William H. Wilkinson was a

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 29 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 ...

playing for Rotherham Town and Lincoln City in the 1890s. A

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, he also played

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

for South Shore,

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

and Gravesend United.

Football career

Wilkinson was the regular reserve-team goalkeeper for Rotherham Town during the 1894–95 season, but did make his debut in

for the club during that campaign. He was retained for the following season, as backup for

Arthur Wharton Arthur Wharton (28 October 1865 – 12 December 1930) is widely considered to be the first black professional footballer in the world. Though not the first black player outright – the amateurs Robert Walker, of Queen's Park, and Scotland inte ...

, and was in goal for the club's record league defeat, 10–1 away to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in the

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 ...

in February 1896. The ''Liverpool Mercury'' reported that in the latter part of the match, already nine goals to the bad, "Wilkinson, whose play hitherto had been of a very wishy-washy character, was cheered for several fine clearances". He moved on to Lancashire League club South Shore, and from there back to the Second Division with Lincoln City. Lincoln City gave first starts to Wilkinson, Fred Howard and William Ross on 8 November 1897 at home to

Newton Heath Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883. Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial Re ...

. Despite being reduced to ten men for a time because of injury to Thomas Eyre, Lincoln won 1–0. Wilkinson played regularly until the end of the season, but was not kept on. He and Lincoln teammates Arthur Hulme and William Ross were three of numerous new signings for Gravesend United for the 1898–99 Southern League season. When Gravesend lost 5–2 away to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

in a Southern League fixture in February 1899, the ''Bristol Mercury and Daily Post'' wrote that "Wilkinson had plenty to do and he did his work brilliantly". None of the three was retained for the following campaign. The club's committee was keen to dispense with the services of "the men with drinking reputations, who proved such failures last season", though there is no indication that any of the three came into that category.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, William Year of birth missing Year of death missing Place of birth missing Place of death missing Men's association football goalkeepers Rotherham Town F.C. (1878) players Lincoln City F.C. players Chatham Town F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players English men's footballers