William Carruthers Cunningham (22 February 1925 – 27 November 2000) 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 in both Scotland and England. Born in

Hill of Beath Hill of Beath (; sco, Hill o Beath) is a hill and a village in Fife, Scotland, just outside Dunfermline and joined to Cowdenbeath. On 16 June 1670 the Hill of Beath was the location of a celebrated meeting of the Covenanters at which preachers ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, Cunningham began his career as a centre half with

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 ...

, combining part-time football with a mining job in the local colliery. He moved to

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

along with Willie KellyKellys made their mark down south
Jim Stark, Central Fife Times, 19 August 2018 and scored 9 goals in 93 appearances for the ''Diamonds'' before a £5,000 fee took him south to

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

on 28 June 1949. Cunningham had by this stage converted to playing as a full-back and made his North End debut against Grimsby Town at

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". History ...

on 24 August 1949. 12 years later he made his four hundredth league appearance in a goalless draw against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

on 18 April 1961, the last of the 1953–54

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

Final team still playing for the club. Cunningham was capped eight times for his native

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 ...

– including captaining the side during the 1954 World Cup finals. On leaving Preston in 1963 he had a brief spell as player/manager at

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

before returning to Deepdale as Reserve Team trainer.

References

External links

*
International appearances
at londonhearts.com Scotland section {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Willie 1925 births 2000 deaths Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Preston North End F.C. players Southport F.C. players Scottish footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scottish football managers Southport F.C. managers 1954 FIFA World Cup players Scotland men's B international footballers Footballers from Fife Scottish Football League players English Football League players Men's association football fullbacks People from Hill of Beath People educated at Beath High School Scottish Junior Football Association players Crossgates Primrose F.C. players FA Cup final players

See also

References

External links