Noel Kinsey (24 December 1925 – 20 May 2017) was a Welsh international

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 as an

inside right 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 ...

. He won seven international caps and scored 111 goals in 444 league games in a 14-year career in the Football League. He began his career with

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

in 1947, helping the "Canaries" to second place in the

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 ...

in 1950–51. He transferred to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, 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. Sin ...

in 1953, helping the club to 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 ...

title in 1954–55. He scored in the

1956 FA Cup Final The 1956 FA Cup Final was the final match of the 1955–56 staging of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, better known as the FA Cup. The showpiece event was contested between Manchester City a ...

, which ended in a 3–1 defeat to Manchester City. In February 1958 he was signed to

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

for a £5,000 fee, and helped the "Valiants" to the Fourth Division title in 1958–59. He became a player-coach at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

in May 1960, before departing in April 1962. He later played for non-league sides King's Lynn and Lowestoft Town, and worked at

Norwich Union Norwich Union was the name of insurance company Aviva's British arm before June 2009. It was originally established in 1797. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. On 29 April 2008, Aviva ...

Insurance. He entered the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame in 2003.

Club career

Norwich City

Kinsey started his career with Treorchy Amateurs and Cardiff City, before joining

in 1947. Duggie Lochhead's "Canaries" had to apply for re-election in 1947–48, after finishing second-from-bottom of the

. They rose to tenth in 1948–49, and then he finished as the club's top scorer in 1949–50 with 17 goals, as the club posted an eleventh-place finish. They reached second place in 1950–51 under new manager

Norman Low Norman Harvey Low (23 March 1914 – 21 May 1994) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the son of Scottish international footballer, Wilf Low. A central defender, he played for Newcastle United between 1931 and 1933, before a ...

, but only champions

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

were promoted, who finished six points ahead of Norwich. They dropped to third in 1951–52, five points behind champions Plymouth Argyle. They then finished fourth in 1952–53, four points behind champions

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 ...

. In total he scored 57 goals in 223 league appearances at Carrow Road.

Birmingham City

In 1953, the Welsh international signed with Bob Brocklebank's

. The "Blues" finished seventh in the

in 1953–54, before winning the Second Division title in an extremely tight 1954–55 campaign under Arthur Turner's stewardship, finishing above third place

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

on goal average. Kinsey scored 17 goals in 40 games of the club's historic 1955–56 campaign, including a hat-trick against Everton on Boxing Day at St Andrew's. They went on to finish sixth in the First Division, the best finish in the club's history, and also reached the

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. He scored a 15th-minute equaliser but Manchester City went on to win 3–1 despite goalkeeper

Bert Trautmann Bernhard Carl "Bert" Trautmann EK OBE BVO (22 October 1923 – 19 July 2013) was a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City from 1949 to 1964. In August 1933, (aged 9), he joined the Jungvolk, the junior ...

suffering a serious neck injury, leaving Kinsey with a runners-up medal. Birmingham finished 12th in 1956–57 and 13th in 1957–58. Kinsey scored a total of 55 goals in 173 league and cup competitions for Birmingham City.

Port Vale

In February 1958 he was signed to

for a £5,000 fee, in a move that reunited him with former manager Norman Low. He scored twice past

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

in a 5–0 win at

on 8 March, to finish 1957–58 with two goals in 14 appearances in the last ever season of Third Division South football. He scored three goals in 37 games in 1958–59, as the "Valiants" won the inaugural Fourth Division championship. However, he lost his place in September 1959, and scored once in 19 Third Division games in 1959–60. In May 1960 he signed a player-coach contract, and played just six games in 1960–61. His contract was cancelled by mutual agreement in April 1962, at which point he moved on to King's Lynn of the Southern Football League. He later became the player-coach to Lowestoft Town in the Eastern Counties League.

International career

Kinsey won seven

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

between 1951 and 1955. He featured in qualifying for the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...

, playing in the 2–1 defeat to

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 ...

at the

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground ( cy, Y Cae Ras) is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C. It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home ...

on 31 March 1954.

Post-retirement and legacy

Kinsey ran a pub, before working at

Insurance. He was inducted into the 2003 inaugural Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame. Kinsey died at the age of 91 in May 2017.

Career statistics

Club statistics

Source:

International statistics

Honours

Individual * Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame: 2003 inductee Birmingham City *

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 t ...

: 1954–55 *

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 ...

runner-up:

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

Port Vale * Football League Fourth Division: 1958–59

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinsey, Noel 1925 births 2017 deaths People from Treorchy Sportspeople from Rhondda Cynon Taf Welsh footballers Wales international footballers Association football forwards Cardiff City F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Lowestoft Town F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Association football coaches Port Vale F.C. non-playing staff FA Cup Final players