Royston Edward Dwight (9 January 1933 – 9 April 2002) was an English

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, rugb ...

. He scored the opening goal in the

1959 FA Cup Final The 1959 FA Cup Final was contested by Nottingham Forest and Luton Town at Wembley. Forest won 2–1, with goals from Roy Dwight and Tommy Wilson just four minutes apart. Dave Pacey scored Luton's consolation goal. Forest were playing in th ...

for Nottingham Forest.

Career

Fulham

Although a winger, he was renowned for his shooting ability. Dwight scored 54 goals in 72 games for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

between 1954 and 1958, including a hat-trick against

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

in 1956. In 1957, he was in the

London XI The London XI was a football team that represented the city of London in the 1955–58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The competition began in 1955, and the first tournament took three years to complete. The entrants were the major football team of ...

that beat Lausanne Sport 2–0 in the semi-final second leg of the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup ( ...

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

Nottingham Forest

He moved on to Nottingham Forest in the summer of 1958 for a 'substantial' fee, reported as £10,000. In 1958–59, his only full season at Nottingham Forest, Dwight scored 26 goals in 41 League and 9 FA Cup appearances, including two hat-tricks. He opened the scoring after 10 minutes for Forest in the

against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

. After 33 minutes, with Forest winning 2–0, Dwight was carried off 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 ...

pitch after breaking his leg in a tackle with Luton's Brendan McNally. Ten-man Forest held on, winning the match 2–1 to become the only team reduced in numbers by injury to win the trophy. Despite scoring in his comeback game the following March, he was not the player he had been before his injury. He played only twice more for Forest before dropping out of League football.

Later career

He moved back to play in his native

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

with Gravesend and Northfleet. He returned to league football with spells at

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

and

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

. He later managed Tooting and Mitcham, who had been Forest's 3rd round opponents in their winning FA Cup run in 1959, and also managed

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

Career outside football

Later in life during the 1970s he taught Physical Education at Forest Hill Boys Secondary School. He took up a position of Assistant Racing Manager in the

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tr ...

industry at

Catford Stadium Catford Stadium was a historic greyhound racing stadium in Catford, a suburb of London. Origins Charles Benstead and Frank Sutton founded the stadium on Southern Railway land between two commuter lines in 1932. The entrance was on Adenmore Roa ...

and later

Crayford & Bexleyheath Stadium Crayford & Bexleyheath Stadium was a greyhound racing and motorcycle speedway stadium in the London Borough of Bexley. Origins and Opening In 1930 the Bexleyheath and District Motorcycle Club started making plans for a grass speedway track ...

Personal life

When he was eight, Roy's mother died in childbirth while giving birth to his sister Susan, and following his father's death, he moved in with his grandparents. He married Constance Carver in Dartford in 1954,England & Wales, Marriage Index: 1916-2005 and was the cousin of singer

Sir Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after Rocket Man (song), his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially s ...

(real name Reg Dwight); Roy's father Edwin and Sir Elton's father Stanley were brothers. Roy Dwight died in London in 2002 at the age of 69.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dwight, Roy 1933 births 2002 deaths Fulham F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Footballers from Belvedere, London English Football League players London XI players Association football wingers English footballers Schoolteachers from London Ebbsfleet United F.C. players People in greyhound racing FA Cup Final players