Billy Walsh (Irish footballer)

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Billy Walsh
Personal information
Full name William Walsh
Date of birth May 31, 1921(1921-05-31)
Place of birth    Dublin, Ireland
Date of death    July 28, 2006 (aged 85)
Place of death    Noosa, Queensland, Australia
Playing position Defender / Midfielder
Youth clubs
193x-193x
1936-1938		 Manchester United
Manchester City
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1938-1950

1939-1940
1941-1942
1942-1943
1951
1951-1954
195x-19xx		 Manchester City
→ (wartime league)
→ Oldham Athletic (guest)
→ Rochdale (guest)
→ Manchester United (guest)
Chelmsford City
Canterbury City
Eastern Suburbs AFC		 109 (1)
227 (8)
2 (1)
3 (0)
2 (0)


   
National team
1930s
1944-1948
1946-1950
1957-195x
1961		 England SchoolboysXI
Ireland (IFA)
Ireland (FAI)
Auckland XI
New Zealand
6 (0)
9 (0)

1 (0)
Teams managed
1951
1951-1954
1954-1955
19xx-19xx
196x-19xx		 Chelmsford City
Canterbury City
Grimsby Town
Melbourne Hakoah
Melbourne Hungaria

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Billy Walsh (born Dublin, Ireland, May 31, 1921 ; died Noosa, Queensland, Australia July 28, 2006), also referred to as Willie Walsh or William Walsh, was an Irish footballer. Walsh played for several clubs, but most notably with Manchester City. As an international Walsh represented four national teams. After playing for the England Schoolboys XI he then became a dual Irish international, playing for both Ireland teams - the FAI XI and the IFA XI. In 1949 he was a member of the FAI XI that defeated England 2–0 at Goodison Park, becoming the first non-UK team to beat England at home. He then emigrated to New Zealand and also played for their national team. Walsh eventually move to Australia and settled in Noosa, Queensland. In 2003 he returned to Manchester City, along with other City legends for the last game at Maine Road. He died on July 28 2006 at the age of 85 and his ashes were interned at the Garden of Remembrance at the City of Manchester Stadium. [1]


Contents

[edit] Playing Career

[edit] Early Years

Walsh was born in Dublin, but moved to Gorton, Manchester aged seven where he attended St Gregory’s School. As a youth he played for the England Schoolboys XI before he became the subject of a dispute between Manchester United and Manchester City. Both clubs claimed he had signed for them. After being signed by a United youth coach who also coached at his school, Walsh was taken to City by his mother where he was originally employed as an office boy. The English FA intervened and gave Walsh the choice of clubs. [2]

[edit] Manchester City

Walsh subsequently signed as an amateur with for Manchester City in 1936 and then turned professional in June 1938. He made his debut for City in a Central League game against Blackburn Rovers. During the Second World War he worked as a miner and made 227 wartime league appearances for City, scoring 8 goals. He also played a further 67 Wartime Cup games. His wartime appearances became a City record. As well as playing for City, Walsh also made guest appearances for Oldham Athletic, Rochdale and Manchester United.

With the war over Walsh, made his senior league debut for the club in a 3-0 win at Leicester City on the opening day of the 1946-47 season. Walsh made 13 appearances in the Second Division that season and helped City win the division title. However he missed out on an actual medal because of his lack of games. However over the next three seasons, he established himself as a regular in the side and went onto make 118 competitive appearances, mainly as a right-half for City. [3][4] [5]

[edit] Later Years

After leaving Manchester City, Walsh became a player-manager with Chelmsford City on April 11 1951. Then in August of the same year, despite offers from Lincoln City and Port Vale to resume his playing career, he became player-manager with Canterbury City. He stayed with Canterbury until February 1954 when he was appointed manager of Grimsby Town, where he succeeded Bill Shankly.

Walsh later emigrated to New Zealand, where he came out of retirement and played for Eastern Suburbs AFC. [6] On August 10 1957 he also played for an Auckland XI in a friendly against FK Austria Wien. The team was captained by Ken Armstrong, a former England international while Kenneth Hough, an Australian who later played cricket for New Zealand, played in goal. The Auckland XI beat FK 3-0. FK had previously put fourteen goals past the New Zealand national team in earlier games. [7] Walsh would also later play one game for New Zealand at the age of 40. He then moved to Australia where he worked for the Norwich Union and coached both Melbourne Hakoah and Melbourne Hungaria. In 1967 he led the latter club to a Victorian Premier League / Australian Cup double. [8] [9]

[edit] Irish International

When Walsh began his international career in 1944 there were, in effect, two Ireland teams, chosen by two rival associations. Both associations, the Northern Ireland - based IFA and the Republic of Ireland - based FAI claimed jurisdiction over the whole of Ireland and selected players from the whole island. As a result several notable Irish players from this era, including Walsh, played for both teams.

[edit] IFA XI

Between 1944 and 1948 Walsh played 6 times for the IFA XI. On September 9 1944 he played for the IFA XI in an 8-4 defeat against a Combined Services XI at Windsor Park. This team was basically a Great Britain XI and featured, among others, Matt Busby, Stanley Matthews, Tommy Lawton and Stan Mortensen. [10] Walsh helped the IFA XI gain some respectable results, including a 2-0 win against Scotland on October 4 1947, a 2-2 draw with England at Goodison Park on November 5 1947 and a 2-0 win against Wales on March 10 1948. He also played against England in a 6-2 defeat on October 9 1948. He made his last appearance for the IFA XI on November 17 1948 in a 3-2 defeat against Scotland. [11] [12]

[edit] FAI XI

Between 1946 and 1950 Walsh also made 9 appearances for the FAI XI, making his FAI debut in a 1-0 defeat to England on September 30 1946 at Dalymount Park. This was the first time the FAI XI had played against England. On September 21 1949, together with Con Martin, Johnny Carey and Peter Farrell, he was a member of the FAI XI that defeated England 2–0 at Goodison Park, becoming the first non-British team to beat England at home. Walsh made his last appearance for the FAI XI on May 10 1950 in a 5-1 defeat to Belgium. [13] [14]

[edit] Honours

Player

Manchester City

Manager

Melbourne Hungaria

[edit] References

  1. ^ Obituary in the Manchester Evening News
  2. ^ Article in the Manchester Evening News
  3. ^ Maine Road Favourites – Where Are They Now ? (2006): Ian Penney with Fred Eyre [1]
  4. ^ "Billy Walsh 'back in Manchester'", Match programme, Manchester City v Arsenal, 2006-08-26, pp. 7. 
  5. ^ Soccer at War – 1939 - 45 (2005): Jack Rollin [2]
  6. ^ www.northshoreunitedafc.org.nz
  7. ^ New Zealand Herald
  8. ^ Melbourne Hungaria
  9. ^ Maine Road Favourites – Where Are They Now ? (2006): Ian Penney with Fred Eyre [3]
  10. ^ England wartime results at Rsssf
  11. ^ Northern Ireland fansite
  12. ^ Northern Ireland fansite
  13. ^ Ireland (FAI) stats
  14. ^ The Boys In Green - The FAI International Story (1997): Sean Ryan [4]
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Grimsby Town F.C. – Managers

Hickson (1902–20) • Price (1920) • Fraser (1921–24) • Gillow (1924–32) • Womack (1932–36) • Spencer (1937–51) • Shankly (1951–53) • Berkessy (1954) • Walsh (1954–55) • Chilton (1955–59) • Ward (1960–62) • Johnston (1962–64) • McGuigan (1964–67) • McEvoy (1967–68) • Harvey (1968–69) • Kennedy (1969–71) • McMenemy (1971–73) • Ashman (1973–75) • Casey (1975–76) • Newman (1976–79) • Kerr (1979–82) • Booth (1982–85) • Grotier (1985) • Lyons (1985–87) • Roberts (1987–88) • Buckley (1988–94) • Laws (1994–96) • Cockerill (1996) • Swain (1996–97) • Buckley (1997–00) • Cockerill (2000) • Lawrence (2000) • Groves (2001–04) • Rodger (2004) • Law (2004) • Slade (2004–06) • Rodger (2006) • Watkiss (2006) • Buckley (2006–)