"I was brought up on stories of the great Scottish players of the twenties, many of whom I never saw play but knew all about... I used to go with my father to see matches at a very early age, the great Hawick heroes including Willie Welsh, Jock Beattie and Jerry Foster, so I had an all-consuming desire to wear the green jersey of Hawick."〔McLaren, p6〕

"My father's generation regarded Willie as one of the finest all-round footballers ever to play for Hawick. He was best known as a loose-forward and he had speed and exceptionally safe hands. He was skilled enough to have played as a back, and indeed he did so on one famous occasion, the Jed-Forest final of 1932, that I heard about as a boy, when a Hawick seven, containing five forwards were 0-15 down at the change-over to a powerful Dunfermline seven containing internationalists Harry Lind and Alf Wilson. Some of the Hawick support were leaving the ground and they missed an incredible Hawick rally in which Willie Welsh played a major role, helping Hawick to an 18-15 victory."〔