Richard Goddard-Crawley (born 31 March 1978) is an English retired semi-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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

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 ...

for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

. After his release in 1998, he had a 10-year career in

non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

Career

Brentford

After beginning his youth career in the academy at

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

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 1994, Goddard-Crawley joined

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 ...

club

on trial in May 1996 and signed a two-year contract three months later. He was an unused substitute on three occasions, before making his senior debut in the final match of the 1996–97 regular season, as a 78th-minute substitute for Robert Taylor in a 1–0 defeat to Peterborough United. Goddard-Crawley made two League Cup appearances early in the 1997–98 season, before moving away on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

in October 1997 and returning with a fractured foot one month later. Goddard-Crawley departed Brentford for the final time in March 1998, after making three appearances in just under two years at

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

. He played the majority of his football at the club for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

, for whom he made 36 appearances and scored two goals.

Non-League football

In March 1998, Goddard-Crawley returned to

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

club

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

for a £7,500 fee, after having been on loan at the

Kingfield Stadium Kingfield Stadium, currently known as The Laithwaite Community Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Woking F.C. in the Kingfield area of Woking, Surrey which has a capacity of approximately 6,000, of which, 2,500 are seated on gran ...

earlier in the 1997–98 season. Over the next decade he subsequently played in the Conference and Isthmian League for St Albans City,

Chesham United Chesham United Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England. Nicknamed "the Generals", they are currently members of the and play at the Meadow. History The club was established in 1917 by a merger o ...

, Harrow Borough, Thurrock, Yeading and

AFC Hornchurch Hornchurch Football Club is a football club based in Upminster, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Hornchurch Stadium. History 1881 club The first Hornchurch Football Club was founded in October 1881. Based at Grey Tow ...

, before retiring in 2008.

Post-retirement

After retiring from football, Goddard-Crawley returned to Arsenal as an academy physiotherapist in October 2008. As of February 2020, he was running a physiotherapy business in North London.

Career statistics

Honours

St Albans City *

Herts Senior Cup The Herts Senior Cup, officially titled the Hertfordshire County Football Association Senior Challenge Cup, is the oldest County-based football Cup competition based exclusively in Hertfordshire, England. It was first contested in the 1886-87 se ...

: 1999–00 Individual * Yeading Supporters' Player of the Year: 2006–07 * Yeading Supporters' Player of the Year: 2006–07

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goddard-Crawley, Richard 1978 births Living people English men's footballers Arsenal F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Woking F.C. players Chesham United F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players Harrow Borough F.C. players Thurrock F.C. players Yeading F.C. players Hornchurch F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Association football physiotherapists Isthmian League players Men's association football central defenders Footballers from the London Borough of Barnet