William Ronald Briggs (29 March 1943 – 28 August 2008) was a Northern Irish

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 goalkeeper for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, Swansea Town and Bristol Rovers in the 1960s. Born in Belfast, Briggs was scouted by Manchester United at the age of 15, and signed professional forms with them on his 17th birthday. His first team debut came 10 months later, in a First Division match away to Leicester City on 21 January 1961. However, his debut was unsuccessful; he conceded six goals as United lost 6–0. Briggs would go on to make a total of 11 appearances for the club, the last coming in 1962, before he was sold to Swansea Town in 1964. A year later, he was signed by Bristol Rovers, where he stayed until 1968, when he moved to Frome Town, thus ending his League football career. Briggs also collected two caps for Northern Ireland, making his debut in a 4–0 loss to Wales in April 1962. His only other appearance was a 2–1 win over the Netherlands in 1965. After retiring from football, Briggs went to live in

Stapleton, Bristol Stapleton is an area in the northeastern suburbs of the city of Bristol, England. The name is colloquially used today to describe the ribbon village along Bell Hill and Park Road in the Frome Valley. It borders Eastville to the South and Begbro ...

, and worked in insurance, construction and security until a diagnosis of inoperable lung cancer in December 2007 forced his retirement in March 2008. Briggs died on 28 August 2008.

References

External links

Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk

at MUFCinfo.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Briggs, Ronnie 1943 births 2008 deaths Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Men's association football goalkeepers Manchester United F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Frome Town F.C. players Northern Ireland men's international footballers Deaths from lung cancer in England English Football League players