Willie Cram

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Willie Cram

• Willie Cram, 1908 (DRC) William Hardie Cram was born on Monday, 25th March, 1889, in Larbert, Stirlingshire. The forward appeared as a trialist for George Easton's Thistle in May, 1909, whilst an East Stirlingshire player. Aged 20, he made his only appearance on Saturday, 1st May, 1909, in a 3-1 defeat away to Rangers in the Glasgow Charity Cup. There were no goals for Willie in his one-off appearance for Thistle. His club-list included Vale of Grange, Camelon, East Plean United, East Stirlingshire, Partick Thistle, Broxburn, Falkirk, Kirkcaldy United, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders and Montrose. Willie died on Sunday, 19th April, 1942, in Falkirk, aged 53.

Bio Extra

Willie Cram made his solo Jags’ appearance aged 20 in May 1909. He played in a 3-1 Glasgow Charity Cup loss to Rangers at Ibrox. 1908-09 must rank as one of (homeless) Thistle’s most dismal seasons, with few wins, the lowest points-per-game ratio of all-time and a rank-bottom finish in the SFL 1st Division. Luckily, a stagnant period in the Scottish League set-up meant there was no election ballot and therefore no relegation to worry about. In his mid-teens, Willie played in the juvenile grade with Camelon Rovers and Camelon Hearts and, in 1906, he was selected to play for Stirlingshire Juvenile FA, receiving a cap for this honour. He then made the step up to the juniors, joining Vale of Grange for the 1906-07 season. He signed for the newly formed Camelon Juniors in 1907 and immediately made his way into their record books by scoring against Denny Athletic in the Scottish Junior Cup, their maiden goal in that tournament. Unfortunately the fairy tale ended, as Denny won 3-1. 1907-08 was an encouraging first season, winning the Falkirk and District Cottage Hospital Cup and finishing Runners-up in the Clackmannanshire Junior League. He moved on from Camelon to East Plean United and East Stirlingshire before appearing for Thistle in May 1909 (as a trialist). He moved on to Broxburn, Falkirk, Kircaldy United, and represented the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (2nd/7th A &SH.) Willie returned to Shire for a one-off game in 1915-16 and also featured for Montrose in that same season. On account of his service during WWI, Willie is included in our feature piece, The Partick Thistle returned →.

(DMAC/DRC)

Gallery

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• Willie Cram with Camelon in 1908. (DRC)

• In 1926 Camelon Juniors FC won the Stirlingshire Junior League and Falkirk & District Junior Cup and to celebrate this achievement, a photograph was commissioned with local photographer J.R. Miller. An invitation was extended to the surviving members of the 1908 Cup winning team. William Cram is present in this photo sitting in the front row on the far right. (OSF)

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