Return To Football Legends Index

Affectionately known as “Fatty” Foulke, William was a professional goalkeeping legend in late 19th and early 20th Century England. This Edwardian icon was a giant of a man standing 6 ft 4ins with a playing weight varying between 20 and 24 stone. Despite his colossal frame he was wonderfully agile and very light on his feet. The famed football chant, “who ate all the pies”, sung to the tune of “knees up mother Brown” was first sung by Sheffield United fans in 1894 aimed at their larger than life keeper, William Foulke. And this light hearted banter is still sung to this day to deride overweight players and match officials.

He was born in the mining town of Dawley near Telford on 12 April, 1874 but was soon to leave his Shropshire birth place when only four weeks old. For reasons which remain unclear, he was taken to live with his paternal grandparents, James and Jane Foulke, in Blackwell, Derbyshire. As was common in those days his youth passed all too quickly. At 13-years-old he left school to work down the pit as a miner where he remained until football provided an alternate career path and a way out of the colliery way of life.

His unusual height secured him a place in the Blackwell Colliery Football Club keeping goal where he soon became known as the Blackwell Giant. At this stage in his life he was still quite slim, but he stood head and shoulders over his team mates which soon drew the attention of the professional football clubs. 19-year-old William played every game in the 1892/93 season conceding very few goals as the team dominated the Derbyshire League.

For whatever reason, Derby County, Foulke's nearest professional football club didn't sign him, and it was Sheffield United who secured the Blackwell Giant's signature from right under their dithering noses. The deal was done on 28 April,1894 after a Charity Cup Final between Blackwell and Derby Town at Ilkeston. Foulke signed the form in the changing room straight after the game minutes before Derby County's representative rushed into the room to do likewise. That's what the romantics would have us believe, anyway. The transfer fee was £20.00

Foulke played 29 out of 30 league games in his first season with the Blades keeping the superb Arthur Wharton out of the first-team, and incredibly, he only missed three first-team games over the next four years. His wages were raised to £3.00 a week not long after he joined Sheffield with a summer retainer, and records show Foulke and his team mates earned a bonus of ten shillings (50p) for an away win and five shillings for a home win. The average wage for a working man at this time was £1.00 a week and a tradesman would earn about £2.50 a week.

His reputation as a so-called sporting celebrity followed him to Chelsea FC in1905 where his girth as well as reputation continued to grow. His antics were certainly embellished by the press, but the fans loved his eccentricities. One time he swung on the cross bar and it broke bringing the crowds to their knees with laughter and the game to a halt. He often had arguments with crowds and the match officials and was even recorded as chasing a referee out of the changing rooms onto the pitch after a game had finished to admonish the hapless individual. The fact that this 24 stone leviathan was naked at the time made for some great copy. This was seen by many as the reason he only played for his country the one time.

Family considerations cut short his stay in the capital, and he left Chelsea for Second Division Bradford City one year later in 1906. Foulke had married Beatrice Duff, a Blackwell girl, in 1896 and they made Sheffield their home. During his second season at Valley Parade (Bradford City's Ground) his form began to wane. Match reports contained words like “fumble” and “bungle” as the 32-year-old fought off injuries as well as the criticisms from the press and fans. William Foulke's last competitive match was against Gainsborough Trinity where this once colossus of keepers conceded four times in the opening thirty minutes and Trinity won 4-1.

A lot of rubbish has been written about Foulke after he left the football profession, but he like all footballers suffer the same post football dilemma. What do you do next? He remained in Sheffield with his family, and for the first two years he and his wife ran a pub called the Duke, and then they took a corner shop.

 On 29 April, 1916, Foulke watched Sheffield United play Grimsby Town at Bramall Lane, and he fell ill later that same weekend and died on 1 May only 42-years-old. Cirrhosis was cited as the cause of death. The final whistle for this giant of the football world came much too early and, he is buried with his wife, Beatrice, in Sheffield’s Burngreave cemetery.

Return To Football Legends Index