Izzy and Billy

Elizabeth Lafferty, known as Izzy, was Billy Bremner’s best friend from The Raploch. She was the same age as Billy and played football with him at every opportunity. She remained friends with Billy until his death in 1997, and in adult life regularly visited the Bremner family and attended Billy’s games for Leeds, Hull and Scotland, and as a manager with Doncaster Rovers and Leeds United. At the time of the project she continued to live in the Raploch, and to be immensely proud of her community which gave Scotland one of its greatest ever players, Billy Bremner. 

What follows is the highlights of our interview with Izzy recorded at her home in Raploch in the spring of 2022. 

We asked Izzy when she first knew Billy, and here is her response: 

As far as I can go back, Billy and I and my brother Tony and that – we all started meeting as a 3 year old – there were no nurseries then – so we just ran around the Raploch with jam pieces [sandwiches]. He was born here and we spent our time together right up till he went to Leeds and then I went to the army – he was playing with Leeds United then. We played from yon size [indicating they were knee high] and then went down to the catholic school – St Marys. It wasn’t till he went to secondary school that they noticed his ability.

Izzy Lafferty

Izzy went on to tell us more about playing football with Billy and attending the local primary school St. Mary’s: 

Aye, we used to play football together all the time. With my wellies on, cos then you couldn’t afford shoes. We played at the school but then we played other schools all-round the area. I was in the team. I was the only girl in the team. Aye, the school let me be on the team. We used to go and play in other villages. Other teams would say “you’ve got a lass in your team” and the guy that ran it, David Buchanan, used to say, “You watch her play. You will see how many boys she can beat”. Some teams bothered about it and others didn’t. We played in the Raploch team. We used to play Cowie, Bannockburn, St Ninians and that. There were no leagues then, it was just village teams meeting up and having games against one another. The boys on my team were fine.

Izzy Lafferty

We wanted to know about when and where she played football, and Izzy revealed how important football was to her and Billy growing up:

Aye all the time, we used to kick about the street, from lamppost to lamppost. We got our football off of my dad’s brother, my uncle Johnnie. He was known as the best left footer in Stirlingshire at the time. Uncle didn’t play for a team but his sons did. We would play at Shell Park. No bother to play there. You had the army camp, they had a beautiful pitch. We used to sneak in through the fence and play there and sometimes some of the soldiers used to come and chase you. There would be a few of us sneaking in, enough to make a football team. We were playing nearly every day. That’s all you had to do, there was nothing else you could do.

Izzy Lafferty

Izzy continued:

I lived in Duff Crescent and Billy lived in Weir Street, and to get from Duff Crescent to the school you have to pass through Weir Street. Billy used to wait at the top of the road. Sometimes we had a football to play with and sometimes if there was one left in a garden, we would take that and then we had a ball for the next game. It was a kind of sharing. We would play all day in the summer.

Izzy Lafferty

We asked Izzy if she played matches and how long did that continue? She recalled her dad saying that Billy “was going to go somewhere, but you were as good as him”. “Aye”, she noted, “I was as good as him. Even in my wellies!” Izzy and Billy played together at school, for St. Margaret’s Boys Club, and for general kickabouts. She recalled:

We didn’t go away for tournaments, there was the boys club at the top of the town and we used to go there. In the summer you could go there to get something to eat and then we would meet there and play football. It was a big group of us going off and I was still the only girl. It went on all through primary and then when I went to St Modans, a bus ride away, would get a season ticket from the chapel. Played football in the playground, with a bit of wood because you weren’t allowed a ball. There were a few girls when I was at school who wanted to play and we never ever got to play. Some of us would go to the park at St Modans amongst the laddies to play football but we used to get taken in and telt off.

Izzy Lafferty

Izzy mentioned that there was little else to do in Raploch but play football, which her mother didn’t mind:

We didn’t know anything else. There are a lot of nice people from the Raploch believe you me. My mum did not mind me playing football she said, “Get out there”. But my dad hated it, “Why does woman play football?” That’s what he used to say. But he didn’t try to stop me as my mum thought I was better off doing that than going off stealing.

Izzy Lafferty

After Billy left Izzy carried on playing football in the area, for teams now long forgotten in the history of women’s football in Scotland from the late-1950s and early-1960s.

I played for a team down the insurance place, Scottish Amicable. I played for the women’s team down there. I played in a cup final, we won 5-0 and I scored the 5 goals! The cup is somewhere in my bedroom. I didn’t work for the Scottish Amicable, we just played for them. George Peebles started the team, he was a professional football player. I played for the team for five or six years until I went to the army. There was a league for St Ninians, Bannockburn and Raploch, that was an all-women league, that a man started.

Izzy Lafferty

Billy used to play darts with Izzy’s brother John who had a dart board behind his door in his bedroom. Izzy recalled the first time Billy was asked to train with a with a professional club was with Doncaster Rovers. Her brother accompanied Billy but he only stayed three days. Izzy said, “Billy didn’t talk to me about the teams that came to him because it was unexpected, they would arrive at Billy’s door.” Billy’s dream was to play for Celtic but at that time the club was not doing so well and the successful Jock Stein era had yet to begin.  

There was nothing for him up here, the only good teams up here at the time were Celtic and Rangers and then they didnae have the money. He went down when he was about 15 or 16 and I stayed in touch with him, right up to when he died.

Izzy Lafferty

Izzy recalled:

He became settled in Leeds in a place called Temple Newsam. I used to go down sometimes. Used to hitch a lift, not on my own, would be with my brother or one of the other lads. Used to go down to visit him. Would watch him play by the time he was playing senior football.

Izzy Lafferty

We asked Izzy what Billy was like as a person. Her immediate answer was he was “considerate”. He also loved a Mars bar: “Every day he needed a Mars bar. That was his favourite sweet. If he had a Mars bar he was happy, and a football as well.” She also said he didn’t change, even with the fame that came his way through football. 

A lot of people used to say that, the Raploch people used to say, “Imagine going away to Leeds?” But that was one of the things he had to do because some of the teams up here didn’t have the money to provide what he wanted. He had the choice to go to Arsenal or Chelsea. It was Jock Stein that advised him to go to Leeds. He wasn’t the Celtic manager then, it was one of the wee teams, Dunfermline.

Izzy Lafferty

We asked Izzy about going to games: 

We couldn’t afford to go and watch much football but sometimes we would sneak into Annfield, there was a wee place you could sneak in. Billy would send me tickets to watch the Scotland games he would be in. I was proud for him playing for Scotland, especially as the captain. Didn’t surprise me one bit that he would play for Scotland. When we were at school playing, I knew that he would make the grade. There were two or three others who could have done it, but they did not push it… We used to go down to some games, we couldn’t go down every week. We couldn’t afford it. We were alright because where Billy lived, the old landlady used to let us stay there. Trying to mind her name, she was a nice woman, to let his friends stay in the house. I reckon we would get down for two games a month.

Izzy Lafferty

Izzy summarised her thoughts on Billy: 

He was a great guy, a great pal. He was idolised at Leeds, honestly. I went down with my friend when they were doing the statue. We got there, a guy was there with his two wee laddies. He said, “You here to see Bremner”, I said, “Bremner was my best mate, we were born together”. He said, “Oh I want to come with you then”. I said sorry you cannae, I have a private invitation. They loved him in Leeds, loved him. 

Izzy Lafferty

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