William Howard Radford (8 September 1930 – 21 January 2022) was a Welsh 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 le ...

who played 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 ...

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

for eleven years between 1951 and 1962. Radford, who was born in

Abercynon Abercynon (), is both a village and a community (and electoral ward) in the Cynon Valley within the unitary authority of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The community comprises the village and the districts of Carnetown and Grovers Field to the south, ...

, began his playing career in the nearby village of

Penrhiwceiber Penrhiwceiber is a small Welsh village and community (and electoral ward) in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf that lies south of the town Aberpennar and north of the village of Tyntetown, and is one of many villages that lies within the C ...

. He was invited for a trial by Bristol Rovers in May 1951, and three months later he joined them on professional terms. He went on to make 244 League appearances for them before retiring from football in 1962, including being part of their Third Division title-winning team in the 1952–53 season. Following his retirement he managed a number of

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s, firstly the Checkers in Old Market, then the Ring o' Bells in

Coalpit Heath Coalpit Heath is a small village in the parish of Westerleigh, South Gloucestershire, England, south of Yate and east of Frampton Cotterell in South Gloucestershire. Background Due to the expansion of Coalpit Heath and the neighbouring vill ...

and the Bishop Lacey Inn in

Chudleigh Chudleigh () is an ancient wool town located within the Teignbridge District Council area of Devon, England between Newton Abbot and Exeter. The electoral ward with the same name had a population of 6,125 at the 2011 census. Geography Chudl ...

. Later on he worked as a steward in Chudleigh Conservative Club and as a security guard with

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

. Radford suffered a major stroke in October 2021 and was discharged from hospital in December of the same year. On 22 January 2022, Bristol Rovers reported that Radford had died the previous day, at the age of 91. At the time of his death Radford was the second oldest surviving player to have played for the club.

References

1930 births 2022 deaths People from Abercynon Sportspeople from Rhondda Cynon Taf Welsh footballers Association football goalkeepers Bristol Rovers F.C. players {{Wales-footy-goalkeeper-stub