William Noble Imrie (4 March 1908 – 26 December 1944) 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 as a

right 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 ...

Career

Born in

Methil Methil (Scottish Gaelic: Meadhchill) is an eastern coastal town in Scotland. It was first recorded as "Methkil" in 1207, and belonged to the Bishop of St Andrews. Two Bronze Age cemeteries have been discovered which date the settlement as ov ...

, Imrie played club football for

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 ...

, Blackburn Rovers,

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, Swansea Town and Swindon Town. He made two appearances 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 ...

in 1929 whilst a St Johnstone player, and scored one goal against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He later became a butcher, before joining the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

's 5th Battalion Coldstream Guards during World War II. He developed cancer whilst on active duty and died in Fife in 1944. One of only five Swindon players who died serving during the war, he is included on the club's commemorative plaque unveiled in 2014.

References

1908 births 1944 deaths Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scottish Junior Football Association players Footballers from Fife People from Methil St Johnstone F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Men's association football wing halves Coldstream Guards soldiers British Army personnel killed in World War II East Fife F.C. wartime guest players Military personnel from Fife {{Scotland-footy-midfielder-1900s-stub