Colin Webster (17 July 1932 – 1 March 2001) was a Welsh

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 ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

international. A striker, he played his club football for Manchester United, Swansea Town and Newport County and was part of the Wales squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden.

Club career

Webster began his career at his home town club Cardiff City but, despite playing regularly for the reserve side while also working as a part-time motor fitter, he was unable to break into the first team. He was later brought to the attention of Manchester United by Jimmy Murphy and signed for the club in May 1952. He was playing for Manchester United at the time of the Munich air disaster on 6 February 1958, but did not travel with the team due to ill health. He remained at the club for one year after the tragedy and played in the

1958 FA Cup Final The 1958 FA Cup Final was contested on 3 May 1958 by Bolton Wanderers and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium, London, in front of a crowd of almost 100,000. The referee was J. Sherlock. Bolton won 2–0, with a double by Nat Lofthouse, who sc ...

, collecting a runners-up medal as United were defeated by Bolton Wanderers. In 1958, he moved to Swansea Town for a fee of £7,5000 where he spent five years, finishing as top scorer for the club in the 1959–60 and 1960–61 seasons and winning the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the mos ...

in 1961. Webster finished his professional career in 1964 with Newport County, later playing non-league football for

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

and Merthyr Tydfil.

International career

Webster made his debut for

on 1 May 1957 in a 1–0 win over

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. The following year, he was named as part of the Wales squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. He played in 1–1 draws against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

during the group stages and later replaced the injured

John Charles William John Charles (27 December 1931 – 21 February 2004) was a Welsh footballer who played as a centre-forward or as a centre-back. Best known for his first stint at Leeds United and Juventus, he was rated by many as the greatest all-ro ...

in the quarter-final against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, missing an easy chance to level the score and thus ensuring Wales's elimination.

After retirement

Webster later ran a

scaffolding Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely use ...

business and later spent nine years working as a park ranger in Swansea. After breaking his leg in a fall, Webster took early retirement. He died from lung cancer on 1 March 2001 at the age of 68.

Honours

Manchester United * Football League First Division (1): 1955–56 Swansea Town *

(1): 1960–61

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Colin 1932 births 2001 deaths Footballers from Cardiff Cardiff City F.C. players Welsh men's footballers Manchester United F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Merthyr Tydfil F.C. players Wales men's international footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players English Football League players Deaths from cancer in Wales Men's association football inside forwards