Ron Springett

Ronald "Ron" Deryk George Springett [1] (born in Fulham, London on 22 July 1935) was a football goalkeeper for Sheffield Wednesday, QPR and England.

Career

Springett began his career at QPR in 1953. While at QPR, he was selected to play in the Third Division South representative team in 1957. He moved to Sheffield Wednesday for £10,000 in 1958 and made 384 appearances for Wednesday before returning to QPR in May 1967. As part of that deal his brother Peter, also a goalkeeper, moved to Wednesday from QPR.

Beginning in 1962 Springett made 33 appearances for England, all while at Sheffield Wednesday and until then the most appearances by any Sheffield Wednesday player. He held this club record for 26 years. He made his England debut against Northern Ireland in 1959. He had been the first choice goalkeeper during the 1962 World Cup in Chile when England reached the quarter finals. His final cap was against Norway in 1966 shortly before the World Cup finals.

He was a non-playing member of the England squad, that won the 1966 World Cup by beating West Germany by 4 goals to 2. However only the 11 players on the pitch during that match received winners' medals. Following a Football Association led campaign to persuade FIFA to award medals to all the winners’ squad members, it was announced by FIFA, on 26 November 2007, that all non-starting members of World Cup winning squads (1930-1974 competitions) would also receive a winners medal. This list included Ron Springett, and so, on 10 June 2009, Springett was presented with his medal by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at a ceremony at 10 Downing Street.[2]

Springett was a member of the Sheffield Wednesday team beaten 3-2 by Everton in the 1966 FA Cup Final at Wembley.

Honours

Testimonial

Sheffield Wednesday held a testimonial for Ronald Springett on Sep 25th 1967 at Hillsborough Stadium. (A Sheffield United XI beat a Sheffield Wednesday XI 3-2) The game was watched by 23,070 fans.[3]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.myfootballfacts.com/EnglandPlayersAppearancesandGoals1872-2009.html
  2. ↑ World Cup 1966 winners honoured
  3. ↑ Dickinson, Jason (1999). One Hundred Years at Hillsborough (1899-1999). The Hallamshire press. ISBN 1-874718-29-6.

External links