William Halligan (18 February 1886 – 1950) was an Irish professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player, who played as a

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

. Born in

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midland Region, Ir ...

, he started his career in his homeland before moving 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 ...

and playing for seven different

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

clubs. At the end of his career, he also played for two

non-league Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

teams. While playing for

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, he scored the club's first ever goal in the Football League, in a 1–2 loss to Wigan Borough on 27 August 1921. Halligan won two

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the

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 ...

national team and scored one goal for his country, in a 1–2 defeat by

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 ...

on 28 January 1911. His second appearance for Ireland came on 10 February 1912, in the 1–6 loss to

Club career

Halligan's senior career started in his native

, with

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...

, and he later moved on to

Belfast Celtic Belfast Celtic Football Club was an Irish football club. Founded in 1891 in Belfast, it was one of the most successful teams in Ireland until it withdrew permanently from the Irish League in 1949. The club left the league for political reaso ...

. In 1908, he joined

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 ...

, where he played for one season. While playing for Distillery, he was selected to play in an Irish League XI against a Scottish League XI. It was in this match that he was watched by Leeds City, and his performance convinced the club to sign him at the beginning of the 1909–10 season. Halligan scored two goals on his debut for Leeds City in a 5–0 victory against Lincoln City on 1 September 1909. He went on to score a total of 12 goals in the season, helping the side avoid relegation from the

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 tier ...

. His goals for Leeds City saw him signed for a fee of £400 by

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

in February 1910. He played 22 games for the Rams, scoring eight goals for the club, before moving to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

in June 1911 for a fee of £450. In his first season with the club, he played 35 matches and scored 19 goals as the side finished fifth in the Second Division. The following campaign, Halligan achieved a tally of 15 league goals in 32 appearances. Prior to the start of the 1913–14 season, Wolverhampton accepted a bid of £600 from fellow Second Division outfit

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

and he joined them in May 1913. In the following two seasons, Halligan scored 28 league goals in 65 games. He also played seven

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

matches for the side, but failed to score in any of them. As a result of the First World War, competitive football was suspended in England after the 1914–15 season. Halligan played for a number of teams as a guest during the war, including

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 ...

, Chesterfield and

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

, and by the end of the war, he was playing for Lancashire side

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

. When league play restarted at the start of the 1919–20 season, Halligan joined

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

. He scored two goals in 16 matches for the side before signing for

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

on a free transfer in January 1920. In the remainder of the season, he managed six goals in 18 league games. The following campaign, he only made ten league appearances, scoring three goals as the side finished 19th in the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

. In August 1922, Halligan was signed for a fee of £75 by

for the club's first season in the

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North 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 South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated t ...

. On his debut for Nelson, he scored the club's first ever Football League goal, in the 1–2 defeat by Wigan Borough on 27 August 1921. His spell with the Blues ended in June 1922, after a total of six goals in 17 appearances for the side. Upon leaving Nelson, he joined

Midland League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midl ...

outfit Boston Town. He left to join Wisbech Town in 1924, and played there for one season before retiring at the end of the 1924–25 season, aged 39.

International career

Halligan won two

for the Ireland national football team. His first cap for his country came on 28 January 1911. He scored on his international debut, in the 1–2 loss to

. His second game for Ireland came over a year later, when he was selected to play in the 1–6 defeat by

on 10 February 1912. Following the First World War, Halligan was chosen by his country to play in two

Victory international The term Victory International or Victory Internationals refers to two series of international association football, football matches played by the national football teams of England national football team, England, Scotland national football team ...

matches. The first match ended in a 1–2 defeat away to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

on 22 March 1919. Just under one month later, on 19 April 1919, he played in the return game at home to Scotland, which finished as a 0–0 draw.

External links

Billy Halligan biography
at the NIFG {{DEFAULTSORT:Halligan, Billy 1886 births 1950 deaths Association footballers from Athlone Irish association footballers (before 1923) Cliftonville F.C. players Belfast Celtic F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Leeds City F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Nelson F.C. players Boston Town F.C. (1920s) players Wisbech Town F.C. players Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Ireland (IFA) men's wartime international footballers NIFL Premiership players