- William Townley
William "Billy" Townley, (
February 14 ,1866 –May 30 ,1950 inBlackpool ,England ), was an English football (soccer) player and coach.He scored the first hat-trick in the history of the
FA Cup final, but his lasting legacy is defined as an important pioneer of the game in Germany and as a journeyman coach on the continent.Playing career
Townley's career as a player began with
Blackburn Olympic F.C. He joined Blackburn Rovers in 1886 and won the FA Cup with the club in 1890 and 1891. In the first of these title appearances against The Wednesday, the outside left made history by contributing three goals in a 6-1 victory, earning the distinction of becoming the first player to score ahat-trick in an FA Cup final. He scored another goal in the successful defence of the title as the Rovers overcameNotts County 3-1 the following year. Townley's total of four goals in FA Cup finals has to date only been bettered once, by Liverpool'sIan Rush , who scored five goals in three finals appearances in the 1980s.Townley was capped twice for England, in 1889 and 1890, scoring two goals in the second of those matches, which was a 9-1 victory over Ireland. In 1894 he moved to Darwen and played there for six years before joining Manchester City, where his playing career ended after he suffured a serious head injury.
Coaching career
At the end of his playing years Townley took up coaching as a profession, and as the oppoutunities were limited in England he left for the continent where football was beginning to develop a serious following. In Germany, as in the rest of Europe at the time, the game was strictly amateur in character and players often had contribute to team expenses. For a club to have a coach was not yet a matter of course, but rather a luxury, as it was more common then for a senior player or club functionary to fill the role and carry out the tasks of a coach. Coaches were often hired for special occasions only, or for a brief period to help develop the skills of a team, before they moved on.
Townley's first coaching job was with
DFC Prague who were beaten byVfB Leipzig in Germany's first national championship staged in 1903. He later joinedKarlsruher FV , losing finalists in 1905, and led them to a their only national title in 1910.The following year he was hired by the northern
Bavaria n clubSpVgg Fürth . This club owned the most advanced facilities in Germany and was quickly becoming the largest club in the country with a membership approaching 3,000. Two months after his arrival Fürth sensationally defeated the visiting English sideNewcastle United 2-1. He guided the club to its first two Bavarian championships ("Ostkreismeisterschaft") which heralded the onset of a golden era that would last into the 1930s which saw the club become one of the most dominant football sides in the country.In December 1913 Townley got the call from
Bayern Munich , but on a loan arrangement he re-joined to Fürth in April of the following year to guide the that club through the national championship rounds. In the final Fürth captured its first national title, defeating defending champions VfB Leipzig, holders of a then record three German titles. It is not clear, but he may then have returned to Munich, before the horrors ofWorld War I overtook the continent, obscuring knowledge of Townley's activities during this period.He re-emerged with Bayern in 1919 and coached there until 1921, helping the club earn local and regional titles. It appears he was loaned to the Swiss club
FC St. Gallen in August 1920 for what was probably a summer training camp. Townley's two tenures in Munich coincided with the first two terms of legendary Bayern PresidentKurt Landauer who oversaw the club's first national title victory in 1932 during his third term with the AustrianRichard Dombi - of later Feyenoord fame - as coach.Afterward Townley moved to SV Waldhof in Mannheim where he spent two months aiding in the club's preparations for the South German Championship. The team's campaign was cut short by eventual national champions
1. FC Nürnberg . It then appears that he may have coached in Sweden before joiningSC Victoria Hamburg where he and his son, playing as a striker, spent a couple of seasons. In 1923 William Townley returned to St. Gallen where he stayed until February 1925.Townley interrupted his time in Switzerland for a four month stint with the Dutch national team to guide them through the 1924 Olympics in
Paris . In the semi-finals the Netherlands lost a closely fought match to Uruguay - the dominant side of that era who counted the legendaryAndrade andPedro Cea in their ranks - and had to settle for fourth place.In May 1926 Townley rejoined SpVgg Fürth for the championship final in which they overcame
Hertha Berlin to win their second national title - the third national title to his credit. A year later he was coaching 1925 finalistsFSV Frankfurt and spent some time working with nearbyUnion Niederrad .In 1930 Townley returned for a third time to Fürth, with the club winning the South German Championship before being ousted from the national playoffs in the quarterfinals by the defending champions Hertha Berlin.
Now in his mid-60s, Townley took up his last known posting in 1932 with
Arminia Hannover , then a strong regional side. Arminia defeatedDresdner SC in a quarterfinal match, but lost in the next round at home to eventual championsFortuna Düsseldorf , starring the legendaryPaul Janes . This marks the zenith of Arminia's achievement and the last significant role of a great pioneer of the game in Germany.William Townley died in
Blackpool ,England in 1950 at the age of 84.Playing career
English national team
23/02/1889 - British Home Championship - Stoke: England - Wales 4-1
15/03/1890 - British Home Championship - Belfast: Ireland - England 9-1 (2 goals by Townley)Coaching record
Not verified engagements:
*Sweden ?
*FC Union Niederrad 07 (ca. 1927/1930)Honours
As a player
Blackburn Rovers
*FA Cup winner: 1890 and 1891External links
* [http://www.greuther-fuerth.de/ SpVgg Greuther Fürth]
* [http://elbombin.stuarthomfray.co.uk/William-Townley/ "El Bombin" - Tales of British Football Coaches Around the World]
* [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/BLACKBtownley.htm Billy Townley : Blackburn Rovers ] at www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk - the facts from the biography.
* [http://www.englandfc.com/Profiles/php/PlayerProfileByName.php?id=981 England career profile]
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