William Williams (born 1856) was a Welsh amateur

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 ...

who played most of his football career with the Druids club of Ruabon. Generally playing at half-back, he made eleven 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 ...

between 1876 and 1883.

Football career

Williams was born in Ruabon,

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...

and was trained as a chimney top maker, working for one of the clay works at Afongoch. He joined the Druids club in 1874 and in his time with the club, he appeared in eight finals of the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the mos ...

, winning the trophy five times. In February 1876, he took part in trials organised by the Druids' founder, Llewelyn Kenrick, to select Welsh players to represent their country in a 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 ...

. The match was played at

Hamilton Crescent Hamilton Crescent is a cricket ground in the Partick area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the home of the West of Scotland Cricket Club. Hamilton Crescent hosted the 1872 Scotland v England football match, first international football match, betw ...

Partick Partick ( sco, Pairtick, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and ...

, the home of the West of Scotland Cricket Club on 25 March 1876, with Williams playing at

left-half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

in a 2–2–6 formation. The Welsh were well defeated, conceding four goals without reply. Williams was not selected for the return match against Scotland in 1877 and his second international appearance came on 23 March 1878, in a 6–0 defeat by Scotland at the original Hampden Park. A week later, on 30 March 1878, Druids played in the final of the inaugural

tournament, losing 1–0 to local rivals

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

. Known as "little Billy", Williams became a stalwart of the Druids side, who "could run all day" and "had endless reserves of stamina", although "never a subtle player"; his strong points were his "perfect tackling" and his "vigorous support" of the forwards. In a report on one match, it was said that "he puts a stop to many a dangerous run, he is a most effective player though not one of the fastest. He outlasted all of his contemporaries, continuing to play for the Druids until 1890. He spent the 1878–79 season at

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 ...

, when Druids were temporarily without a ground and also made occasional appearances for

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Histo ...

, where R A Lythgoe, the former Druids official, was now club secretary. At international level, he missed only four of the first 15 Welsh international matches and reserved his best performances for matches against

, earning him the nickname of "Scotty".

International appearances

Williams made eleven appearances for Wales in official international matches, as follows:

Honours

Druids *

winners: 1880, 1881, 1882, 1885, 1886 *

runners-up: 1878,

1883 Events January–March * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * Ja ...

, 1884

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, William 1856 births People from Ruabon Footballers from Wrexham County Borough Year of death missing Welsh men's footballers Druids F.C. players Oswestry Town F.C. players Bootle F.C. (1879) players Wales men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders