Bill Purves

Irish footballer

William Purves
Personal information
Full name	William Michael Purves
Date of birth	1870
Place of birth	Belfast, Ireland
Position(s)	Right back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
18??–1893	Glentoran
1893–1897	Birmingham ^[a]	40	(0)
1897–1???	Glentoran
International career
1894–1898	Irish League	3	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

William Michael Purves (1870 – after 1900) was an Irish professional footballer who played as a right back. He made 40 appearances in the Football League, playing for Small Heath in the 1890s.^[1] He played three times for the Irish League representative team.^[2]^[3]

Purves was born in Belfast and played for Glentoran before coming to England to join Small Heath^[4] in March 1894. He played in the last three matches of the 1893–94 Football League regular season and in the test match that confirmed their ascent to the First Division.^[1]^[5] He played every game of the club's first top-flight season, but lost his place to Frank Lester in 1895–96^[6] and returned to Glentoran. From 1900 he acted as Glentoran's trainer.^[4]

Notes

^ The Matthews source misattributes to Purves a League appearance made by Bernard Pumfrey on 30 December 1893, some time before Purves joined Small Heath.

^ ^a ^b "Purves, W (William)" . English National Football Archive. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
^ Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 214. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
^ jcd. "Irish League representative match line-ups". Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats (NIFG). Retrieved 13 January 2025.
^ ^a ^b Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
^ "Small Heath". Football Club History Database. Richard Rundle. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
^ Matthews, pp. 142–143.

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