William Arthur Wragg (1875 – after 1904) was an English 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 ...

who made 119 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

playing for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

Leicester Fosse Leicester City Football Club is an English professional association football, football club based in Leicester in the East Midlands of England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football league system, Eng ...

Small Heath Small Heath is an area in south-east Birmingham, West Midlands, England situated on and around the Coventry Road about from the city centre. History Small Heath, which has been settled and used since Roman times, sits on top of a small hill. ...

and Chesterfield Town. Wragg was born in Radford,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

Nottingham Forest

He played local football before joining

in April 1896. Wragg made his debut on 28 November 1896 at home against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. In the early part of his career he played at

wing 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 ...

, and from this position he created Forest's first goal in the 1898 FA Cup Final. From his

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

from the left near the by-line, the ball came to

Arthur Capes Arthur John Capes (23 February 1875 – 26 February 1945) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Bristol City, Burton Wanderers, Nottingham Forest and Stoke. Capes played with his brother Adrian at Burton Wanderers ...

who shot through a crowd of defenders. Wragg later aggravated a first-half injury and had to move out to the wing, unable to take much further part in the game. He made 58 appearances in all competitions for Forest. He scored his only goal for Nottingham Forest on 2 October 1897 in the 1-1 draw at home against Sunderland.

Leicester Fosse

After three years he joined

, where he spent two seasons, made 50 appearances in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

playing at full back, and became the club's free kick specialist.

Later career

A move to

brought him just the one first-team appearance because of the form of George Adey. In August 1901 he joined Southern League club

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, and a year later moved to Hinckley Town of the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History T ...

. He returned to

to play 20 Second Division games for Chesterfield Town, and then went back to non-league football with

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

and

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

Post Football

Wragg appeared on stage with Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin.

Career statistics

Honours

; Nottingham Forest *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

winner:

1898 Events January–March * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, B ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wragg, Willie 1875 births Year of death missing Footballers from Nottingham English footballers Association football defenders Newstead Byron F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Watford F.C. players Hinckley Town F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. (1891) players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Date of birth missing Place of death missing FA Cup Final players