Graham Vearncombe (28 March 1934 – 30 November 1992) was a

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

international

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 ...

. 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 ...

, he played his club football for

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

and was part of the Wales squad for the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil be ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Club career

Vearncombe was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. He made his professional debut for

in the final match of the 1952–53 season during a 2–0 loss to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. However, he made just 17 appearances during the next two years as he served as understudy to

Ron Howells Ronald Gilbert Howells (12 January 1927 – 29 December 2011) was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was capped by Wales and played in The Football League for three clubs. Playing career Howells began his playing car ...

before becoming the club's first choice goalkeeper during the 1955–56 season. At the end of the season he won the first of his

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 most ...

winners medals after beating Swansea Town 3–2 in the final. During the 1957–58 he shared the number one goalkeeper spot with Ken Jones before losing his place the following season to

, making just one league appearance on the final day of the season but did play in all but one of the sides games in

, beating

Lovells Athletic Lovell's Athletic F.C. was the works team for Lovell's sweet factory in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, which played professional football from 1918 until 1969. History Lovell's joined the Western Football League in 1923 and won the title in t ...

2–0 in the final. He would later regain his spot as number one goalkeeper before leaving the club in 1964, his last appearance in a 2–0 win over

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Bangor) are an inactive Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They started the 2021–22 season in the Cymru North the second level of the Welsh football league system, but ...

to win his third Welsh Cup winners medal. He later went on to play for non-league side

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

Honours

Cardiff City *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

runners-up: 1959–60 *

winners: 1955–56, 1958–59, 1963–64 *

runners-up: 1959–60

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vearncombe, Graham 1934 births 1992 deaths Footballers from Cardiff Welsh footballers Cardiff City F.C. players Merthyr Tydfil F.C. players Barry Town United F.C. players Wales international footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players Association football goalkeepers English Football League players