Frederick Ryecraft (29 August 1939 – 26 September 2017) 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 in the
Football League for
Brentford as a
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 ...
. He was a member of the club's
1962–63 Fourth Division championship-winning team.
Club career
Brentford
After a short spell at
Athenian League
The Athenian League was an English amateur football league for clubs in and around London. The league was originally to be called the Corinthian League,Athenian Football League minutes 1912-1921 (National Football Museum, Preston). but this nam ...
club
Southall
Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...
,
Ryecraft joined
Third Division club
Brentford in September 1959.
First team goalkeeper
Gerry Cakebread's durability meant that a spell doing
national service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The ...
saw Ryecraft confined to the club's
reserve team
In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...
, until the first team's relegation to the
Fourth Division in 1962.
Ryecraft finally made his first team debut in a 2–1 defeat to
Gillingham on 21 August 1962.
He went on to make 18 appearances during a
1962–63 season which saw the Bees return to the Third Division at the first time of asking.
Ryecraft made 20 appearances during the
1963–64 season,
but mainly appeared for the reserves and was released at the end of the campaign.
Ryecraft made a total of 38 first team appearances for the Bees and along with Micky Ball and
Johnny Hales,
he is one of three players to make over 150 appearances for the Brentford reserve team.
Gravesend & Northfleet
After his release from Brentford, Ryecraft dropped back into
non-league football and played for
Southern League First Division club
Gravesend & Northfleet.
Representative career
While undertaking his national service, Ryecraft played for the
British Army representative team and the Combined Services.
He played on a tour of
South East Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
in 1962 and was a member of the victorious Kentish Cup-winning team the same year.
Personal life
While on national service 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 ...
, Ryecraft was a member of the
Royal Army Service Corps.
Honours
British Army
* Kentish Cup: 1962
Brentford
*
Football League Fourth Division:
1962–63
Career statistics
References
1939 births
Footballers from Southall
English men's footballers
Brentford F.C. players
English Football League players
Southall F.C. players
Ebbsfleet United F.C. players
Southern Football League players
Men's association football goalkeepers
Royal Army Service Corps soldiers
2017 deaths
20th-century British Army personnel
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