Bert Frederick Williams MBE (31 January 1920 – 19 January 2014) was an English international football goalkeeper. Nicknamed ''The Cat'', he spent the majority of his playing career at

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

where he won the League Championship and FA Cup. At the time of his death Williams was the oldest living England international.

Early career

Williams started playing competitive football as a young man when he was a member of the 19th Wolverhampton Company of The

Boys' Brigade The Boys' Brigade (BB) is an international interdenominational Christianity, Christian youth organisation, conceived by the Scottish businessman William Alexander Smith (Boys' Brigade), Sir William Alexander Smith to combine drill and fun acti ...

(Bradley Methodist Church). He was then offered the chance to play for

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

's reserves, whilst playing for Thompson's FC, the works team of the local factory he was employed at. He was taken on permanently and turned professional in April 1937. The outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

halted his progress, after two seasons of playing, as he joined the RAF, serving as a Physical Training instructor. He found time in between his duties to turn out as a guest for both

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

and Chelsea in friendlies.

Wolves and England

With the conflict over, Williams resumed his career by signing for First Division

in September 1945 for £3,500. He immediately became first choice at the Molineux club, making his official debut when league football resumed on 31 August 1946 in a 6–1 win over

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, a game that was also the Wolves début of Johnny Hancocks. He gained his first honour in 1949 as the team lifted the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

after defeating Leicester City. His part in winning this prize saw him rewarded with an

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

call-up later that month, as he made his international debut on 22 May 1949 in a 3–1 friendly win in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He held onto the goalkeeper's jersey through the

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the 4th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. It was the first Wo ...

, and at that tournament played in England's surprise defeat by the USA. He won the league title with Wolves in 1953–54. In total, he made 420 appearances for Wolves.

After football

After ending his football career, he ran a sports shop in

Bilston Bilston is a market town in the City of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. It is in the Black Country, south east of Wolverhampton city centre and close to the borders of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, Sandwell ...

, a sporting centre and lived near Shifnal in Shropshire. Williams was appointed Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours for services to football and to charity. Bert Williams Leisure Centre in Bilston is named after him and opened in 2011.

Honours

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 1953–54 *

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

References

External links

England Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Bert 1920 births 2014 deaths Military personnel from the West Midlands (county) Men's association football goalkeepers English men's footballers England men's international footballers England men's wartime international footballers 1950 FIFA World Cup players Walsall F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Footballers from Bilston English Football League players Members of the Order of the British Empire Royal Air Force Physical Training instructors Nottingham Forest F.C. wartime guest players English Football League representative players Royal Air Force airmen Royal Air Force personnel of World War II