So what about the shortest goalkeepers to play first class football in England. These three scally wags rate 5th, 6th and 7th as smallest GKs of all time, in the English top flight.
The shortest keeper globally is Pedro Arpolda, a Paraguayan, who played club football in Argentina in the 1930s and also for his country, in the 1930 World Cup. He was 5'5". Imagine how tall he would have been if he had been born in Peru!
In England, Teddy Davison (below) at 170cm (5'7") was the smallest ever to play for England, appearing March 13th 1922 v Wales at Anfield, in a Home Championship match. He kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 win.
His home club was Sheffield Wednesday, for whom he made 424 apps, playing for 18 years from 1908. Overall he guarded the Wednesday goal 618 times in various matches and conceded 810 goals; Of 77 pens he saved 24. He also was picked to play for a Sheffield XI, representing the city, earned one England cap in 1922 and toured Australia with the FA in 1925. He had a spell Mansfield Town, player-managing in 1926-8. Then went to Chesterfield as manager from 1928-32, later managed The Blades from 1932-52 with remarkable diplomacy, which earned him the name of "The George Washington of Football" and was regarded as having had the greatest influence on Sheffield Football of anyone!
Having returned to manage Chesterfield from 1952-8, Teddy gave Gordon Banks a chance of playing top level football after Banks had starred in the club's FA Youth Cup winning side in 1956. The rest for Banks is history!!
Steve Death (below) was 170cm also and played for Reading FC, described as agile and very popular with the locals. He played for 10 years making 537 appearances and was voted Player of the Season for his club in his first season. He won PFA awards in 1973-4 and 1978-9, when Reading won the Div 4 Championship, when he kept 26 clean sheets and went 1074 minutes with no goals past him. This was later bettered by Edwin van der Sar.
Ted Burgin (below) played in the Football League for Sheffield United and he ranks next English goalkeepers. He was 5'7" also. He moved on to Doncaster Rovers, Leeds and Rochdale during his career, making 314 apps for The Blades in 8 seasons in the 1950s and he later served Rochdale in the early 60s, for 6 seasons, earning 207 apps. He helped them reach the Football League Cup Final in 1962.
He played twice for England B and was chosen for the England World Cup squad in 1954, as an under study to Gill Merrick of Birmingham City, who helped Brum win through to the 1956 FA Cup Final, losing to Man City and Bert Trautmann 3-1 at Wembley.
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