William Roberts (born 1859) was a Welsh

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 ...

in the 1870s and 1880s and made six appearances for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, scoring twice.

Football career

Roberts was born in

Llangollen Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beau ...

in north-east Wales and started his football career at his local club. His international debut came when he was selected in place of his Llangollen colleague, Jack Roberts, for the first international match between

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 18 January 1879. Roberts was one of only two of the Welsh team who were not associated with the

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

club, the other being John Price. The match was played at the

Kennington Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since it ...

and was shortened to two halves of only 30 minutes each because of the heavy snowfall. Roberts, playing at

outside-left 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 ...

, "scored" against England, but the goal was ruled out for an earlier infringement; England won the match 2–1. Roberts became a regular in the Welsh side, missing only one match over the next two years. In the match against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 27 March 1880, Roberts scored a late consolation goal in a 5–1 defeat. Roberts was described in the match report as "conspicuous throughout for his clever play" and received "loud applause" for his goal. This was the first Welsh goal scored in an international against Scotland. He had a brief foray into professional football, playing for English clubs

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

and

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

in 1880 and 1881, before returning to his hometown with Berwyn Rangers.

International appearances

Roberts made six appearances for Wales in official international matches, as follows:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, William 1859 births People from Llangollen Footballers from Denbighshire Year of death missing Welsh men's footballers Men's association football forwards Wales men's international footballers Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Berwyn Rangers F.C. players Llangollen F.C. players