Stephen Paul Ingle (22 October 1946 – 16 December 2020) 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 played as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Career

Born in the Manningham area of

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, Ingle began as an apprentice at hometown club

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, before turning professional in 1964. He later played for Southend United,

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

, Stockport County, Southport and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

, before playing in South Africa with

Arcadia Shepherds Arcadia Shepherds are a South African association football club based in Arcadia, Pretoria. It is affiliated with the Football Association of Pretoria (FAP). History The club was founded in 1903, and was briefly renamed ''Arcadia United'' in th ...

. With Wrexham he won league promotion in 1970 and was a runner-up in the Welsh Cup.

Later life

Ingle remained in South Africa after his playing career ended, living in Pretoria with his wife and three sons, and working as a lift engineer. In 1995 he fell down a lift shaft and was in hospital for six months. He died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

on 16 December 2020, at age 74, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa The COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). On 5 March 2020, Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize had conf ...

References

1946 births 2020 deaths People from Manningham, Bradford English footballers Bradford City A.F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Southport F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Arcadia Shepherds F.C. players English Football League players Association football fullbacks English expatriate footballers English expatriates in South Africa Expatriate soccer players in South Africa Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa {{England-footy-defender-1940s-stub