Willie Rutherford

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Willie Rutherford
Personal information
Date of birth (1945-01-19)19 January 1945
Place of birth Lochgelly, Fife, Scotland
Date of death 24 October 2010(2010-10-24) (aged 65)
Place of death Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Methil Youth Club
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1965–1968 East Fife 27 (11)
1968 Forfar Athletic 5 (5)
– Sydney Hakoah
1973–1974 Kwong Wah 14 (8)
National team
1969 Australia 6 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

William MacDonald Rutherford (19 January 1945 – 24 October 2010) was an Australian soccer player.

Playing career[]

Club career[]

Rutherford played youth football for Methil before signing with East Fife where he made 27 league appearances, scoring 11 goals.[1] In the late 1960s he moved to Forfar Athletic where he made only five appearances before emigrating to Australia.[1]

Arriving in Australia in 1968, Rutherford joined Sydney Hakoah, where he played in several stints until the mid-1970s. He also played in Hong Kong during the Australian off-season.[2][3]

While playing for Hakoah, he represented the state of New South Wales three times. During his time with the club he was noted as a mercurial, unpredictable but undeniably brilliant player, rated by some as Sydney’s most valuable forward....[4]

Rutherford was a very fast runner who took up professional running with some success in the 1970s.

International career[]

Rutherford played six times for the Australia national team. All of his matches were played in 1969 during Australia's failed qualification for the 1970 FIFA World Cup.[5]

Outside Football[]

A building industry supervisor, Rutherford married once and later divorced. He and his former wife had one son.

References[]

  1. ^ a b Willie Rutherford at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
  2. ^ "Vale Willie Rutherford". MyFootball. Football Federation Australia. 28 October 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  3. ^ "Rutherford, Willie". Australian Player Database. OzFootball. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  4. ^ Dettre, Andrew (29 August 1969). "World Cup Prospects". Soccer World. p. 3. mercurial, unpredictable but undeniably brilliant'. 'Rutherford is an enigma. At his best I rate him Sydney’s most valuable forward, who can win matches on his own. His speed with the ball, explosive bursts and quick snap-shots could cause havoc in Seoul.
  5. ^ The Australian National Men’s Football Team: Caps And Captains. Football Federation Australia.

External links[]


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