Ronald Thomas Davies (21 September 1932 – December 2007) was a Welsh 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 full-back for

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in the 1950s and 1960s.

Playing career

Born in

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 ...

, he started his career as an amateur with

, before signing for

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team

in October 1952. It was until the 1955–56 season that he made his debut for the first team, generally at full back although he was occasionally pressed into service as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. In his time with Cardiff he made a total of 32 appearances scoring three goals. In March 1958, Ted Bates signed him for £7,000 to replace the recently retired Len Wilkins. He soon proved to be a worthy successor and was an ever-present during the Saints' 1959–60 Third Division championship season. According to Holley & Chalk's "The Alphabet of the Saints" he was "unlucky not to gain international recognition during his spell with the club". He adjusted well to football in the Second Division and missed only one game in 1960–61, but the following season he had to vie for the No.2 shirt with Roy Patrick before losing out altogether to

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 ...

international Stuart Williams in September 1962. For the next two seasons he spent most of his time in the reserves. His final first team outing was on 4 January 1964 in an

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 ...

match at The Dell against

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. After a total of 185 appearances for the Saints, without ever scoring, he was transferred to

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

in August 1964. After three seasons at Aldershot he moved to lower league football with

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. He managed the

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

Snooker Centre before retiring to Wales in 1997. In his later life he suffered with

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 ...

. His death was reported in December 2007.

Honours

Southampton * Third Division championship: 1959–60

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Ron 1932 births Footballers from Merthyr Tydfil 2007 deaths Welsh men's footballers English Football League players Cardiff City F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Aldershot F.C. players Wales men's under-23 international footballers Men's association football defenders