Footballer with Kilmarnock

Born: June 26, 1940;

Died: July 2, 2017

BILLY Cook, who has died in Australia aged 77 after a short illness, was a former footballer with Kilmarnock and a Scottish Schools international team captain, who had to travel half-way round the world to see his talents properly recognised.

Born William James McLaughlan Cook in Galston, his parents, Jim and Alexandria, known as “Andy”, had three children, Billy, their only son, coming between sisters Cathy and Rena.

Cathy recalls how Billy was never without his football, although she had to dubbin both his ball and his boots. His football talent flowered in 1954, when as a pupil of Galston Higher Grade School, representing Kilmarnock Schools, he was picked for the Scotland Under-14 team, which beat Northern Ireland 4-1 in Belfast. The following year he stepped up to Under-15, captaining the side to a 2-2 draw with England in Liverpool, before a 5-2 win over Wales, at Ayr, gave him an unbeaten record from his three caps.

Everton were interested in signing him, but his father thought he was too young to move to Merseyside. So, on leaving school, he began his electrician's apprenticeship, while impressing on the football field with home-town side Galston Amateurs, moving from there to junior side Ardrossan Winton Rovers, before quickly joining Kilmarnock.

Willie Waddell was building his great side of the early 1960s and, sadly for Cook, the defence seemed to pick itself every week: Jimmy Brown in goal, Jim Richmond and Matt Watson at full-back behind a half-back line of Frank Beattie, Willie Toner and Bobby Kennedy.

Between his debut, against Stirling Albion in a League Cup tie at Anfield, on 12 August, 1959 and his final first-team game, in the league, against Aberdeen, at Rugby Park, on 11 March, 1961, he managed a mere 15 matches (10 in the league, 5 in the league cup). He went on one of Killie's trans-Atlantic trips in 1961, but played just once. So, towards the end of the 1962-63 season, he decided it was not going to happen for him at Rugby Park, and emigrated to Australia.

Arriving in Melbourne, he joined Slavia, with whom he played for six years, before a niggling back injury forced him into retirement.

Slavia, rather like the Killie side he had left, were the “nearly men” of the Victoria League, the seemingly perennial runners-up. But he tasted early success with the club, who won the Australian Cup in his first season, beating local rivals Polonia 3-2 in a replay. He also helped them win the Victoria State Dockerty Cup three times, in 1964, 1965 and 1967 – they also lost in the 1966 final.

Being an important player in a club enjoying a golden era brought Cook to the notice of the Australian national selectors and he made the first of his nine appearances for the Socceroos, when he turned out against the touring Chelsea side.

He appeared in Australia's second World Cup qualifier against North Korea, in the Asian qualifying tournament for the 1966 World Cup in England. In one of his internationals, against Malaysia, Billy was sent off “for his own protection”, according to the referee. The match was subsequently abandoned after a crowd invasion.

In 1967 he had the rare distinction, for a Scot, of playing against Scotland, when he featured in two of Australia's three matches against the Scotland World Tour XI. Australia considered these games to be full internationals, although the SFA still has not accorded the games that status. In the first game, in Sydney, Cook's immediate opponent – Alex Ferguson – scored the only goal. In the second, in Adelaide, Jim Townsend of Hearts and Willie Morgan, then still with Burnley, got the Scottish goals in a 2-1 win. Future Celtic boss Dr Jozef Venglos was the Australian team manager who selected Cook.

Cook also played for the Victorian state team on several occasions, including against Everton (in 1963), Torpedo Moscow (1965) and Manchester United (1967).

He later worked as manager of a caravan park in Australia, along with his wife Ann, before that marriage ended in divorce. He later worked as a disabled person's carer prior to being diagnosed with dementia.

He coped well with this condition before, after a fall, it was discovered he had an aggressive cancerous tumour, and after a short battle, he succumbed to this.

He is survived by his children Bill Cook Jnr and June Bradley, and grand-children William, Danielle, Shona and Dale.

MATT VALLANCE