Adrian Webster (born 10 October 1980 in

Hastings, New Zealand Hastings (; mi, Heretaunga) is an inland city of New Zealand and is one of the two major urban areas in Hawke's Bay, on the east coast of the North Island. The population of Hastings (including Flaxmere) is (as of with a further people in H ...

) is a New Zealand

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for Cockburn City. He has represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

at full international level.

Biography

Webster's family moved to Australia when he was a toddler and he was brought up there. Injuries have been a source of problems for Webster. In 1995, while on trial at

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, he broke his ankle and was forced to return to Australia, where he finished school and played junior football for MacArthur Rams and Blacktown City. He returned to England in 1996 and joined

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

as a trainee. He turned professional in August 1998, but failed to make the first team squad and was released. He was briefly with Faversham Town before joining

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

in May 1999. However, with Colchester in the midst of a financial crisis, he was released before he had made his debut. He then played for Ashford Town (Kent) and

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

. He joined

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

on trial in February 2002, but was not offered a contract. He joined

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and Westbrook, Kent, ...

in August 2002, but played just once, as a late substitute for John Keister as Margate drew 1–1 at home to

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

in the Conference on 17 August. He joined Maidstone United later the same month. He returned to Australia in 2003 to play for St George Saints where in the last match of the season he snapped a medial ligaments in his knee. However, David Hodgson, Darlington's manager, saw potential in Webster and decided to give him an opportunity to regain fitness at his club which eventually led to Webster signing for Darlington in October 2004. He made his league debut on 6 November, as a late substitute for

Craig Hignett Craig Hignett (born 12 January 1970), is an English former professional footballer. He started his career as a striker but later moved into midfield. Playing career Born in Whiston and previously a trainee at Liverpool, Hignett began his se ...

who had scored both goals as Darlington won 2–1 away to

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town F.C., Ke ...

. Webster was released by Darlington in May 2006 and returned to Australia. He was signed by

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

where he played every game in a failed campaign to make the final series. After a game against Adelaide United on 28 December 2006, Webster came to blows with teammate and Glory captain

Jamie Harnwell Jamie Richard Harnwell (born 21 July 1977 in Perth, Western Australia) is a retired Australian football (soccer) player and current coach of Perth NPL club Sorrento FC and the Western Australian state soccer team. He holds the record for most ...

, while the players were still on the pitch. It went down in history as an

classic moment. After leaving Perth Glory, he had a brief spell with

Blacktown City Demons Blacktown City Football Club is an Australian semi-professional football club based in Blacktown, New South Wales. Founded in 1953, the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW. Blacktown City's home ground is Blacktown City ...

before returning to England to work as a personal trainer in

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

, close to his pregnant girlfriend's home. He had trials with

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

and

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

(scoring for the Brewers against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in the Bass Charity Vase Final) in England and also with a side in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

before joining

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

. He moved to

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

rivals

Blyth Spartans Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is a football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park. They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secretary before fo ...

at the start of October 2007, but left in April 2008 to join Finnish side Myllykosken Pallo -47. He played 10 games with MyPa before joining another Finnish club,

Kuopion Palloseura Kuopion Palloseura (or KuPS) is a Finnish football club, based in the ninth most populated city of Finland, Kuopio. KuPS plays in Finland's Premier League, Veikkausliiga. KuPS has won the Finnish championship six times, the Finnish Cup 4 times ...

. Webster played 8 games for KuPS and helped the team to keep their place in

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkau ...

. In January 2009 Webster re-joined Blyth Spartans. In January 2010 he signed for Australian side Cockburn City.

International career

Webster made his international debut for

in a 0–1 loss to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in London on 9 June 2005. In 2006, he returned to New Zealand for the first time since his childhood, for the two match series against

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. In 2006, he overcome ankle injury to gain selection for the All Whites in their off season tour which included footballing giants Brazil. He has made a total of five official international appearances for New Zealand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Adrian 1980 births A-League Men players Ashford United F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Finland Kuopion Palloseura players Living people Maidstone United F.C. players Margate F.C. players Myllykosken Pallo −47 players New Zealand expatriate association footballers New Zealand men's international footballers New Zealand association footballers New Zealand people of English descent Perth Glory FC players Veikkausliiga players Blacktown City FC players Sportspeople from Hastings, New Zealand Faversham Town F.C. players Men's association football midfielders