William Isaac Furness (8 June 1909 – 29 August 1980) 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 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 ...

for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

and

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

in the 1930s, making one appearance for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1933.

Career

Furness was born in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, County Durham and played his early football for Usworth Colliery from where he was signed by

in August 1928 for a fee of £50.

Leeds United

At this time Leeds were struggling in the lower reaches of the First Division and were getting something of a reputation for being a yo-yo team – after being elected to the Second Division in 1920, they were promoted in 1924, relegated in 1927 and promoted again in 1928. Furness took a while to break into the first team, with Russell Wainscoat and Eric Longden having established themselves in the inside forward positions. In the 1930–31 season Furness displaced Longden and from then on he was rarely out of the side, but his eight goals were unable to stave off relegation and Leeds were to spend the 1931–32 season 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 ...

. With Charlie Keetley scoring 23 goals and 12 from Furness, Leeds returned to the top flight as runners-up in Division Two. In

the first season ''The First Season'' is a Canadian drama film, released in 1989. The film stars Kate Trotter as Alex Cauldwell, a woman in British Columbia who, following the death of her fisherman husband Frank (Dwight Koss), tries to support herself and her dau ...

back in Division One, Furness was ever-present scoring six goals from 42 league appearances, as Leeds finished in eight place with Arthur Hydes the new spearhead, scoring 16. Furness's form was to be rewarded with his solitary England cap, when he was selected, along with his Leeds teammate Wilf Copping, for the first-ever match against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

on 13 May 1933. The match ended 1–1 with England's goal coming from

Cliff Bastin Clifford Sydney Bastin (14 March 1912 – 4 December 1991) was an English footballer who played as a winger for Exeter City and Arsenal. He also played for the England national team. Bastin is Arsenal's third-highest goalscorer of all time. C ...

. As well as Furness and Copping, four other players were making their England debut. Furness only missed one match in 1933–34 as Leeds again finished in the upper half of the table. In a memorable match against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

on 7 April 1934 Furness,

Harry Duggan Henry Anthony Duggan (1903–1968) was an Irish footballer. Described as a talented and speedy right winger, he played for both Leeds United and Newport County. Duggan was a dual internationalist and played for both Ireland teams – the FA ...

Joe Firth Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

and Johnny Mahon each scored twice in an 8–0 victory – this remains Leeds' best ever League win. Leeds United – Review of 1933–34 (A quiet year)
/ref> Leeds struggled in 1934–35 and, although Hydes continued to score freely with 22 goals with Furness acting as an excellent foil, hitting 16 goals in 34 appearances, with seven of those coming in the last six matches of the season, the defence was poor conceding 8 at Stoke, 7 at Chelsea, 6 at West Bromwich Albion, and 4 against Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Liverpool and Everton. As a result, Leeds narrowly avoided relegation finishing in 18th place. Things improved slightly for Leeds in 1935–36 with an eleventh-place finish with Furness contributing seven goals (including a penalty against Arsenal in the final match of the season) with

George Brown George Brown may refer to: Arts and entertainment * George Loring Brown (1814–1889), American landscape painter * George Douglas Brown (1869–1902), Scottish novelist * George Williams Brown (1894–1963), Canadian historian and editor * G ...

top scorer on 20. Furness's final season at Elland Road saw the club struggling again to avoid relegation finishing in nineteenth place. In June 1937, Furness was transferred to

for a fee of £2700 after nine years, 257 matches and 66 goals for the club.

Norwich City

Furness played the next two seasons for

in the

. At the end of the 1938–39 season, Norwich were relegated to the

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

. Although Furness played in the first three matches of the next season, scoring twice, league football was then suspended following the outbreak of the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

. After the war, Furness returned to the Norwich side, making a dozen appearances in the 1946–47 season before retiring, having made 99 appearances (excluding wartime matches) scoring 23 goals.

Later career

After retiring as a player, Furness remained at Carrow Road as assistant trainer and subsequently as head trainer, a position he held until 1955. He subsequently served the club as a physiotherapist until 1963. In 2003, he was inducted into the Norwich City Hall of Fame.

References

External links

Leeds United profileProfile at www.englandstats.comProfile at www.englandfc.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furness, Billy 1909 births 1980 deaths People from Washington, Tyne and Wear Footballers from Tyne and Wear Leeds United F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players English footballers England men's international footballers English Football League players Men's association football inside forwards