The great Ron Springett died on the 12th September 2015, and a few days later his obituary was published in the Daily Telegraph, such was his fame. The obit author revealed some great snippets about animals and footballers, leading to injury. At 5'9" he was a bit small but very agile.
In 1962 during a World Cup quarter-final against Brazil in Vina del Mar Chile, a black dog wandered on to the pitch when Springett and the very famous and canny winger, Garrincha, tried to catch it. Jimmy Greaves came to the rescue, got down on all fours, attracted the dog and grabbed the beast, when it relieved itself on the England “fox in the box”. The Brazilians saw the animal as a lucky mascot winning 3-1 and Garrincha adopted it, Greavsie was less impressed.
Another hazard in Chile apparently were (are) venomous spiders, so Springett and England captain, Johnny Haynes, for fun, bought some fake arachnids from a joke shop. They were found by the squad players in their hotel beds, but one of the “toys” was actually moving, which prompted the England captain to run out of the hotel to the training pitch where he was bitten by a dog. Not Garrincha's!!
Springett was not initially shocked by the creature, because he was short sighted, but when he eventually saw it, once he got used to floodlighting, he had a problem!! Of course as a goalkeeper, being short-sighted meant he was susceptible to long shots, which eventually cost him his place in the national side. Indeed he did have a wobbly, when playing for the England team, letting in 5 goals under lights against France in 1963!!
| Senior career | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1953–1958 | Queens Park Rangers | 88 | (0) |
| 1958–1967 | Sheffield Wednesday | 345 | (0) |
| 1967–1969 | Queens Park Rangers | 45 | (0) |
| Total | 478 | (0) | |
| International career | |||
| 1959–1966 | England | 33 | (0) |
| 1963 | England (representative) | 1 | (0) |
| 1960–1966 | The Football League XI | 9 | (0) |
He held this club record for 26 years until it was broken by Nigel Worthington. He made his England debut against Northern Ireland at Wembley in 1959 saving a Jimmy McIlroy penalty just before half-time to help secure a narrow 2–1 victory. He also saved a penalty in a match against Peru in May 1962. He had been the first choice goalkeeper during the 1962 Chile FIFA World Cup. His final cap was against Norway in 1966 shortly before the World Cup finals. At international level, Springett also made 9 appearances for the Football League XI (a team drawn of players from English Football League teams irrespective of nationality).
No comments:
Post a Comment