William McCauley Humphries (born 8 June 1936), known as Billy Humphries, is a Northern Irish former

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 winger. He played in the Irish League with

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 ...

and

Ards Ards (or ARDS, ARDs) may refer to: Medical * ARDS, Acute respiratory distress syndrome * ARDs, age-related diseases Places * Ards Peninsula, Northern Ireland ** Ards (territory), several historical territorial divisions on the Ards Peninsula ...

, and in England with

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

and Swansea Town in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He won 14 international cap for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. He also won three amateur caps for Northern Ireland and twelves caps for the

Irish League representative team The Irish League representative team was the representative side of the Irish Football League, the national league for football in Northern Ireland from 1922 and, prior to that the league for Ireland. The Irish League was suspended from 1941–42 ...

Career

Humphries was a member of

' first and only League championship team in 1957–58. He signed for

in September 1958, but, not having settled, he returned home to Ards in November 1959. During his second spell at Ards he won his first international cap in April 1962 against

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 ...

. The international appearance brought Humphries to the attention of

Jimmy Hill James William Thomas Hill, Order of the British Empire, OBE (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was an English football in England, footballer and later a television personality. His career included almost every role in the sport, including pla ...

, the

manager, who paid Ards a £14,000 transfer fee a week after the match in Wales. Humphries ended up with fourteen international caps. Humphries won the Third Division title with Coventry in 1963–64, scoring ten goals. During the following season he moved to Second Division Swansea Town, but ended up relegated at the end of the season, and relegated again to the Fourth Division in 1967. He was released by Swansea in June 1968, and returned to Northern Ireland for his third spell at Ards. He won 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 ...

in 1969 and was named as

Ulster Footballer of the Year The Ulster Footballer of the Year is an association football player of the year award in Northern Ireland. One of two player of the year awards in Northern Ireland, the other is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association award. The Ulst ...

for 1969-70 and again for 1971–72. He was also the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Player of the Year for 1971–72. Player-manager from 1970, he was a member of Ards' four-trophy-winning team in 1973–74, winning Irish Cup,

Ulster Cup The Ulster Cup was an annual football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football' ...

, Gold Cup and

Blaxnit Cup The Blaxnit Cup, is a defunct club football competition which featured teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland, in a similar format to the later Setanta Cup. It was inaugurated in 1967 as a cross-border competition between ...

medals. He retired as a player in 1976, aged 39, but served as Ards manager until 1978, and again from 1980 to 1982. He then managed Bangor from 1983 to 1985.

Honours

* Irish League: 1957–58 *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 Football League, 1920–21 and again from 1958–59 Football League, 1958 until 1991–92 Football League, 1992. When the FA Premier League ...

: 1963–64 *

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

: 1965–66 *

: 1968–69, 1973–74 *

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 ...

: 1971–72 *

: 1973–74 * Gold Cup: 1973–74 Individual *

: 1969–70, 1971–72 *

Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Player of the Year The Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Player of the Year (often called the NIFWA Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in the NIFL Premiership. It is one of two a ...

: 1971–72.

Sources

* M. Brodie (ed.), ''Northern Ireland Soccer Yearbook 2009-2010'', p. 102. Belfast:Ulster Tatler Publications
Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Humphries, Billy Living people 1936 births Men's association football wingers Northern Ireland men's international footballers Irish League representative players Northern Ireland men's amateur international footballers Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Players of the Year NIFL Premiership players Ulster Footballers of the Year Glentoran F.C. players Ards F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Association football managers from Northern Ireland Ards F.C. managers Bangor F.C. managers Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland English Football League players Men's association football player-managers NIFL Premiership managers