Kenneth Leek (26 July 1935 – 19 November 2007) 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 ...

, who played as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for several different clubs and for the Wales national side in a professional career which spanned from 1952 until 1968. He scored 145 goals in 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 ...

from 396 appearances with five clubs. Internationally he won 13

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and scored five goals, and was a member of the Welsh 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 ...

in Sweden although he did not play during the tournament. Leek started his career with

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

aged 17 despite only playing football for three years. After six years, he earned a move to First Division

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. He had three seasons at Leicester, and scored in every round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

en route to the 1961 final. He was dropped from the final and soon moved on to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. His stay with Newcastle was brief and he signed for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

before the end of the year, having had a loan spell in Canada with Montreal Concordia. He played more than 100 games with Birmingham, scoring nearly a goal every other game including two in the 1963 League Cup triumph against rivals

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. He returned to Northampton, helping them to

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the top flight before finishing his professional career with

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

. His career took him onto three Welsh non-league sides.

Early life

Leek was born on 26 July 1935 in

Ynysybwl Ynysybwl ( cy, Ynys-y-bŵl ) is a village in Cwm Clydach in Wales. It is situated in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, roughly north-north-west of Cardiff, north of Pontypridd and south of Merthyr Tydfil, and forms part of the communit ...

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

, where he lived next door to

and future

Welsh international The Welsh International is an international badminton championship held in Wales since 1928 and is thereby one of the oldest badminton tournaments in the world. The tournament was halted during World War II and until 1956, between 1960 and 1966, a ...

Don Dearson. He attended two

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

-playing schools before taking up football himself at the age of 14. He also spent two years in

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 l ...

Club career

As a teenager, Leek played football for Ynysybwl Boys attracting a number of club scouts. In August 1952, he signed for

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 ...

side

. He soon appeared for the first team and also won honours for the Welsh under-23 side. He scored for Northampton in their 1958

triumph against First Division side

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. In six years with Northampton, he had a strike-rate of one goal every three games, scoring 27 goals from 71 league games, and was also given a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

. He left Northampton in May 1958 to join First Division side

for a fee of £10,000 as an

inside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

outside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. The same summer, he travelled with the Welsh national side to Sweden for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. He made his Leicester debut on 23 August against Everton, scoring once in a 2–0 victory. His goals ratio helped him to compete with

Derek Hines Derek Jabez Hines (8 February 1931 - August 2001) was an English football player who played for Derby County, Shrewsbury Town, Rugby Town and most notably Leicester City. During his time at Leicester he forged a prolific strike partnership wit ...

for the

position. He scored in every round of the

1960–61 FA Cup The 1960–61 FA Cup was the 80th season of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. Tottenham Hotspur won the competition for the third time, beating Leicester City 2–0 ...

competition to help Leicester reach the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. However, after Leek's celebrations after the semi-final victory, manager

Matt Gillies Matthew Muirhead Gillies (12 August 1921 – 24 December 1998) was a Scottish football player and manager who played for, captained, coached and managed Leicester City for a total of 15 years between 1952–1955 and 1956–1968. He is the club's ...

dropped his striker and replaced him with

Hughie McIlmoyle Hugh McIlmoyle (born 29 January 1940) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a centre forward for Port Glasgow and in the Football League for Leicester City, Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed T ...

for the final, which Leicester lost 2–0 to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. He left Leicester just weeks later, having scored 43 goals in 108 appearances, with 34 of those coming in 93 league matches. In the summer of 1961 he played with

Montreal Concordia Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

in the

International Soccer League The International Soccer League was a U.S.-based soccer league which was formed in 1960 and collapsed in 1965. The League, affiliated with the American Soccer League, featured guest teams primarily from Europe and some from Asia, South America, C ...

, and

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

. He signed for

for £25,000 for whom he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

on his debut in a friendly against Danish side

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

. However, his stay with Newcastle was only a short one and he was loaned to Canadian side Montreal Concordia before returning to the Midlands by the end of the year, with

, costing £23,000. In three years with Birmingham, he scored 49 goals from 104 appearances in the league. He also scored two goals in the first leg of the club's

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

victory against their local rivals

in the 1963 final. Before Birmingham's appearance in the 2001 final, Leek said: "It was a very proud moment for me when we lifted the cup." He returned to Northampton in 1964 at a cost of £10,000, spending one season with the Cobblers and helped them win promotion from the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. The following season, he scored the club's first goal in the top division to give them a victory against

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 ...

. In November 1965, Leek joined

for a club record fee of £10,000, becoming one of new chairman

Stafford Heginbotham Stafford Heginbotham (12 September 1933 – 21 April 1995) was a British businessman and chairman of Bradford City football club at the time of 56 deaths in the Bradford City stadium fire, which occurred immediately after the club won league pro ...

's first signings. He made his debut against

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

on 6 November 1965 and finished his first season as top scorer with 11 goals. He spent three seasons with City, also playing in

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

, scoring 25 goals from 99 league games, and adding a goal in the League Cup. He left Bradford in June 1968 to return to Wales as a player-coach with non-league side

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Flintshire (historic), Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at ...

. He played for other Welsh sides

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

and

Ton Pentre Ton Pentre () is a village in the Rhondda Valley in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Historically part of Glamorgan, Ton Pentre, a former industrial coal mining village, is a district of the community of Pentre. The old district of ...

before retiring in 1970.

International career

Leek was a non-playing member of

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 ...

's squad for the

in Sweden. It took another two years for him to win his first international

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for Wales in a 2–0 victory against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

during the

1961 British Home Championship Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

. He followed it up with games against the other home nations,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, among six caps that year. He won another three caps in 1962, and played for a second time against England in 1963. It was another two years before he was selected again, winning three more in 1965, the latter two being both in 1966 World Cup qualifying matches against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. His goals included two in the final minutes of a 1965 British Home Championship game against Scotland to give his country a 3–2 victory, which Leek said was his "favourite memory" of Cardiff.

Playing style

Leek initially played as an inside or outside left forward but moved to centre forward early in his career. He was tall and said to be "effective in the air", had pace and was adept with both feet. He also suffered from injuries because of his robust style. Former Leicester teammate

Gordon Banks Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional caree ...

said of Leek: "He was a terrific player – a great centre forward. He was very elusive and caused a lot of problems for centre halves."

Personal life

Leek was married to Janet, with whom he had two daughters and four grandchildren. After his playing career, the family settled in

Daventry Daventry ( , historically ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority in Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 Census Daventry had a population of 28,123, making ...

, with Leek working for the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

before retiring in 1995. He died on 19 November 2007 at his home in

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

after a short illness; he was 72. His grandson

Karl Darlow Karl Darlow (born 8 October 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Newcastle United. He is the grandson of former Wales international forward Ken Leek who was included in the Welsh 1958 W ...

became a professional footballer 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 ...

References

Bibliography

* * * *,

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leek, Ken 1935 births 2007 deaths People from Ynysybwl Sportspeople from Rhondda Cynon Taf Welsh footballers Wales international footballers Wales under-23 international footballers Association football forwards Northampton Town F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Montreal Concordia players Birmingham City F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Rhyl F.C. players Ton Pentre F.C. players English Football League players 1958 FIFA World Cup players International Soccer League players Canadian National Soccer League players