William (Billy) Hunter

It is with great sadness that we have heard over the weekend about the passing of our great friend and supporter, William (Billy) Hunter.

William, in his 95th year, we believe would have been our oldest supporter having followed the Whites since at least 1938, with the first match he could recall attending being an away game at Solitude.

In those earlier years William would attend games with his father and would travel by foot or bicycle if possible, with train being the choice of travel for games taking place further afield.

A keen sportsman himself, William played Churches League football and was a referee for 20 years, cricket and table tennis were also fond pasttimes.

Of course this meant that watching Distillery every week took a backseat but he would still attend games as often as he could and while he didn’t see much of the legendary 1962-63 league winning side he was present when the Whites took on Benfica at Windsor Park in November 1963.

After hanging up his boots and whistle in 1983 William would return to watching his boyhood club regularly and is pictured at our game against Killyleagh YC in the Intermediate Cup back in January of this year, Distillery won the game 2-0.

Sadly this would be the last time William would see the club he had followed for so long in person but he would still keep up to date with the latest results and fixtures right to the end.

At this time our thoughts are with William’s family and friendship circle, in particular his son David who is also our Club Photographer.

William will certainly be missed by all who knew him at New Grosvenor but like many others, will not be forgotten.