Moore Billy Image 2 Southend United 1934

Description

Sunderland born goalkeeper Billy Moore began his football career with Limited Yard Apprentices in 1921 and after an unsuccessful trial with Blackburn Rovers, he played for Seaham Colliery in 1923 before signing for Second Division Leeds United in March 1924. He made his Football League debut after their promotion in the summer of 1924, facing Newcastle United in a 1-1 draw at Elland Road that November, and he played five more matches around the turn of the year before losing his place.

In June 1925, he moved to Southend United, giving them eleven years excellent service, making 304 appearances for The Shrimpers. It was while at The Kursaal that he got to play at Wembley Stadium in unusual circumstances. Their away fixture at Clapton Orient’s Lea Bridge Road stadium was moved to Wembley Stadium as Orient’s ground had been closed following a bad injury to a Torquay United player resulting from the close proximity of the pitch barrier to the playing surface. While remedial work was carried out the East Londoners were forced to hire the Empire Stadium to stage two home games. The first resulted in an easy 3-0 win over Brentford in front of a healthy 8,000 plus crowd. However, the visit of Southend United attracted a crowd of only 1,916 which must have looked very odd in vast stadium with a then capacity of 100,000. Billy Moore kept goal in a 3-1 defeat by Clapton Orient, albeit in a Third Division (South) fixture on 6th December 1930.

He left Southend in June 1936 and went back to the north east joining Hartlepools United. He made his debut for The Monkey Hangers in a 1-0 defeat at Port Vale and in total made 16 League appearances for them before retiring in 1937.