Billy Mason

William Bernard Mason (b. Feb 1855, Birmingham) was an English footballer notable for playing in Aston Villa's first ever FA Cup tie. The cricketers were keen to find an outlet for their energy in the off-season, they were initially undecided between rugby and association football and, as Mason was playing with the Adderley Park Grasshoppers rugby team, four other members, W.H. Price, William Scattergood, Jack Hughes and George Matthews, were tasked with watching him play.

Co-founder Hughes' view was that Aston Villa Football Club was really formed later by the players who attended the first kick-about on waste ground on Westminster Road, now the RCCG Salvation Theatre. They hired a football for 1s 6d (roughly 1⁄3 the daily wage) from Clapshaw & Cleave. The sixteen then each contributed a shilling and elected Price as their first captain and Charlie H. Midgley as club secretary. In January 1875 Aston Villa played their first recorded game against Aston Park Unity. Matthews was captain and Price, Hughes and Scattergood also played. Only two of the players, Ted Lee and Billy Mason, would go on to represent Villa in their first FA Cup campaign.

The second match, Aston Villa's first-ever victory, was arranged against the members' friends and cricket opponents at Aston, St Mary's. James Wilson allowed the game to be played at his building plots on Wilson Road, Birchfield. In later years he reminisced "Hack him down - sit on his head, was the cry for one half the game, and You must not collar-charge him, was yelled for the other". Scattergood kept goal; the full-backs were Price, Weis and Fred J. Knight; half-backs were Midgely, Ted Lee, Harry and George Matthews; forwards: Hughes, Mason, William Sothers, Wiiliam Such, Harry Whately, George Page, and Alfred Robbins. After a goalless first-half, Hughes scored the only goal off the rebound when the goal-keeper spilled his first effort.

When Aston Villa Cricket Club beat Victoria Cross 65-15 in May 1876, opener Mason scored 8 runs.

The 1879–80 football season saw Aston Villa's entry into top flight competitive association football with their first tie in the FA Cup. The start of the official record was Saturday 13 December 1879 when Villa faced Stafford Road F.C., of the Stafford Road railway works, Wolverhampton. The match was played before a crowd of 2,000 at Stafford's Half-Way House Ground. Although playing before shirt numbers were introduced in 1926, Goalkeeper John Ball received Legacy Number 1. Inside-forward Billy Mason received Legacy Number #9, Andy Hunter #4 officially became Villa's first goal-scorer in the 1–1 draw. Villa defeated Stafford Road 3–1. Mason scored a brace with Sammy Law getting the third goal. The match proved to be Mason's last match for Villa as the 24-year-old was free-transferred to Wednesbury Town.