William Gallacher (29 June 1919 – 16 October 1982) was a Scottish professional

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 an

inside forward 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 ...

Career

Born in

Renfrew Renfrew (; sco, Renfrew; gd, Rinn Friù) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former ...

, Gallacher's career as a footballer was fairly short due to the interruption of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in which he served in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. He played for St Anthony's (

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

grade),

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 ...

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

and

Inverness Thistle Inverness Thistle Football Club was a football club playing in the city of Inverness in northern Scotland. Formation and timeline They were members of the Highland Football League, winning the championship eight times, including its inaugur ...

. His brother was fellow footballer

Tommy Gallacher Tommy Gallacher (13 July 1922 – 24 November 2001) was a Scottish footballer in the late 1940s and 1950s. Football career Tommy was only seven years old when his mother died. He was thus brought up by his father, by this stage playing for Fa ...

. They were the sons of

Patsy Gallacher Patrick Gallacher (16 March 1891 – 17 June 1953) was an Irish footballer, playing in the inside-right position, and most noted for his career at Celtic - he is one of the club's leading goalscorers of all time. Early life Patsy was born i ...

, one of Celtic's legendary players who also spent time at Falkirk. Tommy's son

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...

also became a footballer, as did another nephew,

Kevin Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant '' Kevan'' is anglicized from , a ...

, who played for

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 ...

World Cup 98 The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

. The Gallachers are also related to another footballing branch of the family, John Divers and his son of the same name who both played for Celtic.

References

External links

William Gallacher profile
at ''thecelticwiki.com'' 1919 births 1982 deaths Scottish footballers St Anthony's F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Celtic F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Inverness Thistle F.C. players Highland Football League players Scottish Football League players Association football inside forwards British Army personnel of World War II Royal Engineers soldiers

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 ...

People from Renfrew Footballers from Renfrewshire Military personnel from Renfrewshire {{Scotland-footy-forward-1910s-stub