William Percival Meates (1871 – after 1897) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 professional footballer who made 14 appearances in the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 playing for Small Heath

Birmingham City F.C.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...

. He played as a goalkeeper.

Meates was born in Bournemouth

Bournemouth

Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...

, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

 (now Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

). He began his football career with Eastbourne

Eastbourne Town F.C.

Eastbourne Town F.C. are an English football club based in Eastbourne, East Sussex. The club was founded in 1881 as Devonshire Park FC and they claim to be the oldest senior football club in Sussex. Eastbourne Town FC play at The Saffrons in central Eastbourne, considered to be one of the most...

 before joining Small Heath

Birmingham City F.C.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...

 in 1895. He took over from Jim Roach

Jim Roach

James "Jim" Roach was an English professional footballer who made 15 appearances in the First Division of the Football League playing for Small Heath. He played as a goalkeeper....

 as first-team goalkeeper in the middle of the 1895–96 season after the club had suffered some heavy defeats. Meates made his debut on 3 February 1896 in a 3–0 defeat at Everton

Everton F.C.

Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...

, and retained the starting place for the remainder of the season, but failed to stop the rot sufficiently for Small Heath to avoid relegation

Promotion and relegation

In many sports leagues around the world, promotion and relegation is a process that takes place at the end of each season. Through it, teams are transferred between divisions based on their performance that season...

 via the test match system. He played only twice the next season, having surrendered the goalkeeper's jersey to Ernest Pointer

Ernest Pointer

Ernest Pointer was an English professional footballer who made 28 appearances in the Football League playing for Small Heath. He played as a goalkeeper....

, and left for Warmley

Warmley F.C.

Warmley F.C. was a football club based in Warmley, near Kingswood, England. They were formed in 1882. They are widely regarded as playing the first organised football match in the Bristol region against St George....

 of the Southern League

Southern Football League

The Southern League is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, South Central and Midlands of England and South Wales...

 in 1897. The following year he had an unsuccessful trial with Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest F.C.

Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...

.