Mark "Spider" Webb (born 7 August 1960) is a former British

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

regarded by some as one of the best kickers in British history. He played his entire career for the Birmingham Bulls.

Playing career

Webb was a former

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player who had become "bored and disillusioned" with the sport and answered a newspaper advert attempting to recruit players to the Birmingham Bulls. At the start of his career, he was in direct competition with GB Lions kicker Richard Meanwell, who also played

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for

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, and had previously represented England at under-19 level. Webb was part of the 1986 Summer Bowl II winning side, but it was Meanwell who kicked a field goal in the final. Despite thoughts of retirement, he returned for the 1988 season as the Bulls' lone placekicker, following the retirement of Meanwell and was part of another national championship winning side, but found himself on the losing side in 1989. Webb cemented his place in Britball history in the 1991 NDMA Coke Bowl against the

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by becoming the first kicker in British history to win a national championship with a field goal. Webb kicked a successful 23-yard field goal to put the Bulls ahead by a single point with 17 seconds left. Following the departure of head coach Steve Moon in 1992, Webb retired from football altogether. In 2008, Webb was inducted into the Birmingham Bulls Hall of Fame.

International career

Following the 1991 title-winning season, Webb was called up to the GB Lions squad for the first time for the European Nations Championship in

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assistant coach and GB head coach Ray Willsey. In the semi-final versus the

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, Webb converted all seven of his extra-point attempts in a 49-3 victory. He also converted his two extra-point attempts in the final against

to maintain a 100% accuracy rate, on the way to a 14-3 victory over the hosts and favourites. Webb, along with several other Bulls, was selected to the All-Europe team.

Coaching career

In 2013, Webb was appointed kicking and punting coach by incoming head coach Ian Hill, and was promoted to special teams co-ordinator by new head coach Mark Pagett in 2014, but stepped down part way through the season.

Honours & Records

* Birmingham Bulls Hall of Fame * Alltime British Allstars * 1991 All-Europe Team * Most Field Goals and Most Extra Points in Birmingham Bulls History

Statistics

Regular season

Postseason

European Competition

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Mark Living people 1960 births Sportspeople from Birmingham, West Midlands English players of American football American football placekickers Coaches of American football