William Robert McCracken (29 January 1883 – 20 January 1979) was an Irish footballer who played as a defender. He is famous for inventing the

offside trap Offside is one of the laws in association football, codified in Law 11 of the Laws of the Game. The law states that a player is in an offside position if any of their body parts, except the hands and arms, are in the opponents' half of the ...

. He was a cousin of Robert McCracken who also had a career as a professional footballer.

Playing career

During his career, McCracken captained both English club

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

and the Ireland national side. He played for Newcastle from 1904 to 1924, helping them win three

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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

titles and one

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 ...

. In total he played 432 games for the ''Magpies'', scoring eight goals. McCracken gained sixteen international caps (including one match against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1902 which is not counted as official by the Scots due to its unusual circumstances as a fundraiser following the Ibrox disaster, but excluding two ' Victory matches' in 1919 against the same opposition), scoring one goal.Bill McCracken
Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats, 31 July 2007 During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he helped to arrange two fundraising matches featuring top players and turned out for the England XI in both, facing Ireland on the second occasion.Testimonials, Clubs and Forces
England Football Online His Ireland teammates included Archie Goodall, Billy Scott, Jack Kirwan and Robert Milne. McCracken is one of just a few players whose actions have brought changes to the Laws of the Game when, as a right full back at Newcastle, he masterminded the technique of making opposition forwards ruled " offside" when the rules stated that three defenders must be between the attacking player and the goal line. So successful was McCracken's defensive ploy that the Offside Law was changed to "two defenders" between the foremost attacker and the goal line". Illustrious Italian coach

Vittorio Pozzo Vittorio Pozzo (; 2 March 1886 – 21 December 1968) was an Italian association football, football player, manager (association football), manager and journalist. The creator of the ''Formation (association football)#Metodo (2–3–2–3), Me ...

, who had personally seen him play, praised McCracken, in his own words, as the 'master of ''fuori-giuoco'' (offside)'. According to Pozzo he even wrote a booklet to explain his "offside trick".

Managerial career

After leaving Newcastle he went on to become

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

manager in 1923, and he took them to the FA Cup semi-final in 1930. He left the club a year later. He later had a short term in charge of

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

, before managing

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

from 1933 to 1936. He went on to manage the now defunct

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

, and later returned to Newcastle as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

. In the 1970s, with McCracken in his 90s, he was scouting for

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Honours

As a player

Distillery *

Irish Football League Irish commonly refers to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the island and the sovereign state *** Erse (disambiguati ...

: 1902–03 *

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

: 1903; runner-up: 1902 Newcastle United *

1904–05 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' D ...

, 1906–07, 1908–09 *

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

; runner-up:

1908 This is the longest year in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of Terrestrial Time (or ephemeris time), measured according to the definition of mean solar time. Events January * January ...

1911 Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 m ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCracken, Billy 1883 births 1979 deaths Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Newcastle United F.C. players Irish association footballers (before 1923) Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Association football managers from Northern Ireland English Football League players English Football League managers Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Irish League representative players NIFL Premiership players Hull City A.F.C. managers Gateshead A.F.C. managers Millwall F.C. managers Aldershot F.C. managers Men's association football defenders Association football scouts Newcastle United F.C. non-playing staff Watford F.C. non-playing staff Ireland (IFA) men's wartime international footballers