A Sandgrounder Before a Lion: Richard “Billy” Watson

Billy was born in Southport on the 11 Sept 1890 and was recorded as living at number 33 Poulton Road in the 1891,1901, 1911 censuses. He started playing Sunday school football for Blowick Weslayans FC before joining Southport Central as an amateur in 1907. Whilst working with his father as a painter and decorator.

He was signed by the second division side Burnley in 1908 for a record fee of £200 (equal to £33k today) making his debut against Leeds on 3rd Apr 1909. In the season 1912-13 Burnley won promotion to the first division. Billy was awarded a gold watch by the directors of Burnley for playing in 100 consecutive games for the Clarets. He also won his first England cap against Scotland at Stamford Bridge on the 5th April 1913 managing only 70 minutes due to injury, becoming England’s 375th legacy player.
His second cap came on the 14 Feb 1914 at Middlesborough in in an England side losing 3-0
to Ireland.

That year he played in the 1914 FA Cup Final against Liverpool at Crystal Palace, which was dubbed “The Royal Cup Final” as it was the first to be attended by a Royal, King George V. Burnley won 1-0 and another former Southport Central player Eddie Mosscrop was also part of the victorious team.

Within 3 months of Billy’s FA Cup win, World War 1 had started, and competitive football was suspended. Initially Billy joined the Royal Flying Corps yet became a Private as a motorcycle despatch rider in the Army Service Corps.

Throughout the war he frequently wrote home to Burnley’s secretary of his experiences on the battlefield, which appeared in the local press. An extract from his letter of the 28 Nov 1917 read

“It’s a sodden mess out here just now. The rains make things a very bad state…. but I keep on pulling through and making the best of a rotten job”.

When Billy received home leave from the Army in Sept 1916, he returned to guest for Southport Central. On his next home leave in Jan 1918, he played for Burnley against Southport only to be on the losing side. After the war he resumed both his playing career for England and Burnley. He won his 3rd and final cap against Ireland in Belfast on the 25th of Oct 1919.

Burnley were Division 1 runners up in 1919-20 and went one better the next season 1920-21 winning the championship for the first time, creating a record of 30 consecutive games without defeat. He twice toured Italy with Burnley in 1914 and 1922. After playing 346 games for Burnley in 1925 he left and played 6 times for Accrington Stanley before retiring from the game.

Billy returned to being a painter and decorator and owned an Ironmonger’s store for the next 20+ years at number 92 Bispham Road until his death in 1955 aged 64. He was also a Liberal councillor and served on the local authority in Southport.

In 1935 he and fellow Burnley teammate, Eddie Mosscrop started a cup competition under their names and donated a trophy to the Southport and District league in aid of a Benevolent Fund. The Watson-Mosscrop Trophy competition ran until 2006.

Both Billy Watson and Eddie Mosscrop have been inducted into the Southport FC Hall of Fame.

This article was first included in The Sandgrounder match day programme and is reproduced with kind permission of the author, Kim Wood.