Bryant Billy Image 2 Millwall 1927

Description

Ghent, Belgium born centre half Billy Bryant played amateur football first with Chelmsford and then with Clapton after the end of the First World War and developed into one of the best amateur footballers outside of the Football League, becoming Clapton’s club captain. While with Clapton he represented The Isthmian League and made his England Amateur debut in a 3-2 victory over Ireland at Cliftonville Gardens, Belfast in November 1924, winning 7 Amateur caps through to November 1927 and scoring twice for The Amateurs. He captained them in his last two amateur international appearances. He also played in the remarkable 1925 and 1926 FA Charity Shield victories, where The Amateurs beat The Professionals on each occasion, scoring 6 goals in both games.

In May 1925, still a Clapton player, he was awarded a full England cap on England’s post season European tour, when he played in a 3-2 victory over France in Paris in what was to be his only England appearance. In August 1925 he joined Division Three (South) Millwall, still an amateur, and made his Football League debut at Crystal Palace the same month, where he soon became a first team regular. He scored 12 goals in 34 appearances as Millwall won the Division Three (South) Championship in 1927-28, which included a hat-trick in a 9-1 win over Torquay United in the second game of the season. He played six seasons in total for The Lions, making his last appearance in October 1930 having scored 30 goals in 139 appearances before re-joining Clapton in May 1931, retiring in 1933.