Name: William HoustonBorn: 5 October 1906, Ballymena
Died: 2 October 1992, Larne
Position: Outside-Right
Representative Honours: Ireland: 1 Full Cap (1932); Irish League: 5 Caps (1930-1933).
Club Honours: (with Linfield) Irish League Champion; Irish Cup Winner 1929/30, 1930/31, Runner-Up 1931/32, 1936/37; Gold Cup Winner; Co. Antrim Shield Winner 1927/28, 1928/29, 1929/30, 1931/32, 1932/33, 1934/35.
Club Career:
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Signed
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Fee
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League
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FA Cup
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FL Cup
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Other
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Summerfield
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Barn
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Linfield
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1928
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TOTALS
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Biography:
A player with Carrickfergus-based Barn at the time they left the Irish League in 1928, Billy Houston went on to greater honours while starring in Linfield’s forward-line.
While at Windsor Park, Houston won Irish League and Irish Cup medals and played both international and inter-league football, but he will perhaps be most remembered as a member of the Linfield players’ revolt of 1937.
The club were suffering severe financial problems at the tail-end of the 1936/37 season, and come the Charity Cup, could not afford to pay the players’ wages and so asked them to play without remuneration – the players refused. After the (amateur) Linfield Swifts players took over and crashed out of the Cup to Cliftonville, the firstteam came under much criticism from both press and public. In the wake of such criticism thirteen players, including Houston, wrote an open letter to the Belfast Telegraph citing their reasons for refusing to play. There followed a fairly damning public reply from the Linfield management committee. Cash-cutting continued and club-player relations remained strained for quite a period of time.
Ireland Cap Details
:07-12-1932 Wales... A L 1-4 BC
Summary: 1/0. Won 0, Drew 0, Lost 1.
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