William Ralley

William Ralley

Born in Luton in 1879, William was a contemporary of Fred and Bob Hawkes with Luton Stanley and the Town reserves and actually won a first team spot before the illustrious pair.

Playing at either wing or centre-half and surrounded by older professionals he did well but in his second season of 1899-00, with the team shorn of experience, he struggled and after a bad injury sustained in a 4-0 home defeat by Grimsby he decided to give up the professional game.

William became an engineer and worked for Bedford Queens Works, playing for the works team, before passing away in 1939.