William Grassam (20 November 1878 – 1943) was a Scottish

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 as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Career

Grassam played for

Scottish Junior Football Association The Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) is an affiliated national association of the Scottish Football Association and is the governing body for the junior grade of football (soccer), football in Scotland. The term "junior" refers to the ...

sides Redcliffe Thistle and

Maryhill Maryhill () is an area in the north-west of Glasgow in Scotland. A former independent burgh and the heart of an eponymous local authority ward, its territory is bisected by Maryhill Road, part of the A81 road which runs for a distance of ro ...

before joining English side Burslem Port Vale in July 1899. He scored three goals in the opening five Second Division fixtures of the 1899–1900 campaign, and finished the season with ten goals in 41 games. In the summer of 1900 he moved on to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

of the Southern League. On 1 September 1900, he became the first West Ham player to score a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

, when he scored four goals on his debut against Gravesend United. The club finished sixth in 1900–01. He finished as the club's joint-top scorer (with George Ratcliffe) in 1901–02 with 10 goals. After West Ham finished tenth in 1902–03, Grassam returned to Scotland with

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

. In September 1903, he returned to England to join

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. He scored 11 goals in 23 games in his first season with the club, becoming joint-top scorer in the league (with Billy Griffiths and Tommy Arkesden). However, he fell out of favour the following season, contributing just two goals in six league games, before moving on to

Leyton Leyton ( ) is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the Ri ...

in July 1905. He rejoined West Ham later that year, where he built up a solid partnership with Harry Stapley. The

Boleyn Ground Boleyn Ground, often referred to as Upton Park, was a football stadium in Upton Park, London, Upton Park, east London, England. It was the home of West Ham United F.C., West Ham United from 1904 to 2016, and was briefly used by Charlton Athletic ...

club finished 11th in 1905–06, 5th in 1906–07, 10th in 1907–08, 17th in 1908–09, and 9th in 1909–10. Having lost his first-team place to Danny Shea, Grassam moved on to league rivals

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

in 1910. He was the second-highest goal scorer of the period for the "Hammers" behind Shea before the club joined the Football League in 1919.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grassam, Billy 1878 births 1943 deaths People from Larbert Footballers from Falkirk (council area) Scottish men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Maryhill F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Leyton F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players English Football League players Southern Football League players