Bill Ribchester

William Ribchester (28 July 1898 – 23 February 1986) was a Scottish footballer who played as an outside right.

Bill Ribchester
Personal information
Full name William Ribchester
Date of birth 28 July 1898
Place of birth Govan, Scotland
Date of death 23 February 1986(1986-02-23) (aged 87)
Place of death Blackpool, England
Position(s) Outside right
Youth career
St Mungo's Academy[1]
Townhead Juveniles
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
– Benburb
– Parkhead
1916–1919 Celtic 2 (0)
1919–1923 Albion Rovers 56 (10)
1922–1923 → St Johnstone (loan) 35 (7)
1923–1925 St Johnstone 39 (12)
1924–1925 Dunfermline Athletic 20 (4)
1925–1926 Armadale 7 (0)
Total 159 (33)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

The son of a Lancastrian schoolmaster who relocated to Govan, Ribchester began his senior career with Celtic in 1916,[2] making two Scottish Football League appearances as an 18-year-old filling in for the injured Andy McAtee.[3][4] World War I was already underway, and having already been a member of the Officers' Training Corps[5] he was soon called into active duty, serving as a second lieutenant with the Machine Gun Corps and being wounded at Amiens in August 1918.[6] He was able to resume playing football when the conflict ended, though he could not break into the Celtic team and moved on to Albion Rovers, playing in the 1920 Scottish Cup Final, a 3–2 loss to Kilmarnock,[7][8][9] at the end of his first of three seasons in Coatbridge.

He later played for St Johnstone (initially on loan), being an almost constant presence in the side that won the 1923–24 Scottish Division Two title,[10] though he played little in the following campaign (the club's first at Muirton Park) and was loaned back to the lower tier with Dunfermline Athletic, before ending his career with Armadale.[10] Ribchester was later also a school teacher like his father.

References
  1. E.A.MacBride’s War Diaires [Aug 1916-May 1917], The Celt Mag, via Tumblr
  2. (Celtic player) Ribchester, William, FitbaStats
  3. Celtic FC's series of 62 matches unbeaten in Division One, Alan Brown, RSSSF, 29 October 2001
  4. A Game from the Past…and a Moment to Remember, Jim Craig's Football 50, 2016
  5. Amateurs' Plucky Display, The Glasgow Herald, 13 November 1916, via The Celtic Wiki
  6. Ribchester Bill Image 1 Albion Rovers 1920, Vintage Footballers
  7. "Killie 3–2 Albion Rovers". Killie FC. Archived from the original on 18 August 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  8. "Kilmarnock, 3; Albion Rovers, 2. Scottish Cup–Final Tie". The Glasgow Herald. 19 April 1920. p. 13. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  9. Is It Really So Strange? Archived 28 July 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Shaughan McGuigan, Tell Him He's Pele, 6 March 2014
  10. John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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