Sydney John Webb (6 January 1906 – January 1994), commonly known as Stan Webb, was an English 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 made more than 200

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 ...

appearances playing as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

Life and career

Webb was born in

Portslade-by-Sea Portslade is a western suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove, England. Portslade Village, the original settlement a mile inland to the north, was built up in the 16th century. The arrival of the railway from Brighton in 1840 encouraged rapid de ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, in 1906. He worked at the local gasworks, and played football for his

works team A works team (sometimes factory team, company team) is a sports team that is financed and run by a manufacturer or other business. Sometimes, works teams contain or are entirely made up of employees of the supporting company. Association footb ...

and for

Sussex County League The Macron Southern Combination Football League is a football league broadly covering the counties of East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and South West London, England. The league consists of eight divisions – three for first teams (Premier Div ...

team

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...

before turning professional with

in 1924. He spent the next season with Tunbridge Wells Rangers of the Kent League, and made 24 first-team appearances for Albion in 1925–26. He then lost his place to the experienced

Skilly Williams Reginald George "Skilly" Williams (4 January 1890 – 19 June 1959) was an English association footballer. Born in Watford, he played primarily as a striker during his amateur career, but later switched to become a goalkeeper. After playing for ...

, but regained it in late 1928, and was undisputed first choice until the arrival of Joe Duckworth, with whom he enjoyed a rivalry for the position until Duckworth moved on in 1932. Webb made his 234th and final first-team appearance for Albion in 1934, returned to Tunbridge Wells Rangersby then a Southern League teamin 1935, and finished his career at Southwick. After the war, he emigrated to Australia, where he died in January 1994.

References

1906 births 1994 deaths People from Hove Association football goalkeepers English footballers Hove United F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Tunbridge Wells F.C. players Southwick F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Date of death missing {{England-footy-goalkeeper-stub