played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Career

Grassam played for Scottish Junior Football Association sides Redcliffe Thistle and Maryhill before joining English side

Burslem Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

in July 1899. He scored three goals in the opening five Second Division fixtures of the 1899–1900 campaign, and finished the season with ten goals in 41 games. In the summer of 1900 he moved on to West Ham United of the Southern League. On 1 September 1900, he became the first West Ham player to score a hat-trick, when he scored four goals on his debut against Gravesend United. The club finished sixth in 1900–01. He finished as the club's joint-top scorer (with George Ratcliffe) in 1901–02 with 10 goals. After West Ham finished tenth in

1902–03 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), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, Grassam returned to Scotland with

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

. In September 1903, he went back to England to join

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and scored 11 goals in 23 games in his first season with the club, becoming joint-top scorer in the league (with Billy Griffiths and

Tommy Arkesden Thomas Arthur Arkesden (July 1878 – 25 June 1951) was an English footballer who played as a forward. Born in Warwick, Arkesden played for Burton Wanderers, Derby County, and Burton United, before joining Manchester United for £150 on 2 Febru ...

). However, he fell out of favour the following season, contributing just two goals in six league games, before moving on to Leyton in July 1905. He rejoined West Ham later that year, where he built up a solid partnership with

Harry Stapley Henry Stapley (29 April 1883 – 29 April 1937) was an English amateur footballer who played for West Ham United and Glossop. Internationally, he played for the England amateur team and competed for Great Britain at the 1908 Summer Olympics, wh ...

. The Boleyn Ground outfit finished 11th in

1905–06 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), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, 5th in

1906–07 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), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, 10th in 1907–08, 17th in 1908–09, and 9th in 1909–10. Having lost his first-team place to Danny Shea, Grassam moved on to league rivals

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in 1910. He was the second-highest goal scorer of the period for the "Hammers" behind Shea, before the club joined the Football League in 1919.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grassam, Billy 1878 births 1943 deaths People from Larbert Footballers from Falkirk (council area) Scottish men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Maryhill F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Leyton F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players English Football League players Southern Football League players