Billy Crone (31 August 1863 – 8 November 1944) also referred to as William Crone was an Irish

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 lea ...

who played for

Distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

during the 1880s and 1890s. After retiring as a player he also coached both

and

. On 20 February 1897 he became the first coach in the history of modern football to take charge of a national team. Crone's younger brother Bob Crone was also a notable footballer, playing for

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

and

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

, as well as

and

. Crone, an all-round athletic, was also a useful

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er and distance runner.

Playing career

Distillery

Crone spent sixteen seasons at

playing as a defender. His club teammates included fellow Irish internationals

Olphert Stanfield Olphert Martin Stanfield (26 February 1869 – 13 March 1952) was an Irish footballer who played for Distillery and Ireland during the 1880s and 1890s. Stanfield was a complete forward, capable of scoring with either foot and his head. He was a ...

, Jack Reynolds and

Samuel Johnston Samuel Johnston (December 15, 1733 – August 17, 1816) was an American planter, lawyer, Grand Master of Freemasons, slave holder, and statesman from Chowan County, North Carolina. He represented North Carolina in both the Continental Congress ...

. Crone could play anywhere across the back-line, but was most familiar as a left-back or left-half. He made 290 appearances for Distillery and helped the club win the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

four times. He also played for Distillery during the inaugural Irish League season of 1890-91 and went on to make 35 league appearances for the club before he retired in 1893.

Irish International

Between 1882 and 1890 Crone also played 12 times for

. He made his debut on 25 February 1882, while still in his teens, in a 7–1 defeat to

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. This was only Ireland's second ever international. He remained a regular for Ireland throughout the following eight seasons. On 7 April 1888 he scored for Ireland in a 5–1 defeat to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. All of his 12 international appearances ended in defeat, a statistic which results in Crone holding the unfortunate record of finishing on the losing side more times than any other international player during the 1800s.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Crone became a coach at

, a post he held for fifteen seasons. On 20 February 1897 he also took charge of the

team for the 6–0 defeat against

. This was the first time in the history of modern football that a coach took charge of a national team.

Honours

;Distillery *

**''Winner'' 1883–84, 1884–85, 1885–86, 1888-89: 4 **''Runner Up'' 1887–88: 1 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster F ...

**''Winner'' 1888–89: 1 **''Runner Up'' 1889–90: 1 *Belfast Charities Cup **''Runner Up'' 1883–84, 1889–90, 1891–92, 1892–93: 4

External links

Northern Ireland’s Footballing Greats
*

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

Player stats

Irish Cup appearances
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crone, Billy 1863 births 1944 deaths Irish association footballers (before 1923) Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. managers Irish association football managers Association footballers from Belfast Men's association football defenders