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Fullname: William McCafferty
aka: Willie McCafferty, Bill McCafferty
Born: 9 Dec 1882
Birthplace: Rutherglen
Died: 17 April 1929
Signed: 14 Mar 1902 (from Rutherglen Glencairn)
Left: 7 Nov 1903 (to Stenhousemuir)
Position: Outside-right
Debut: Celtic 0-1 Hibernian, Scottish Cup, 26 Apr 1902
Internationals: none
Biog
Outside-right William McCafferty was signed by Celtic in March 1902 from Rutherglen Glencairn.
He made his first team debut in a 1-0 defeat to Hibs in the Scottish Cup final on April 26 1902, curious match to have a debut as it was a high profile match and he had not played in any of the matches in the run-up. He almost made himself a hero, when Celtic had the first big chance of the second half, after George Livingstone “shook the uprights with a grand shot” but William McCafferty failed to score the easy rebound.
One post-match report stated:
“The Celts were without Campbell, and this let in McCafferty again, a lad with plenty of dash but still lacking in balance for a game of such importance.”
Defeat may have been sore for the Celtic players, but the bittersweet fact for Hibs fans was that they were to not win another Scottish Cup final again for 100 years.
He went on to make just a solitary league appearance with Celtic – against Rangers in a 1-1 home draw in October – before being loaned out to Bolton Wanderers.
Despite the lack of match appearances, interestingly, he still got to play one game for Celtic v Rangers in the league and played one game for Celtic in a Scottish Cup final. So effectively he managed to condense a whole lifetime’s ambition of many Celtic fans in a brief spell at the club, albeit he never managed a win in either of those two games or get to lift any major silverware.
He didn’t progress further at Celtic, signing on for Stenhousemuir on 7 November 1903. He moved around various clubs including Reading, Birmingham, Portsmouth and Brentford. He wrapped up his football career with Bathgate in 1912.
He passed away prematurely in 1929, sadly dying whilst at work in an Ex-Service Men’s club in Rutherglen at the age of 45.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1902 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 2 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
none
Pictures
Articles
(Note: the above obituary got the 1901 Scottish Cup result wrong, as it was Hibs and not Celtic who won that cup final that season. Final result Hibs 1-0 Celtic).
