William Ivison (5 June 1920 – 12 March 2000) was an English professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. He played club level association football (soccer), for

Gillingham F.C. Gillingham Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent, England. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, the "Gills" play their home matches at Priestfield Stadium. The team compete ...

, and representative level rugby league (RL) for

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and Cumberland and at club level for

Workington Town Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria. Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team. They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 a ...

, as a , i.e. number 13, during the era of contested

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Background

Billy Ivison was born in

Hensingham Hensingham is a suburb of Whitehaven and former civil parish, now in the parish of Whitehaven, in the Copeland district, in the county of Cumbria, England. The ward population taken at the 2011 census was 4,145. In 1931 the parish had a popula ...

, Cumberland, England, and he died aged 79 in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

, England.

Playing career

International honours

Billy Ivison won

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s for

while at Workington Town in 1949 against Wales, and

Other Nationalities The Other Nationalities rugby league team are a rugby league representative team that usually consists of non-English players. They have also played under the name The Exiles and more recently Combined Nations All Stars. They competed in the first ...

, in 1951 against Other Nationalities, in 1952 against Other Nationalities,. Billy Ivison represented

while at Workington Town in 1952 against France (non-

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matches).Edgar, Harry (2007). ''Rugby League Journal Annual 2008 age-110'. Rugby League Journal Publishing. Along with William "Billy" Banks, Edward "Ted" Cahill, Gordon Haynes,

Keith Holliday Keith Holliday (6 April 1934 – 9 March 2017) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1960s. He played at representative level for Great Britain and Yorkshire (captain), and at ...

, Robert "Bob" Kelly,

John McKeown John McKeown is a solo artist based in London, England, signed to Beatroute Records.''Music Week''Beatroute Records makes return 8 August 2009. McKeown previously fronted rock group, Hero. After a European tour with Stereophonics and a numbe ...

, George Parsons and Edward "Ted" Slevin, Billy Ivison's only

appearances came against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

prior to 1957, these matches were not considered as

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

by the

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, and consequently

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were not awarded.

County honours

Billy Ivison represented Cumberland while at Workington Town. Billy Ivison played , and scored a try in Cumberland's 5–4 victory over Australia in the

1948–49 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France The 1948–49 Kangaroo tour was the seventh Kangaroo tour, in which the Australian national rugby league team travelled to Great Britain and France and played thirty-seven matches, including the Ashes series of three Test matches against Great Brit ...

match at the

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Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle, Cumbria, C ...

on Wednesday 13 October 1948, in front of a crowd of 8,818.

Challenge Cup Final appearances

Billy Ivison played and won the

Lance Todd Trophy The Lance Todd Trophy is a trophy in rugby league, awarded to the annual Challenge Cup Final's man of the match. Introduced in 1945–46, the trophy was named in memory of Lance Todd, the New Zealand-born player and administrator, who was killed i ...

's 18–12 victory over

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rovers are one of the last "small ...

in the

1952 Challenge Cup Year 195 ( CXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scrapula and Clemens (or, less frequently, year 948 ''Ab urbe con ...

Final during the 1951–52 season at

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London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on Saturday 19 April 1952, in front of a crowd of 72,093, and played in the 12–21 defeat by Barrow in the

1955 Challenge Cup Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

Final during the 1954–55 season at

on Saturday 30 April 1955, in front of a crowd of 66,513.

Honoured in Workington

Ivison Lane
in Workington is named after Billy Ivison.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org

*(archived by web.archive.org

*(archived by web.archive.org
'It's about time too'30 April 1955 Photograph of Workington Town
(William Ivison is in the centre of middle row wearing a

scrum cap The scrum cap is a form of headgear used by rugby players to protect the ears in the scrum, which can otherwise suffer injuries leading to the condition commonly known as cauliflower ears. Although originally designed for forwards they are now ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivison, William 1920 births 2000 deaths Association footballers not categorized by position British Empire rugby league team players Cumberland rugby league team players England national rugby league team players English footballers English rugby league players Gillingham F.C. players Great Britain national rugby league team players Lance Todd Trophy winners Place of death missing Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Whitehaven Footballers from Cumbria Workington Town players