Biography
Billy Bly was born in Walker, the riverside east end of Newcastle Upon Tyne. After a junior career at Walker Boys Club and Northern Amateur League side Walker Temperance, which saw him selected for the Newcastle Schoolboys XI as a half back, he joined North Eastern League side Walker Celtic for the 1936/37 season where he settled between the goalposts, Bly joined the Tigers in July 1937, two months after his seventeenth birthday.
There are two things that most City fans know about Billy Bly. One is that he played for the club for a long time – he made his first team debut in April 1939, five months before the Second World War began, played his last game 21 years later in March 1960 and lies in the top ten of all-time senior appearance makers for the club. Another is that he was a battered and bashed-around figure who suffered numerous breaks, bruises, strains and twangs at the hands of brutal onrushing strikers, and those injuries regularly kept him out of the side, giving his numerous understudies a couple of weeks or more to ply their trade in the first team. And both of those things are perfectly true.
But there is a third, less heralded truth about Billy Bly. He was, despite his relatively diminutive 5 foot 10 inch stature, quite simply one of the finest English goalkeepers of his generation. Billy joined the Forces effort in February 1941 and during those war years Bly, still in his early 20s, was frequently chosen to play in Combined Services representative games ahead of goalkeepers who went on to have decorated Division One and international careers after the hostilities ended – he also played occasionally for Dumbarton, Hamilton Academical and Lincoln City during the war. When he was to spend his longest period out of the first XI during the 1950/51 season, with Raich Carter preferring former WW2 prisoner of war Joe Robinson between the sticks, the club fielded and resisted approaches from top flight clubs wanting to acquire Bly’s services. He was brave, at a time when bravery was an absolute must, he was the master of the one-on-one diving save at a striker’s feet, he was superbly agile and supple, he was quick and dominant around his box. He was the full package, and only a string of misfortunes denied him the chance to edge his way towards international recognition, none more so than in March 1954 when he broke a wrist days after being selected for the England B team. This came a month after Bly turned in what some considered his finest career performance to resist the attacking threat of Tottenham Hotspur in an FA Cup tie (a feat repeated against the same opposition by his successor Boaz Myhill, 56 years later in a Premier League game).
It seems facile to chronicle the detail of each of Bly’s fourteen post-war seasons in which he saw first team action for his only League club. He played, he made great saves, he impressed, he got some painful knock or other, he missed a few games, he returned to the first team a couple of weeks later. And repeat, almost ad infinitum. He was a regular starter in the 1948/49 season when City overwhelmed all-comers in Division Three North and raced to both the title and the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup. He repeated the promotion feat ten years later when under manager Bob Brocklebank he missed only one league game all season. His City career came to a somewhat unsatisfactory end in May 1960, with the club’s management issuing curt statements about his departure and initially refusing a testimonial game. When City relented and a benefit match was arranged for November 1961, the club refused to field the first team and a squad of ex-Tigers was assembled instead to play an All-Star XI – although that side itself was shorn of some of its star quality because ex-England forward Nat Lofthouse was receiving a similar testimonial the same night. It was a slightly grubby end to a marvellously talented and incredibly lengthy career.
By the time he left the Tigers in the 1960 close season Billy had started second careers as a sweet shop owner and an estate agent. In July 1961 he joined Yorkshire League side Hull Brunswick, then in November 1961, at 41 years of age, Bly answered an SOS from Frank O’Farrell, player manager at Southern League side Weymouth, who had reached the FA Cup Second Round and were left without an experienced goalkeeper after Bob Charles, Weymouth’s first choice netminder, had broken an elbow in the First Round win over Barnet. O’Farrell had Bly recommended to him by City’s new boss Cliff Britton. Billy agreed to spend the rest of the 1961/62 season with Weymouth, he returned to Hull in May 1962 and spent three more seasons at Hull Brunswick as player-coach, playing well into his 40s.
In the 1970s Bly assisted the management team at North Ferriby United where his son Roy was playing, his dual association with The Villagers and The Tigers meant that his name was to remain in the public gaze for many years to follow in the guise of the annual pre-season match between the two clubs, competing for the Billy Bly Memorial Trophy. This came about after Bly died in March 1982 at the relatively young age of 61. during the later years of his life he had pursued a third career as a painter/decorator at Everthorpe Borstal, his artistic streak combined with his painting duties led him to encourage the young inmates of Everthorpe to learn new skills and put their lives on the straight and narrow.
It is hard to say whether Billy Bly was Hull City’s finest goalkeeper – different eras, different interpretations of the laws and different expectations make the comparison nigh-on impossible. He was definitely in the top two though. A proper Hull City legend.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 15 May 1920, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Hull City First Game: 1 April 1939, Rotherham United A (Division Three North), 18 years, 321 days old
Hull City Final Game: 26 March 1960, Bristol Rovers A (Division Two), 39 years, 316 days old
Clubs
Walker Temperance, Walker Celtic (1936-1937), Hull City (1937-1960), Hull Brunswick (1961), Weymouth (1961-1962), Hull Brunswick (1962-1965)
Hull City Record
Career: 438 apps, 0 goals
Billy Bly| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937/38 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1938/39 | 8 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1946/47 | 21 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1947/48 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1948/49 | 38 | 0 | 7 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1949/50 | 38 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1950/51 | 5 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1951/52 | 34 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1952/53 | 21 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1953/54 | 26 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1954/55 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1955/56 | 26 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1956/57 | 40 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1957/58 | 26 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1958/59 | 45 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1959/60 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
My Dad, Billy Bly in fact answered an S.O.S. from Weymouth in November 1961 , ex Preston player Frank O’Farrell player manager at Weymouth asked his ex Preston colleague Cliff Britton ( new Hull City manager) if he could recommend a goalkeeper as Bob Charles, Weymouth goalie had a compound fractured elbow playing in their 1st round F.A. Cup win 1-0 against Barnet. Billy played on the next 2nd round win 1-0 against Newport.
He gave a lot of motivation and inspiration to the Weymouth squad by his disciplined work rate. They went on to beat Morecombe away 0-1 before being drawn away to Preston !
Preston beat Weymouth 2-0 in the 4th round . Billy went onto play for the remainder of the season for Weymouth where they finished higher up in the league from a low position when he started to help them .
I saw your dad play many times as I was a native of Hull.
He was a fearless keeper; a credit to his club, and a gentleman.
A privilege to have seen him in action.