William Thomas Callaghan (born 12 February 1943 in

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 18 ...

) is a Scottish former

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

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 for

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...

and

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 ...

. Callaghan played for Dunfermline for most of his club career, playing in two

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,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 ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

and winning 3–1 against Hearts in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

. In all he made 426 appearances for ''the Pars'', including 34 in

European competition The European Competition is a student competition in which students of all ages submit creative, artistic, or written pieces of work on the activities of the European Union. Tendered by European Movement Germany, it is the oldest student competition ...

, a club record. Willie's brother

Tommy Callaghan Tommy Callaghan (born 6 December 1945) is a Scottish former Association football, footballer who played for Celtic F.C., Celtic, Dunfermline Athletic and Clydebank F.C. (1965), Clydebank. He was a left-sided midfielder famous for his long atta ...

also played for Dunfermline, and they are the last pair of brothers to have played the full 90 minutes together in the same Scottish Cup-winning side as of 2009,- In 2008, Callaghan was inducted into Dunfermline Athletic's

hall of fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

. Callaghan represented the full Scotland national team six times between 1967 and 1970. He first played for Scotland during an overseas tour in 1967, when several players were unavailable due to their clubs being involved in European competition. The

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...

decided in October 2021 to reclassify some of these games as full internationals, which increased his cap tally from two to six. Callaghan's appearance against Wales in 1970 was the last time that a

player represented Scotland until

Barry Nicholson Barry Nicholson (born 24 August 1978) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a midfielder. He is currently in charge of Fleetwood Town's development squad and also served as caretaker manager of the first team squad. He star ...

and

Stevie Crawford Stephen Crawford (born 9 January 1974) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. Crawford started his career with Raith Rovers, with whom he won the 1994 Scottish League Cup final and played in the UEFA Cup. This earned him ...

were selected for a match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in 2001. Willie's son, also named

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...

, was a footballer who played for several league clubs in the 1980s and 1990s. His brother,

, played for Dunfermline and

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 ...

. His grandson,

Liam Callaghan Liam is a short form of the Irish name Uilliam or the old Germanic name William. Etymology The original name was a merging of two Old German elements: ''willa'' ("will" or "resolution"); and ''helma'' ("helmet"). The juxtaposition of these eleme ...

, had a trial spell with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in November 2011.

References

;Sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Callaghan, Willie 1943 births Living people Men's association football fullbacks Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Berwick Rangers F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Footballers from Cowdenbeath