John Elsworthy (26 July 1931 – 3 May 2009) was a Welsh

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 ...

. A midfielder, he was signed by Ipswich Town manager Scott Duncan in May 1949, after playing as an amateur for Newport County. He played all his professional club football for

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

. He won four championship medals during Ipswich's rise up the divisions in the 1950s. As a member of Ipswich, he won

Division Three (South) The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to o ...

in 1953–54 and 1956–57,

Division Two NCL Division Two The NCL or National Conference League Division Two (known as the Kingstone Press NCL Division Two) League winners {, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" , - , colspan=4 style="text-align:center;" , NCL DIVISION TWO , ...

in 1960–61, and the

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

league championship in 1961–62. He was selected to play for the Third division South representative team in 1956–57. Elsworthy was part of the

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

squad for the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil be ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, but didn't travel to Sweden as the Welsh FA were too short of money to send a full squad. Although a member of the World Cup squad, Elsworthy was in fact never capped by his country. In all competitions, he played 435 games and scored 53 goals for Ipswich Town between 1949 and 1965. He was an inductee of the Ipswich Hall of Fame. After retiring from football he ran a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

branch in Ipswich. In his later years, he suffered from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. He died in May 2009, aged 77.

Honours

Ipswich Town *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1961–62 *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

: 1960–61 *

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

: 1953–54, 1956–57 Individual * Ipswich Town Hall of Fame: Inducted 2008

References

1931 births 2009 deaths Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Deaths from dementia in England Ipswich Town F.C. players English Football League players Newport County A.F.C. players People from Usk Sportspeople from Monmouthshire Welsh footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players Association football wing halves {{Wales-footy-midfielder-stub

Honours

See also

References