William McCrum

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William McCrum was a wealthy Northern Irish linen manufacturer and sportsman, most famous for being the inventor of the penalty kick in football.

William was the son of the linen millionaire Robert Garmany McCrum who was the builder of the Victorian era model village of Milford and High Sheriff for County Armagh. He studied at The Royal School, Armagh and then Trinity College, Dublin and later worked for the family business including a time as London representative and one of the managing directors of linen manufacturers McCrum, Watson and Merver. William was not a success at running the family business and had to sell the Milford mill in 1931.

When not travelling the world he spent a large proportion of his life living in Milford where he was a Justice of the Peace and representative of many sporting clubs and committees including Milford Football Club, Milford and Armagh Cricket Clubs, and Armagh Rugby Football Club.

Milford Everton FC. William McCrum is on the middle row second from the left

He played for many years as goalkeeper for Milford Everton FC including in the first season of the Irish Football League (1890-1891). Milford finished bottom of the league with 0 points from 14 games, having conceded 62 goals and scored only 10, and were relegated.

'Master Willie' as he was known to the villagers also spent his spare time taking part in amateur theatrics in the Milford village hall, called the McCrum Institute. He died after a long illness in December 1932 in an Armagh boarding house.

[edit] The Penalty Kick

It was in his role as member of the Irish Football Association that McCrum proposed the idea of the penalty kick in order to stop the prevalent practice at the time of defenders professionally fouling an attacking player in order to stop a goal. The idea was submitted to the June 1890 meeting of the International Football Association Board by the Irish FA's general secretary and IFAB representative Jack Reid.

The original proposal read: If any player shall intentionally trip or hold an opposing player, or deliberately handle the ball within twelve yards from his own goal line, the referee shall, on appeal, award the opposing side a penalty kick, to be taken from any point 12 yards from the goal line, under the following conditions: All players, with the exception of the player taking the penalty kick and the goalkeeper, shall stand behind the ball and at least six yards from it; the ball shall be in play when the kick is taken. A goal may be scored from a penalty kick.

The proposal initially generated much derision and indignation amongst footballers and the press as the 'Irishman's motion' or the 'death penalty' as it was known, conceded that players might deliberately act unsportingly. This went against the Victorian idea of the amateur gentleman sportsman. Public opinion may have changed after an FA Cup quarter final between Stoke City and Notts County on 14 February 1891 where an indirect free kick after a deliberate handball on the goal line did not result in a goal.

The penalty kick rule was approved as number 13 in the Laws of the Game, a year after it was proposed, on the 2 June 1891, at the Alexandra Hotel in Glasgow 'after considerable discussion' and with changes affecting where the goalkeeper and other players could legally stand.