William Herbert Coggins (16 September 1901 – July 1958) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He played for Everton in the 1931 FA Cup semi-final.

Playing career

Coggins was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

playing local football with Victoria Albion and representing the Bristol Suburban League XI. He joined Bristol St George before

Alex Raisbeck Alexander Galloway Raisbeck (26 December 1878 – 12 March 1949) was a Scottish professional football player and manager. After playing junior football for Larkhall Thistle, he was signed by Hibernian where he made his professional debut at t ...

signed him for

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

in September 1925, then playing in the

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

. Coggins replaced

Frank Vallis Frank Vallis (5 May 1896 — September 1957) was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career Frank Vallis played for Horfield United in the Bristol & Suburban League before signing for Bristol City in April 1919. He was later joine ...

in goal to make his debut on Boxing Day 1925 in the 2–1 win at Southend United. He was an ever-present member of the City side that won the

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

title in 1926–27, thus gaining promotion to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He spent a further three seasons at Ashton Gate making 41 appearances in 1927–28, 40 appearances in 1928–29 and 26 appearances in 1929–30 before losing his place to

George Newlands George McLeod Newlands is a Scottish theologian widely published in the fields of modern systematic theology, Christology, emancipatory theology, and the history of Christian thought. He is Emeritus Professor of Divinity at the University of Gl ...

. Bristol City only just avoided relegation finishing 20th in both 1928–29 and 1929–30. Coggins joined Everton in March 1930 for £2,000. Coggins took over in goal from

Ted Sagar Edward Sagar (7 February 1910 – 16 October 1986) was an English footballer who played for Everton and England. He was a goalkeeper who joined Everton as an apprentice in 1929 after playing for Thorne Colliery in Yorkshire and made his deb ...

for the rest of the season, but was unable to prevent Everton being relegated from the First Division for the first time in the club's history. Coggins retained his place for the 1930–31 season as, fired by

Dixie Dean William Ralph "Dixie" Dean (22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. He is regarded as one of the greatest centre-forwards of all time and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in ...

's goals, Everton took the title by a margin of seven points over

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. Over Easter 1931, Everton played Coggins' former team, Bristol City twice. For the first match at Ashton Gate, Coggins was appointed captain, leading his side to a 1–0 victory, with the goal coming from

Jimmy Stein James Stein (7 November 1904 – 1979) was a Scottish professional association footballer who played as an outside left. Career Stein signed as a youngster with West Lothian clubs Bathgate and Broxburn and Lanarkshire team Dykehead, playing at ...

, but City won the return match at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...

3–1. Coggins also featured in Everton's run to the 1931

FA Cup Semi-final The FA Cup semi-finals are played to determine which teams will contest the FA Cup Final. They are the penultimate phase of the FA Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world. Location The semi-finals have always been contested at neutr ...

which was played at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

against

on 14 March 1931. Everton dominated the first half but were unable to score from any of the chances they created, and it was Albion who broke the deadlock ten minutes into the second half. Albion captain Tommy Glidden played the ball into the Everton penalty area from near the halfway line, and aided by a gust of wind it sailed past Coggins and into the net to put Albion into

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. Following Everton's return to the top flight,

reclaimed the goalkeeper's jersey, and Coggins only made three further appearances, his final first-team game coming on 10 February 1934. Coggins had a trial at Queens Park Rangers in the 1935–36 season, when he made six league appearances, before playing out his career back in the west country with Bath City in the Southern League. After retiring Billy Coggins became landlord of the "Rising Sun" pub in Backwell, near Bristol, where he died in July 1958. There is a stand named after him at the ground of Ashton & Backwell

Honours

;

championship: 1926–27 ; Everton *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

championship: 1930–31

References

External links

Bristol City profileEvertonfc.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coggins, Billy 1901 births 1958 deaths Footballers from Bristol English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers English Football League players Southern Football League players Bristol City F.C. players Everton F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Bath City F.C. players