A goalkeeper with Stockton, William Callaghan was in their 1912 FA Amateur Cup-winning team that beat Eston United in a replay at Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park ground. A month later, he was selected as one of the reserves for the Great Britain team at the Stockholm Olympics. Shortly after the start of the 1912-13 season, Callahan was involved in a serious accident, when he fell 30-feet (9m) from scaffolding while working as a carpenter on the construction of a ship in a Thornaby shipyard. As a result, he suffered injuries to his spine, and received a fractured wrist. This accident seemed to end his footballing career, as little is reported about him after that date. In 1944, Callaghan, then a foreman shipwright for the Stockton Construction Company, was honoured with the B.E.M. (British Empire Medal) which he received at Buckingham Palace the following year.
Great Britain