William Norman McCourt Uprichard (20 April 1928 – 31 January 2011) was a football player for Arsenal,

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Gaelic football career

Uprichard was born in

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...

, Northern Ireland, and as a teenager played both soccer and Gaelic football. He won a district minor league medal with St. Peter's GAC, but was subsequently banned by the GAA and told he would not receive his medal because he had signed for Glenavon. The GAA's '

rule 27 Rule 27 of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), also known as "the Ban", was a rule in force from 1905 to 1971 that banned members of the GAA from playing or watching other sports such as rugby, soccer or hockey. The rule The text of Rule 27

' prohibited adult members at the time from playing or watching so-called foreign games. Uprichard was finally awarded his medal in 2004.

Association football career

Club career

Uprichard played in goal for Glenavon and later for Distillery before signing for Arsenal in 1948 for £1,500. He never played an Arsenal first-team game, with Ted Platt and

George Swindin George Hedley Swindin (4 December 1914 – 26 October 2005) was an English football player and manager. Playing as a goalkeeper, Swindin made more than 300 appearances in the Football League with Bradford City and Arsenal, where his 18-year ...

being higher in the pecking order. He was transferred to

in November 1949, later becoming the first choice goalkeeper. The 1952–53 season was his last at Swindon before his transfer to

in November 1952. Uprichard was Eddie Lever's first signing as Pompey manager. He was later followed by

Derek Dougan Alexander Derek Dougan (20 January 1938 – 24 June 2007) was a Northern Ireland international footballer, football manager, football chairman, pundit, and writer. He was also known by his nickname, "The Doog". He was capped by Northern ...

from Distillery. Uprichard played nearly 200 first-team games for Portsmouth in seven seasons. He later played for

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

, Hastings United and Ramsgate Athletic.

International career

Uprichard was awarded 18 senior international caps for

, the first coming against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

in 1951. He played in the 1958 World Cup Finals in Sweden alongside

Billy Bingham William Laurence Bingham (5 August 1931 – 9 June 2022) was a Northern Ireland international footballer and football manager. As a player, his first professional club was Glentoran, whom he played for between 1948 and 1950. Making the move ...

Jimmy McIlroy James McIlroy (25 October 1931 – 20 August 2018) was a Northern Ireland international footballer, who played for Glentoran, Burnley, Stoke City and Oldham Athletic. He was regarded as one of Burnley's greatest players, having played 497 matc ...

and Danny Blanchflower. Despite sustaining a broken hand and an ankle injury, he kept the

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

attack at bay in a play-off win which secured Northern Ireland a quarter-final berth.Planet World Cup
/ref> His final game for Northern Ireland was, like his first, against Scotland, in November 1958. Norman died on Monday 31 January 2011 after a long illness.

Footnotes

References

The Irish News, 2 February 2004]
Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Uprichard, Norman 1928 births 2011 deaths Association footballers from Lurgan Men's association football goalkeepers Northern Ireland men's international footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players Glenavon F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Ramsgate F.C. players Hastings United F.C. (1948) players