SPRINGETT DIES

When I were a lad there were a few great goalkeepers playing league football and for their country. Eddie Hopkinson was one, Alan Hodgkinson another and one that played a lot for England Ron Springett. Ron died on the 13th September aged 80 and he will be remembered by Sheffield Wednesday fans and QPR fans alike. Only 5'10" tall he was one of several small keepers who made their careers successful  by having great agility.
His career began with QPR in 1953, after trialling with Fulham. At this "try out" Springett said that he and another keeper shared the same goal with Johnny Haynes shooting at them and sometimes between them, it was a farce. So Ron decided he would have a go at Loftus Road. QPR were in the
Third Division South then. At his trial he broke a finger but got selected!

In 1958 he moved to Wednesday and played 384 times for the Yorkshire club, eventually returning to QPR with his brother Peter, also a keeper, going the other way as part of the deal. Overall Ron played 147 times for the west London club. In 1959 he made his England debut.

Whilst at Wednesday he played in the 2-3 defeat by Everton in the 1966 Cup Final and was also part of the England squad for the 1966 World Cup though he never played, being held out by Gordon Banks,  Ron did play in the 1962 World Cup and notched up 33 appearances for his country.

In 1966, only the World Cup winners who played in the match received medals and it took until 2007 for the FA to persuade FIFA to give medals to all squad members. This happened and Gordon Brown presented the medal to Springett at Downing Street in a special ceremony.
FIFA made medals for all other squad members of previous World Cup winners!! (so that's where the money went??!! Seb??)

Ron Springett had a testimonial in 1967 at Hillsborough with 23,000 fans turning up to watch a Sheffield derby.

On retiring from football, he ran a sports' shop in the Uxbridge Road and then became an interior decorator.