William Stage (22 March 1893 – 12 May 1957) was an English professional association footballer who played as an inside forward. He spent the largest part of his career with Bury where he became team captain and helped them reach 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 ...

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

Football career

Stage was born in

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk, North Yorkshire, River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy. From the Middle Ages, Whitby ...

in North Yorkshire and joined nearby

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 ...

in April 1913 as an amateur, signing a professional contract in December 1913. He only made three appearances for 'Boro before

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

caused league football to be suspended. After the war, he joined Scottish club Hibernian, making his

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 k ...

debut at the start of the 1919–20 season. He played in every Hibs match during that season, scoring four league goals, plus one in the cup. Despite having been "ever-present", Stage left Hibernian at the end of the season; he then joined St Bernard's, of the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

. St Bernard's were re-admitted to the Second Division in

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

. In October 1921, Stage returned to England to join Bury, then playing in the Football League Second Division. In

, Stage was part of the Bury team that gained the runners-up position, thus earning promotion to the First Division. Stage went on to become captain of the club, winning the Lancashire Cup in 1926. In June 1928, after making over 200 appearances for Bury, Stage joined First Division rivals,

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

where he remained for two seasons before dropping into the Second Division when he joined

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

in July 1930. By now nearing the end of his career, Stage spent a year at The Dell, mostly assisting the reserves. Described as "a fetcher and forager on the field", Stage only made four first-team appearances, twice in September and twice in November. His final professional appearance came on 22 November 1930, when he scored in a 3–1 defeat at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

Later career

After retiring from professional football, Stage returned to Lancashire where he settled in Bury, buying the Stanley Arms pub with his savings. He continued to play football at a non-league level, turning out for

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road, A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to ...

, Rossendale United and

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

. His daughter, Florence, married the professional cyclist

Reg Harris Reginald Hargreaves Harris OBE (1 March 1920 – 22 June 1992) was an English track racing cyclist in the 1940s and 1950s. He won the world amateur sprint title in 1947, two Olympic silver medals in 1948 and the world professional titl ...

in April 1946.

Honours

Bury *

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 ...

runners-up: 1923–24 *

Lancashire Senior Cup The Lancashire County Football Association Cup (commonly known as the Lancashire Senior Cup) is an association football knockout tournament involving teams from Lancashire, England. It is a County Cup competition of the Lancashire County Footbal ...

winners: 1926.

References

External links

Photograph of Stage on a cigarette card
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stage, Billy 1893 births 1957 deaths Sportspeople from Whitby, North Yorkshire English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Middlesbrough F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players St Bernard's F.C. players Bury F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Darwen F.C. (1870) players Rossendale United F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Footballers from North Yorkshire 20th-century English sportsmen