William Joseph Fallon (14 January 1912 – 23 March 1989) was an Ireland international footballer. His career spanned twenty years during the 1930s and 1940s. Fallon played for several clubs in the English League, most notably

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

and

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

, and in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

. He won an

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

winners medal and League of Ireland title with

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

and Shelbourne respectively. He also scored in three FAI Cup finals for three different teams –

Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne. After retirement from football, Fallon lived in the

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

area and worked in the building trade. He died on 23 March 1989.''"The Wednesday Boys"'', Jason Dickinson & John Brodie, Pickard Communication, , pages 101, Gives general biography.

Club career

Early years

Fallon originally played

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

before he joined Brideville. While playing for

he made the first of three scoring appearances in

finals. Fallon played in the

1932–33 FAI Cup The FAI Cup 1932/33 was the twelfth edition of Ireland's premier cup competition, The Football Association of Ireland Challenge Cup or FAI Cup. The tournament began on 26 December 1932 and concluded on 26 March 1933 with the final replay held at ...

final against

. His Dolphin teammates included Joe Kendrick and Jeremiah Robinson. Fallon scored in the 3–3 draw but Dolphin lost the replay 3–0.

Notts County

Fallon signed for

in February 1934. Between

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

and

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

he made 120 English League appearances and scored 20 goals. Fallon returned to County for a second spell in 1946–47 making a further 15 league appearances and scoring 3 goals.Profile from www.doingthe92.com
/ref>

Sheffield Wednesday

Fallon signed for

from

for a transfer few of £3,000 plus Jack Roy. He was signed by Wednesday manager

Jimmy McMullan James McMullan (26 March 1895 – 28 November 1964) was a Scottish football player and manager. He won 16 Scotland caps as a player at half-back and was part of the famous ''" Wembley Wizards"'' side of 1928. Playing career Early life and T ...

as a replacement for Ellis Rimmer. He made his debut for Wednesday on 19 March 1938 in a 1–0 home defeat to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

, playing in all ten of the remaining League games of that 1937–38 season. He formed an exciting left wing partnership with Charlie Napier in the 1938–39 season, appearing in 40 matches in all competitions, scoring 11 goals as Wednesday missed out on promotion from the Second Division to city rivals Sheffield United by one point.Sheffield Wednesday Archive
Details Sheffield Wednesday career. One of Fallon's best displays for Wednesday was against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

in November 1938 when he teased and tormented the Canaries' defence in a 7–0 win."''The Men Who Made Sheffield Wednesday Football Club''", Tony Matthews, Fallon had a lucky escape just before Christmas 1938 when the car he was travelling in, together with fellow Wednesday player Ted Catlin, skidded in snow at Wadsley Bridge and hit a telegraph pole. Both players went to hospital and were out of the team for several weeks.''"One Hundred Years at Hillsborough"'', Jason Dickinson, , page 94, Gives details of motor accident. On 2 September 1939 Fallon appeared in the final Sheffield Wednesday match before the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

against Plymouth Argyle. After the war Fallon returned to Wednesday, but he did not figure in their plans and was given a free transfer back to Notts County in June 1946.

League of Ireland

Following the outbreak of the

, Fallon returned to Ireland where he joined the

Irish Army The Irish Army () is the land component of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Defence Forces of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. ...

and played for three different clubs –

, Shelbourne and

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

. He played for Rovers during the 1939–40 season, helping them win the FAI Cup. Fallon scored in the 3–0 win in the final against

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

. The 1940–41 season saw Fallon switch to Shelbourne. During the 1943–44 season Fallon helped Shels win a league double, winning both the league itself and the League of Ireland Shield. Shels almost won a treble but lost 3–2 to Shamrock Rovers in the FAI Cup final. Fallon did however manage to score his third FAI Cup final goal.

Exeter City

In the 1947–48 season Fallon played for

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. Among his teammates at City was his younger brother, Peter Fallon, who also played for

and

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

in the 1940s.

Peterborough United

Fallon finished his playing career with Peterborough United, then playing in the

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

. His career ended when he suffered a broken collar bone playing for Peterborough reserves against

International career

Ireland

Between 1934 and 1939 Fallon made nine appearances and scored twice for

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 ...

. He made his first five appearances while playing for

and his last four while playing for

. Fallon made his international debut on 16 December 1934 in a 4–2 home defeat against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. Fallon's first three international appearances were all against the same opponents. Fallon scored his first goal for Ireland on 6 December 1936 against Hungary. He opened the scoring after twenty minutes with a long range effort. However Hungary eventually won 3–2. He scored his second in a 3–2 win against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

on 13 November 1938. Once again he opened the scoring, this time after ten minutes. Two minutes later he provided

Johnny Carey John Joseph Carey (23 February 1919 – 22 August 1995) was an Irish professional footballer and manager. As a player, Carey spent most of his career at Manchester United, where he was team captain from 1946 until he retired as a player in 195 ...

with an assist from a corner to make it 2–0. During his time playing for Ireland, Fallon also featured in two European tours. In May 1937 Fallon played in away games against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. In May 1939 he also played in away games against Hungary and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. These were the last two games Ireland played before the outbreak of the

League of Ireland XI

During the

Fallon also played for the

League of Ireland XI The League of Ireland XI, more recently referred to as the Airtricity League XI for sponsorship reasons, is the representative team of the League of Ireland, the national association football league of Ireland. For much of its history, the League ...

. During The Emergency, the League of Ireland XI played regularly against the Irish League XI and the Irish Army XI. During the 1941–42 season Fallon also played for the Irish Army XI against the League of Ireland XI and helped the Army team win 4–1.

Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fallon, Willie 1912 births 1989 deaths Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Dundalk F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players League of Ireland XI players League of Ireland players English Football League players Irish Army soldiers Men's association football outside forwards Dolphin F.C. (Ireland) players 20th-century Irish sportsmen