Author: Bill Williams

All his life, Bill Williams have been passionate about sports, both as a player and an avid follower. In his earlier life, Bill played football (soccer) to a high standard and was associated with three professional clubs in England, although he was not a Gordon Banks, Pat Jennings, or Peter Shilton. Those who follow the sport will know from the three names mentioned that his position was that of goalkeeper. Once it became apparent that he would not aspire to super stardom, he played and coached at the semi-professional level for some fifteen years with a number of nonleague clubs in and around the London area. Besides football, which was exclusively a winter sport in those days, he competed in cricket, basketball and excelled in the one hundred meters, two hundred meters, and long jump in his school athletics. Being a tall guy, he was quick. If he didn’t play a sport at a competitive level, he did so for fun, and of course, he kept track of everything sport via newspapers and the TV. His passion though was always football, and when he was not playing he was a regular supporter, home and away, of the team he followed as a small boy, namely West Ham United. Bill was born in the East End of London, so it should be no surprise that his allegiances were to the local team. His father on the other hand was a Chelsea supporter, which manifested into a lot of good natured rivalry at home. His dad and his side of the family hailed from South West London and his mother was a Cockney girl and him a Cockney boy.