Bill was one of the outstanding crop of post-war British born and developed defencemen, who assisted Great Britain to a fourth-place finish at the 1950 World Championships. The many accolades bestowed upon Bill Sneddon at the time of his sadly premature death in 1990 are indicative of his abilities as one of the best ever British defencemen. The Falkirk Herald said that ‘Bill Sneddon was a legend – and will remain so wherever ice hockey is played or talked about…As a defenceman he had few equals…In the years after the war, when ice hockey caught the imagination of the nation, the name of Bill Sneddon stood out like a beacon.’
William Sneddon was born on 13 July 1925 in Grangemouth, near Falkirk. He was educated at Grangemouth High School and started skating, aged 13, when the Falkirk Ice Rink opened in 1938. He took up ice hockey shortly after, being coached at Falkirk by Canadian Nelson McQuaig.
Bill was a fine all-round sportsman, being a keen amateur boxer and fine junior footballer, and he might have made a name for himself in that sport, but hockey was his love.
On leaving school, he commenced an apprenticeship as an electrician in the Grangemouth docks but, at the height of World War Two, the 17 year old Sneddon volunteered for service with the RAF and completed his pilot training. Having lost his two elder brothers on active service, Bill was desperate to get into action, so he then volunteered to train as a paratrooper. He spent the latter days of the war serving with the military elite as a Pathfinder in Burma, a role that required men of the very highest calibre, both physically and psychologically, as they parachuted into a zone in advance of the main body of airborne troops.
After his demobilisation at the end of the war, the backing of Falkirk’s Canadian Coach George McNeil allowed Bill Sneddon to become the mainstay on defence during a very successful Canadian-dominated post-war period for Falkirk Lions. Sneddon assisted Falkirk to successive Play-Off Championships and Canada Cups in 1948-49 and 1949-50, with the Scottish Cup also secured during 1948-49 and a further Canada Cup in 51-52.
In January 1950, Sneddon impressed for Falkirk against the touring Edmonton Mercurys, who would represent Canada at the World Championships in March 1950. The Falkirk Mail commented that “Finch is still the best keeper in Scotland. And comparable with him was Billy Sneddon. His defence work and occasional rushes were excellent and the Mercurys had some more than complimentary remarks to say about his play after the game. Billy if he keeps up that form will be a star in the championships in London.”
Sneddon and Ayr’s Lawson Neil provided Great Britain’s second defensive unit in the 1950 World Championships, in which the British finished fourth. Like his fellow Hall of Famers, Dunfermline’s Syme brothers, this was to be Bill’s only World Championship. His subsequent ‘senior’ status with the Lions meant he was deemed a professional and unable to be selected for World tournaments in the rules then prevailing. (He would have gone with the British team to the Swedish World Championships in 1963; but work commitments precluded this.)
Sneddon found the net on his GB debut, a 9-0 rout of France on 13 March 1950, with Sid Montford noting in the Daily Record that “…Sneddon, with his sharp interceptions and powerful rushes was another who claimed attention.” Sneddon’s second goal of that tournament was much more important, coming as it did only two seconds from the end against Norway four days later, when his high shot into the corner from the blueline gave Britain a 4-3 win at Wembley.
Bill received a knee injury at the 1950 tournament in unusual circumstances, during a 2-3 defeat by the USA at Wembley, as Sid Montford of the Glasgow Evening News related: “Bill Sneddon…was picked up then held forcibly on the ice by fellow Scot ‘Tuck’ Syme during the Britain v. America match at Wembley…Syme ‘iced’ Sneddon when the latter was protesting violently to the Swiss referee against a penalty given to one of his colleagues. Sneddon attempted to get at the official, but Syme, deputy captain of the team, jumped on him and forced him to the ice still struggling.”
Following an incident in a match at Ayr in January 1952, Sneddon received a lengthy ban from the Scottish Ice Hockey Association, and he and his wife Kit then spent the next 18 months in Ontario, Canada, where Bill was good enough to play Senior ‘A’ hockey with Chatham, and even attracted NHL interest, as Kit recalled: “Bill gave his all in everything; he went on the ice to win. One of his proudest possessions was a letter he had from the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL, inviting him for a trial, during the time we were in Canada. He kept that letter for a long while. They tried hard to get him to stay in Canada; I remember Detroit wanted him to go out west to play in Calgary. But he got a lot of letters from Falkirk fans pleading with him to return. He swithered a bit, but I don’t think it was a difficult decision for him to go back home to the Lions.”
A second SIHA suspension in February 1954 brought about Bill’s premature retirement from the sport. However, after a seven-year absence he returned to hockey with the amateur Falkirk Lions, during 1961-62, at the age of 36. He would go on to enjoy a highly decorated ‘second’ hockey career, in the amateur version of the sport that prevailed in Britain during the 1960s.
He moved to Murrayfield Royals as captain for 1962-63, when he was an All-Star ‘B’ team defenceman.
In 1963-64, Sneddon teamed up with Fife Flyers, who were spearheaded by player-coach Ian Forbes and Jimmy Spence, both from Perth. The Kirkcaldy side swept all before them in winning the Scottish League and Play-Offs, and lifted the televised BBC Grandstand Trophy. It was a personal triumph, too, for Bill Sneddon, as he was voted on to a defensive berth on the All-Star ‘A’ team.
Sneddon was an All-Star ‘B’ defenceman with Flyers in 64-65, and was a stalwart at Kirkcaldy the following season (when no All-Star selections were made.)
At the age of 41, he harboured no thoughts of hanging up his skates, and teamed up again at Murrayfield with the newly-formed Racers for the inaugural Northern League in 1966-67. Returning to Fife for 1967-68, he picked up another All-Star ‘B’ team nomination, and was similarly honoured the following season when back at Murrayfield, assisting Racers to the Spring Cup Play-Offs title, just short of his 44th birthday.
His surprising longevity in top level hockey finally ended at the age of 46 with Dundee Rockets, in ‘71-‘72, under coach Ian Forbes, a former team-mate from the Great Britain team back in 1950.
Sneddon inspired his team-mates by his own selfless example, bringing out that little bit extra in everyone. His fitness was legendary, and he kept up a rigorous training regime long after his playing days ended, enjoying cycling, hill-walking, rock-climbing and golf.Although his strong competitive spirit and will-to-win earned him a fearsome reputation on the ice, it was also indicative of the more rounded personality of a complex man who railed against authority for much of his life, be it referees within the narrower confines of ice hockey, or social injustice in a much wider context.
Ice hockey was only one of many other facets of Bill’s full and interesting life. A widely-read and well-informed man, he was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all his adult life. He was employed for many years as an Electrical Engineer at Kincardine Power Station, and then for the Coal Board at Kinneil Colliery in Bo’ness, where he was an active trade unionist and secretary of the Falkirk and District Trades Council.
Bill Sneddon died suddenly, aged 64, on 14 April 1990 while he and his wife Kit were holidaying on Jersey. He is survived by his widow, Kit, and his two daughters, Katerina and Wilma.
The comments of his teammates, who are currently Hall of Famers, bear glowing testimony to his abilities:
Bill Sneddon was a great defenceman, a great competitor and a fitness fanatic. He was a fervent Communist, and he fell out with all sorts of authority…Bill Sneddon was a great player...and his disciplinary record shouldn’t be held against him, because he was such a tremendous competitor, and a superb defenceman.” – Billy Brennan;
Bill Sneddon was a very good player, there’s no doubt about it. You could always depend on him for 100% commitment...a character!” – Johnny Carlyle;.
He was a hard, hard man – I wouldn’t want to fight Bill Sneddon.” – ‘Tuck’ Syme.
Written by David Gordon