Billy McOwen

Billy McOwen
Personnel
Surname	William Arthur McOwen
birthday	March 18, 1871
place of birth	Blackburn ,  England
date of death	December 27, 1950
Place of death	Darwen ,  England
position	goal
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
	Cherry tree
	Blackburn Olympic
1887-1890	Blackburn Rovers	14 (0)
1890-1892	FC Darwen	17 (0)
1892-1894	Liverpool FC	23 (0)
	Blackpool FC
	Nelson FC
1 Only league games are given.

William Arthur "Billy" McOwen (born March 18, 1871 in Blackburn , † December 27, 1950 in Darwen ) was an English football player . The goalkeeper was active between 1887 and 1894 as a professional with Blackburn Rovers , Darwen FC and Liverpool FC .

Career

McOwen played as an amateur at Cherry Tree and Blackburn Olympic before joining the Blackburn Rovers in 1887 and turning pro. The goalkeeper, who is only 170 cm tall, was initially behind the English national goalkeeper Herbie Arthur as a substitute keeper. The club officials remained skeptical about McOwen's abilities and hesitated to replace Arthur, who was always in shape, and only after Arthur suffered a serious knee injury did McOwen appear on a number of occasions. The break between player and club finally led to the signing of goalkeeper Jack Horne in early 1890, who played the final rounds when he won the FA Cup . This offended McOwen so much that he announced that he would never want to wear the Blackburn jersey again and in the summer of 1890 left the club for Darwen FC .

Darwen was accepted into the Football League in 1891 , but had no chance in the English elite league and was at the bottom of the table with only four wins and three draws from 26 games and a goal difference of 38: 112. McOwen played 17 games this season, in his last game he conceded a 12-0 defeat against West Bromwich Albion , a record result for a game in the English top division to date. Darwen was subsequently not re-elected and was relegated to the newly created Football League Second Division . During the break of the season, McOwen broke his contract with Darwen and moved to Liverpool in the Lancashire League . There he was the only English "Mac" in the "Team of the Macs", as the team was also called due to the numerous Scottish players, but in the 1892/93 season only substitute goalkeeper behind Sidney Ross and only came to him after his injury in April 1893 his first use. For the season 1893/94 Liverpool was elected to the Football League Second Division and went with McOwen, who is said to have been an outspoken penalty specialist, as a goalkeeper in the season. The team rose to the end of the season without defeat and with only twelve goals conceded in 28 games as champions in the First Division. To prevent goals, McOwen had a special trick ready: if a high ball threatened his goal, he would hang himself on the bar and pull it down. What made the audience amused, forced the English Association to give instructions to the referees to still give goals that were prevented in this way; especially since two other goalkeepers, Adam Oglivie from Blackburn Rovers and Jack Hillman from Burnley FC , used this practice.

Although the club was very interested in a further commitment McOwen after the rise, he left Liverpool FC and went to his civil profession as a dentist, where his earning potential was far higher than in football. He allowed himself to be reamateurised and continued his football career first at Blackpool FC and later at Nelson FC in the Lancashire League.

literature

• Mike Jackman: Blackburn Rovers - The Official Encyclopaedia . Breedon Books, Derby 1994, ISBN 1-873626-70-3 , pp. 156 .
• Michael Joyce: Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939 . 2nd revised edition. Soccerdata, Nottingham 2004, ISBN 1-899468-67-6 , pp. 174 .
• Doug Lamming: Who's Who of Liverpool 1892–1989 . Breedon Books, Derby 1989, ISBN 0-907969-55-0 , pp. 102 .

Web links

• Profile at lfchistory.net