Douglas Wragg (12 September 1934 – 9 November 2020) was an English professional

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 ...

who played as a winger in the Football League.

Career

Wragg was spotted by

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

while playing a youth football final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

in 1953 and signed professional forms with the club in June of that year. He made his debut in an Essex Professional Cup semi-final game against

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 ...

on 11 November 1954, but his involvement with the army disrupted his football career and he didn't play his first League game until 27 August 1956, against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. Wragg moved to

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 ...

in March 1960 and played 13 games that season, scoring 2 goals. He was their top scorer for the 1960–61 season with 11 goals in 33 games. He then moved to

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

and was a part of the team that reached the 1962 League Cup Final. During a spell at

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 ...

, Wragg was to witness the death of teammate Ralph Hunt when they were involved in a car crash on the way home from watching cup opponents

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

on 17 December 1964. Wragg then dropped down to

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

football with Grantham Town. He also represented

Hyson Green Hyson Green is a neighbourhood in Nottingham, England. It is home to a variety of cultures with a thriving local economy. Hyson Green has the largest ethnic minority population in the city. Since 2006 Hyson Green has seen a larger rise in devel ...

and England at

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

. Wragg died in Nottingham on 9 November 2020.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wragg, Doug 1934 births 2020 deaths Footballers from Nottingham English men's footballers English male boxers Men's association football wingers West Ham United F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Grantham Town F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players English Football League players