William Webb (rower)

William Webb (rower)
William Webb rowing on the Whanganui River in 1907 (Photo by Frank J. Denton)
Born	1880 Lyttelton, New Zealand
Died	1960
Nationality	New Zealand
Other names	Bill or Billy Webb
Title	World champion sculler
Term	1907–1908
Predecessor	George Towns (rower)
Successor	Richard Arnst

William Charles Webb (21 January 1880 – 2 October 1960) was the first New Zealander to hold the professional World Sculling Championship title. He was also known as Bill or Billy Webb.

Webb was born at Lyttelton, the port of Christchurch, New Zealand, on 21 January 1880 and was educated at the local schools. In his youth he was a natural athlete being prominent in running and cycling but he turned his attention to rowing. He won various amateur events between 1896 and 1905/06, not only in single sculls but also in doubles and fours. In his last season as an amateur he won the Champion Single Sculls and the Champion Double Sculls events at Picton, and later the Senior Single Sculls at Wanganui, and thus became the amateur New Zealand Champion. By this time Webb had moved to Wanganui to live and he spent the rest of his life there. After winning the amateur events he decided to turn professional.

His first professional race was for the New Zealand Sculling Championship against James Stanbury, an Australian who was five times World Champion from 1891 to 1896 and again from 1905 to mid 1906. The race was run on the Whanganui River on 26 December 1906, with a purse of £200 a side. Stanbury was nearing the end of his racing career and put up a good row, but was well beaten by Webb in a time of 18m.50s for the three mile course.

Webb then challenged Charles Towns of Australia, the World Title holder, to a match and £500 as a side stake. Towns had become the title holder after his brother, George Towns, had forfeited it to him; the Webb race was his first defence of the title. This race took place on the Parramatta River, Sydney, Australia, on 2 August 1907. Webb won by five lengths and was declared World Champion by the umpire, despite a protest by Towns regarding an alleged foul by Webb which would have lost him the race. Not all commentators agreed with the umpire; some thought Webb should have lost the race because of the foul. However, as there was no controlling body for the World Title, nor for most other professional sports, the ruling stood.