30-04-28: Heart of Midlothian (a) 2-1 (HT 2-0) Crowd (7,000)

William Collins (Willie) White was born in Kerry Cowdie on 5th March 1895 and joined Bedlay Juniors before turning professional with Hamilton Academicals and making his debut in the 1919-20 season, when he played thirty-one League games and soon established himself as the club's first choice goalkeeper. He was ever-present in 1920-21, making forty-two League appearances which was followed by thirty-eight in 1921-22. After one hundred and eleven League games for Hamilton, he and his younger brother, inside-forward John, both joined Heart of Midlothian at the beginning of the 1922-23 season and he continued to cement his place as the club's first choice keeper with thirty League games in his first season followed by thirty-seven in each of the next two seasons and thirty-five in the 1925-26 season. A very popular goalkeeper, he represented the Scottish League on four occasions. On 31st October 1923 against the Irish League in a 1-0 win in Belfast. 15th March 1924 saw him and the Leeds centre-half Tom Townsley, who was then at Falkirk, against the Football League in a 1-1 draw at Ibrox. His third representative game was in a 7-3 thrashing of the Irish League at Cliftonville in Belfast on 11th November 1925 and his fourth and final game was against the Football League in a 0-2 defeat at Parkhead, Glasgow. His final two seasons did not produce many appearances and he was sold to Southampton for £800 after making one hundred and sixty League appearances at Tynecastle. He went on to play four seasons at the Dell, making one hundred and one League appearances, before going into Non-League football with Aldershot, Weymouth and Wellington Town. After football he ran the Greyhound Inn in Cossack Street Southampton, before returning north of the border on retirement. He died in Glasgow on 28th November 1974. His three brothers were also noted footballers. John with Hearts, Leeds and Scotland, while Tom was with Hearts and Alloa Athletic and James with Albion Rovers and Motherwell before becoming one of the pioneers who went to the USA, where he played six seasons with Fall River Marksmen and a year at New York Yankees and New Bedford Whalers.

Match Report

Leeds United, who had qualified for promotion from the Second to the First Division of the English League, defeated Heart of Midlothian at Tynecastle, Edinburgh in an evening kick off on 30th April 1928, in a benefit match for Willie White, the Hearts goalkeeper. Both sides fielded strong sides, the visiting eleven included John White, brother of Willie White, and former Hearts forward, Tom Townsley, formerly of Falkirk and Tom Jennings, a one-time Raith Rovers player. A good deal of "exhibition" football was seen, but in the second half the proceedings became lively, with Hearts endeavouring to work off a two goal deficit. The better display came from Leeds United, who showed excellent team play and fine ball control, particularly in the first half, when Jennings, wainscoat and White all had good tries for goal. Wainscoat headed through a cross from the right, to open the scoring after thirty minutes and added a second goal before the interval, the shot in this case being of the "soft" order. His cleverness with both head and feet made Wainscoat the outstanding forward in the game. The Hearts' challenge in the second half was ably resisted by the Leeds defenders, among whom Townsley did good work to keep out Devlin. Smith was about the best Hearts forward. He missed a penalty but scored a good goal six minutes from the close. An "incident" occured when Johnston of the Hearts brought Mitchell down rather heavily, and the referee, J.W. Roberts of Edinburgh, took the unusual course of calling the players together to administer a "lecture" About 7,000 spectators were present. (Teams Courtesy Steve Bell)