Dennis Wright (19 December 1919 – August 1993) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

who played for

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

. A native of Boythorpe near

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

, Wright initially joined Mansfield in March 1939, shortly before the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. However, due to the hostilities, he had to wait until 1946 before he made his debut for the club in a competitive game. During the war years, Wright served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, and was stationed in Northern Ireland most of that time. He guested for Glenavon during the war, and also turned out for

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 ...

during the wartime competition. After the war had ended, he returned to Mansfield, and made his debut on 12 October 1946 against

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

. He remained Mansfield's first-choice goalkeeper for the next decade, and played a total of 399 first-team matches for the club, which was a club record at the time of his retirement from the game in 1957. He died in 1993, aged 73.

References

1919 births 1993 deaths English men's footballers Mansfield Town F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers British Army personnel of World War II Footballers from Derbyshire {{England-footy-goalkeeper-stub