Interesting facts about goalkeepers!

June 12, 2012 DaveW Uncategorized

Awards, Gongs & Other Achievements International honours England, Wales and Northern Ireland’s most capped players are all goalkeepers, namely Peter Shilton (125), Neville Southall (91) and Pat Jennings (119). Scotland’s most capped player is Kenny Dalglish, who picked up 102 caps during his International career.

Italy’s Walter Zenga holds the record of longest unbeaten run in World Cup history. He played 517 minutes (Almost 6 games) without letting in a goal in the 1990 tournament, beating the previous record held by England’s Peter Shilton. Claudio Caniggia of Argentina eventually ended Zenga’s run in the semifinals.

Peter Shilton does hold the record for the number of clean sheets in the World Cup finals, however, a record he shares with France’s Fabien Barthez. Both keepers kept ten clean sheets in the final stages

New Zealand keeper Richard Wilson went 921 minutes without conceding a goal during New Zealand’s successful World Cup qualifying campaign in 1982.

At the other end of the scale, Mexico’s Antonia Carbajal and Mohamed Al-Deayea have the unfortunate honour of conceding the most goals in the final stages – 25 apiece.

Spare a thought for Nicky Salapu of American Samoa. This fine figure of a goalie entered the record books in April, 2001 after conceeding 31 goals in a World Cup Qualifying game against Australia.

The record for most goals conceded in one tournament is the 16 that went past South Korea’s Hong Duk-Yung in 1954. To make matters worse, he only played two games.

El Salvador’s Luis Guevara Mora conceded 10 against Hungary in 1982.

Switzerland’s Pascal Zuberbühler didn’t conceded a single goal in 2006. The Swiss were eventually knocked out on penalties by Ukraine.

Speaking of penalties, Poland’s Jan Tomaszewski (1974) and the United States’ Brad Friedel (2002) share the record for most penalty saves in open play, both saving twice from the spot in their respective tournaments.

The first player to be replaced in a World Cup finals due to injury was French goalkeeper Alex Thepot, who sustained a jaw injury after being kicked in the face by one of his Mexican opponents in the opening match of the 1930 World Cup. He was replaced by midfielder Augustin Chantrel.

The first goalkeeper to be sent-off was Gianluca Pagliuca of Italy in a match against Norway during the opening round of the 1994 World Cup.

Only three goalkeepers have ever captained a World Cup winning side. What’s more, the first two were both Italian. Giampiero Combi led Italy to their first title way back in 1934 and he was followed forty-eight years later by Dino Zoff, who skippered the Italians to victory in Spain in 1982. They were joined by Spain’s Iker Casillas, who lifted the trophy in 2010.

The first Fourth Division player to win a full international cap was also a goalkeeper – Crystal Palace’s Vic Rouse, who was selected to play for Wales in a game against Northern Ireland in 1959.

American goalkeeper James Douglas recorded the first-ever clean-sheet in the finals of the World Cup when the United States played Belgium in a group game in 1930. The USA won the match 3-0.

On 10 October 2009, West Ham United goalkeeper Rob Green became the first ever England goalkeeper to be sent off during a match against Ukraine for a professional foul on Artem Milevskiy.

Spanish goalkeeper Andrés Palop was part of Spain’s victorious Euro 2008 championship winning side and duly picked up a winners’ medal, despite the fact he is yet to make his debut at international level.

And finally, Saudi Arabia’s Mohamed Al-Deayea holds the record for most international appearances, winning 181 caps in total.

Players of the year Winners of the Football Writers’ Association Award for the Footballer of the Year include Bert Trautmann (Manchester City, 1955-56), Gordon Banks (Stoke City, 1971-72), Pat Jennings (Tottenham Hotspur, 1972-73) and Neville Southall (Everton, 1984-85).

Goalkeepers have fared slightly better North of the Border. Ronnie Simpson (Celtic, 1967), Alan Rough (Partick Thistle, 1981), Hamish McAlpine (Dundee United, 1985), Andy Goram (Rangers, 1993) and Craig Gordon (Hearts, 2006) have all won the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year title.

Only two Goalkeepers have won the PFA Player of the Year Award: Pat Jennings (Tottenham Hotspur, 1976) and Peter Shilton (Nottingham Forest, 1978).

Likewise, only two keepers have won the Scottish PFA award – Dutchman Theo Snelders (Aberdeen, 1989) and Andy Goram (Rangers, 1993).

Only one goalkeeper has ever won the PFA Young Player of the Year – Mervyn Day of West Ham United, who won the award back in 1975.

Moscow Dynamo’s Lev Yashin is the only goalkeeper to win the European Footballer of the Year Award, doing so in 1963. He’s also the only football player ever to win the Order of Lenin.

Peter Enckelman’s father, Göran, did the double in 1975, winning both the Finnish FA and Sports Writers’ Player of the Year awards.

Manchester United’s Tim Howard won a number of awards in his native USA, including Aquafina Goalkeeper of the Year, Nickelodeon GAS Player of the Year and – bizarrely for a goalkeeper – New York Life’s Humanitarian of the Year!

Both Sepp Maier and Oliver Kahn have been voted German Footballer of the Year in successive seasons. Maier picked up the award in 1977 and ’78 (to add to the title he won in 1975) while Kahn was victorious in 2000 and 2001. Harald Schmumacher has also won the award twice but was prevented from claiming a unique hattrick of wins when Hans-Peter Briegel pipped him to the title in 1985. The only other goalkeeper to ever win the award was Andres Köpke, who won it in 1993.

On the other side of the wall, Jürgen Croy won the East German Footballer of the Year award three times – in 1972, ’76 and ’78.

Spain’s Luis Arconada won the Zamora Trophy in Spain for the lowest goals-to-game ratio three years on the spin between 1980-82. Barcelona legend Antoni Ramallets holds the record for most wins with five.

Clean sheets and other club honours After going a World Record 1,275 minutes without conceding a goal in a single season, Athletico Madrid’s Abel Resno was finally beaten by Enrique of Sporting Gijon on 19 March, 1991.

Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Saar narrowly missed out on the European record during the 2008/09 season. The Dutch international went 1,311 minutes before an error allowed Newcastle United’s Peter Løvenkrands to score, breaking former Rangers keeper Chris Woods’ British record of 1,196 minutes set during the 1986/87 season.

The World Record for clean sheets belongs to Brazilian Matos Filho Mazarópi, who went 1816 minutes without conceding a goal for Vasco da Gama between May 1977 and September 1978.

The European Record is held by Belgian Dany Verlinden of Club Brügge who kept a clean sheet for 1390 minutes in 1990.

Oliver Kahn holds the record for the longest unbeaten run in the Bundesliga. In 2002/03, he went 737 minutes without conceding a goal.

The record for most consecutive clean sheets in a row in England is held by Dagenham & Redbridge’s Paul Gothard, who kept 12 shut-outs during the 1998/99 season.

Former Italian international Stefano Tacconi is the only goalkeeper to have won all five international club competitions – the European Cup, the UEFA Cup, the Cup Winners Cup, the Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup. He won all five trophies while with Juventus.

Former Welsh international keeper Leigh Richmond Roose won a posthumous Military Medal for bravery during the First World War. He died on the Somme in 1916.

In 1986/87, Tranmere goalkeeper Eric Nixon became the first player to play in all four divisions of the Football League in the same season. Although registered with Manchester City, he played 44 games while on loan at Wolves, Southampton, Bradford City and Carlisle United.

The most penalties saved in a single season by a goalkeeper is 8 (out of 10) by Paul Cooper of Ipswich Town in 1979-80.

Walter Scott of Grimsby Town was the first goalkeeper to save three penalties in asingle game; he performed this heroic feat in 1909 against Burnley.

Other goalkeepers to achieve this feat include Manchester United’s Gary Bailey, who saved three penalties against Ipswich Town at Portman Road in 1980 but still conceded six goals from open play, and Huddersfield Town’s Matt Glennon, who saved three spot-kicks in a League game against Crewe Alexandra in 2007.

The first goalkeeper to save a spot-kick during a penalty shoot-out was Hull City’s Ian McKechnie, who kept out Denis Law’s effort after The Tigers 1970 Watney Cup semi-final against Manchester United ended in a draw. McKechnie was also the first keeper to concede a penalty in a shoot-out when he failed to stop George Best’s opener and became the first goalkeeper to take a spot-kick when he stepped up to take Hull’s fifth penalty. Unfortunately for McKechnie he put the ball wide and thus became the first player to miss the deciding kick!

Former Coventry City stalwart Steve Ogrizovic holds the club record for the highest number of consecutive League appearances: 209 from August 1984 to September 1989.

Pat Jennings became the first player in English football to make 1,000 senior appearances when he turned out for Arsenal against West Bromwich Albion in February, 1983. He marked the occasion by keeping a clean sheet.

Sheffield Wednesday keeper Kevin Pressman has the somewhat dubious distinction of holding the record for the fastest ever red card in English football. He was sent off after just 13 seconds on the opening day of the 2000/01 season against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Botswana goalkeeper and captain Modiri Marumo became the first – and so far only – goalkeeper to be sent off during a penalty shoot-out in May 2003. Marumo was dimissed for punching his opposite number, Philip Nyasulu, during a Castle Cup tie between Botswana and Malawi, after Nyasulu gave him a sporting pat on the shoulder. Malawi won 4-1 to reach the semi-finals of the competition.

If you think that was quick, Real Betis goalie Joaquin Valerio went one better and was sent off 40 minutes BEFORE his team’s Spanish Second Division game with Albacete had even kicked off. Valerios insulted the referee Fidel Valle Gil in the tunnel and the offical had no hesitation in producing a red card.

In 1999 France’s World Cup winning goalkeeper Fabien Barthez topped a poll run by a French Sunday newspaper to find the country’s favourite sports person. The chrome-domed keeper beat the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Laurent Blanc, Didier Deschamps and David Ginola to win the award.

The first goalkeeper to concede a goal in the Football League was Aston Villa’s Jimmy Warner, who couldn’t stop team mate Gershom Cox from putting the ball into his own net on the opening day of the first ever season back in 1888.

The tallest keeper to have played professionally in England is believed to have been Bill Carr, who stood at 6′ 8″ and kept goal for Bournemouth in 1924.

The game’s first black professional footballer was a goalie. Born in Gold Coast (now Ghana), Arthur Wharton picked up his first pay packet in 1889 when he turned out for Rotherham United and later played in Divison One with Sheffield United.

Tottenham keeper Erik Thorstvedt became the first Premiership substitute to enter the field of play when he replaced Ian Walker on the opening day of the season in 1992.

Scottish side East Stirlingshire have the dubious honour of fielding the most goalkeepers in one game, using four different keepers in a match against Albion Rovers. First choice keeper Chris Todd was replaced early on by Scott Findlay, who was subsequently sent off, as was his replacement Graham McLaren. Shire’s fourth and final keeper Kevin McCann saved a penalty as they went down 3-1 to Albion.

In 2004, Tim Howard became the first American to win an FA Cup winners’ medal.

The last goalkeeper to take his place between the sticks without gloves – in English football at least – is reputed to be Bolton Wanderers’ Simon Farnworth, when he lined up against Bristol City in the final of the Freight Rover Trophy at Wembley in 1986. His side lost 3-0.

Gianluigi Buffon currently holds the record for the biggest transfer fee paid out for a goalkeeper, costing Juventus a cool £33 million when they signed him from Parma in 2001

The most travelled English goalkeeper is John “Budgie” Burridge, who was attached to thirty three different clubs during the course of his 29-year career. After mkaing his debut with Workington Town in 1968 he then played for (in order) Blackpool, Aston Villa, Southend United (loan), Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Derby County (loan), Sheffield United, Southampton, Newcastle United, Hibernian, Newcastle United (second spell), Scarborough, Lincoln City, Enfield, Aberdeen, Newcastle United (third spell), Dumbarton, Dunfermline, Falkirk, Manchester City, Notts County, Witton Albion, Darlington, Grimsby Town, Northampton Town, Queen of the South, Purfleet, Blyth Spartans and Scarborough (second spell) before finishing his career with a return to Blyth Spartans – a total of 771 first class matches in England and Scotland plus a further 121 non-league appearances.

IFFHS’ World’s Best Goalkeeper of the Year
Year	Winner	Country	Club
1987	Jean-Marie Pfaff	Belgium	Bayern Munich (Ger)
1988	Rinat Dasaev	Soviet Union	Spartak Moscow (USSR)
1989	Walter Zenga	Italy	Inter Milan (Ita)
1990	Walter Zenga	Italy	Inter Milan (Ita)
1991	Walter Zenga	Italy	Inter Milan (Ita)
1992	Peter Schmeichel	Denmark	Manchester United (Eng)
1993	Peter Schmeichel	Denmark	Manchester United (Eng)
1994	Michel Preud’Homme	Belgium	K.V. Mechelen (Bel)/Benfica (Por)
1995	José Luis Chilavert	Paraguay	Vélez Sarsfield (Arg)
1996	Andreas Köpke	Germany	Eintracht Frankfurt (Ger)/Marseille (Fra)
1997	José Luis Chilavert	Paraguay	Vélez Sarsfield (Arg)
1998	José Luis Chilavert	Paraguay	Vélez Sarsfield (Arg)
1999	Oliver Kahn	Germany	Bayern Munich (Ger)
2000	Fabien Barthez	France	AS Monaco (Fra)/Manchester United (Eng)
2001	Oliver Kahn	Germany	Bayern Munich (Ger)
2002	Oliver Kahn	Germany	Bayern Munich (Ger)
2003	Gianluigi Buffon	Italy	Juventus (Ita)
2004	Gianluigi Buffon	Italy	Juventus (Ita)
2005	Petr Cech	Czech Republic	Chelsea (Eng)
2006	Gianluigi Buffon	Italy	Juventus (Ita)
2007	Gianluigi Buffon	Italy	Juventus (Ita)
2008	Iker Casillas	Spain	Real Madrid (Spa)
2009	Iker Casillas	Spain	Real Madrid (Spa)
2010	Iker Casillas	Spain	Real Madrid (Spa)
2011	Iker Casillas	Spain	Real Madrid (Spa)

 

Sporting Masters Former Scottish International Andy Goram also played cricket for Scotland, keeping wicket against Australia in 1989. He won three caps in total and was told to stick to football by Australian bowler Merv Hughes…

Morton ‘Monty’ Betts played County Cricket for Middlesex and Kent as well as keeping goal for England. He also scored the only goal in the first ever FA Cup while playing up front for Wanderers.

As well as being the heaviest man ever to play football for England, Sheffield United’s Willie ‘Fatty’ Foulke also represented his country playing cricket.

Leslie Gay of the Old Brightonians has the unique distinction of keeping goal for England’s national football team as well as keeping wicket for England in a test match.

Coventry City goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic also used to play cricket in his spare time and once bowled out Viv Richards.

West Ham United keeper Jim Standen played cricket for Worcestershire during the summer months and topped the county bowling averages. He could apparently hurl a football 60-70 yards.

Queens Park and Scotland custodian Archibald Rowan was also a successful cricketer in the late 19th Century.

Former Tranmere, West Brom and Aston Villa goalkeper Jim Cumbes won the cricket county championship with Worcestershire in 1974. He is now Chief Executive of Lancashire Country Cricket Club.

Arthur Jepson, who played for Port Vale, Stoke City and Lincoln during his career, also played County Cricket for Nottinghamshire and became a Test umpire following his retirement from the game.

In August 1920, keeper Jack Durston took five wickets for Middlesex against Surrey in the morning then kept a clean sheet for Brentford in their opening game of the season in the afternoon.

Aston Villa’s England international goalkeeper Bill George also played cricket for Warickshire.

Another England goalkeeper who also played cricket was Alexander Morten. Morten played both sports for the original Crystal Palace side of the 1800s.

Scottish goalkeeper Hamish McAlpine regularly turned out for Perthshire cricket club Rossie Priory.

New Zealand test cricketer Don McRae also played in goal for his country – winning one cap in 1936 in a 7-1 defeat to Australia.

Further afield, Charlie Gardiner, of the Unity Club in Belize, also turned out for the club’s cricketing counterpart as well as keeping goal in the 1960s.

Blackpool goalkeeper Lewis Edge played cricket for both Morecambe and Cumbria County Cricket Clubs, keeping wicket as a youngster.

After retiring from football, Burnley’s Jerry Dawson – who holds the record for most league appearances for The Clarets – became a batsman in the Lancashire League for Burnley Cricket Club.

Another goalkeeper who opted to take up cricket on his retirement was former Swindon Town and Torquay goalkeeper Kenny Allen, who went on to captain his local team, Chudleigh.

Former England test-batsman Phil Mead played one game in goal for Southampton way back in 1907, keeping a clean sheet in the process!

England Test cricketer Abe Waddington could be considered something of an all-rounder in the world of sport. As well as playing for England and enjoying a successful county career with Yorkshire, Waddington also played seven league games for Halifax Town during the 1921-22 season and later took part in the qualifying rounds of The Open golf championship.

George Raikes, who kept goal for England four times in the 1890s, enjoyed a first class county career with Oxford University and Hampshire before twice winning the Minor Counties Championship with Norfolk.

Another goalkeeper to enjoy success in the Minor Counties Championship was Watford goalkeeper Bill Yates, who played for Buckinghamshire and took two five wicket hauls against Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire in the early 1950s.

George Harris, who kept goal for Mansfield Town and Swansea, played one first-class cricket game for Glamorgan against Surrey in 1932 and was dismissed for a duck in his only innings.

Former European Footballer of the Year Lev Yashin started life as an Ice Hockey goalie before finding fame with the powerful USSR side of the 1960s.

Sweden’s Magnus Hedman also played Ice Hockey as a youngster before being picked for the Swedish U-15 football team and had trials with Stockholm’s leading Hockey team.

While competing in ITV’s Dancing on Ice, former England and Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman revealed that he used to play ice hockey as a youngster and like Magnus Hedman had trials with several local sides before deciding on a career in football.

Clapham Rovers’ goalie Reginald Birkett was capped by his country at both football and Rugby Union.

Former Bolton Wanderers and Millwall goalie JW Sutcliffe was the last man to play both Rugby Union and football for England.

French World Cup winning goalie Fabien Barthez was brought up playing rugby and only turned to football when he was 15 years of age. After retiring from football, Barthez took up motor racing.

Another rugby playing goalkeeper was former Wales international Dai Davies, who turned out for West Wales Schools as a teenager.

German keeper Oliver Kahn also enjoys playing rugby and regularly competes in local tournaments when not playing football.

After the 1994 World Cup, USA goalie Tony Meola received a number of offers to play American Football professionally. His NFL career proved short-lived however, and he quickly returned to the game that made in him a household name in the States.

When Former Barcelona keeper Jesus Angoy decided that he needed a career change he didn’t hang about weighing up all the possible options in front of him and signed for the Denver Broncos, then one of the hottest sides in the NFL, as a specialist field-goal kicker. The Catalonian custodian is still famous in Barcelona for marrying Johan Cruyff’s daughter if nothing else…

Horst Muhlmann was rather more successful when it came to pursuing a career in American Football. The former Schalke 04 keeper played nine NFL seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals and the Philadelphia Eagles having previously played in the NASL with Kansas City Spurs.

Former Brentford and Hibernian Icelandic goalkeeper Oli Gottskalksson has represented his country at both football and basketball.

In his youth ex-Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Tim Flowers used to be something of a mean basketball player and represented the Midlands. He went on to have trials for England before deciding on a career in football.

The much-travelled Brad Friedel was an All-State basketball player in Ohio and had try outs for UCLA before his goalkeeping career took off.

Everton’s Tim Howard is also reputed to be something of a mean basketball player.

Another American goalkeeper with a strong basketball background is Celtic’s Dominic Cervi, who picked up several High School awards while growing up in Oklahmoma.

One-time Asian Goalkeeper of the Year and Malaysian international Chow Chee-keong became a professional golf coach after retiring from football.

Former Scotland and Glasgow Rangers keeper Peter McCloy was something of a keen golfer and represented Scotland at amateur level.

West Ham goalkeeper George Kitchen, who played for the Hammers before the start of the First World War, became a professional golf player at the age of 14 and became a club pro after retiring from football.

Another Hibs goalkeeper to excel at a second sport was William Harper, who was a heavyweight boxing champion in the Scots Guards and also played rugby for his regiment

Former Everton & Chelsea goalkeeper Ben Howard Baker had something of a sporting career that has yet to be surpassed. Not only was he capped by his country at football but he was also an international high jumper of some repute – He held the British record, was AAAs Champion and represented Great Britain at both the 1912 and 1920 Olympics.

Ex-Manchester United and England goalkeeper Ray Wood had the opportunity to become a professional sprinter as a teenager but chose to play football instead.

Germany’s Hans Jakob, who played in both the 1934 and 1938 World Cup Finals, also enjoyed a successful Track & Field career, winning several Bavarian Hurdles titles.

Arsenal’s Wojciech Szczesny was a promising javelin thrower as a youngster.

Forest Green Rovers goalkeeper Steve Perrin is captain of Wiltshire County Cricket Club in the Minor Counties League, where, unsurprisingly, he plays as wicket keeper.

Former Manchester United, Arsenal and Aston Villa keeper Jimmy Rimmer played both rugby and football for Lancashire & England Boys

Newcastle United’s Steve Harper plays local league cricket when he’s not warming the bench at St. James’ Park!

Veteran Watford goalkeeper Alec Chamberlain once had trials with Middlesex County Cricket Club before being snapped up by Ipswich Town.

Albert Iremonger played cricket for Nottinghamshire as well as keeping goal for Notts County at the turn of the 20th Century.

The strangely named Mordecai Sherwin also kept goal for Notts County and played cricket for Nottinghamshire, later playing three test matches for England in Australia.

As a teenager, Bruce Grobbelaar was once offered a baseball scholarship in the United States but decided to stick with football.

Frank Borghi, who played in goal when the USA beat England 1-0 in the 1950 World Cup Finals, began life as a professional baseball player and always preferred to the throw the ball out rather than kick it.

Southampton, Derby County and England goalkeeper Jack Robinson won the British Baseball championship twice in the 1890s with Derby County Baseball Club alongside Steve Bloomer.

Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Peter Enckelman has a keen interest in motor sport and the 2007 British Touring Car Championship season featured a team named after him, Encke Sport.

Not sure if Ballroom Dancing is still officially classed as a sport, but Peter Schmeichel didn’t do too badly on BBC TV’s Strictly Come Dancing. Unfortunately the same could not be said of Peter Shilton…

Former Northern Ireland international Norman Uprichard played Gaelic football as a teenager and won a minor league medal with St. Peter’s – however he was banned by the GAA before he could receive his medal because he had signed for Glenavon!

Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Motherwell keeper Michael Fraser was a talented shinty player, regularly turning out for Glenurquhart Shinty Club, but gave up the sport in 2002 after signing on with Caley Thistle.

Ian Wilkinson, who made a brief appearance for Manchester United in the League Cup back in October 1991, went on to play crown green bowls at County level after injury curtailed his career.

Faroe Islands international goalkeeper Kaj Leo Johannesen also played handball at club level, playing 163 matches for Kyndil and scoring 625 goals.

Dilwyn John, who played for Cardiff City and Swansea City in the 1960s, became Welsh amateur Snooker champion during the 1980s and was runner-up in the 1985 IBSF World Snooker Championships.

Former Southampton reserve goalkeeper Eddie Thomas represented Wiltshire at water polo in later life.

When Thomas Boric’s goalkeeping career in the NASL, which included spells with Tampa Bay Rowdies and the Calgary Boomers, came to an end he decided to beomce a professional wrestler, fighting under the name of Paul Diamond.

Quirky Coincidences On August 28 1993, Ian Rush scored his 200th League goal of his Liverpool career against Leeds United goalkeeper John Lukic. He scored his first goal for the Reds 12 years earlier in a game against Arsenal. The Gunners’ keeper that day was a certain John Lukic…

He may only have been capped twice, but England goalkeeper Ernie ‘Tim’ Williamson conceded three goals while on international duty. The strange thing was that Sweden’s Harry Dahl scored all three goals in those two games – he grabbed two on May 21 1923 and then added a third four days later when the sides met for a second time. Dahl was the first foreign player to score twice, let alone three times, against England.

In 1963, Denis Law played at Wembley three times – once in the FA Cup Final for Manchester United, once for a Rest of the World select XI and once for Scotland. On each occasion the opposition goalkeeper was none other than Gordon Banks.

Not many goalkeepers can claim to have played in a Cup Final at Wembley. Even fewer could claim to have played in the final of three separate competitions and been on the losing side each time. Former Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough custodian Ben Roberts can. In 1997 he was in goal for Boro as they lost both the FA and League Cup Finals to Chelsea and Leicester City respectively, then in 1999 he was on the losing side again as Millwall went down 1-0 in the final of the Auto Windscreen Shield.

Speaking of Millwall, when they played in the 2004 FA Cup Final, they ended up facing the same keeper that kept goal against them in the AWS Shield Final in 1999, namely Northern Ireland international Roy Carroll. Carroll kept a clean sheet on both occasions.

Preston North End fielded amateur goalkeepers in their first two appearances in the FA Cup Final. Dr Mills Roberts kept goal in 1889 while James Frederick Mitchell was between the sticks in 1922.

All three goalkeepers in South Korea’s 2002 World Cup squad – Lee Woon-Jae, Choi Eun-Sung and Kim Byung-Ji – were born in the month of April!

During the course of the 2004/2005 season, Rangers beat Dundee United 7-1 in the Semi-Final of the Scottish League Cup. Earlier that season, Manchester City beat Barnsley 7-1 in the English League Cup. Nothing strange about that, you might consider, except for one small matter – the same two goalkeepers played in both games. On the receiving end of the seven-goal thrashings on both occasions for Barnsley and Dundee United was Nick Colgan while his opposite number in the Manchester City and Rangers goal was Ronald Waterreus.

Arguably two of Scotland’s greatest post-war keepers, Jim Leighton and Andy Goram both made their international debuts in the same month, against the same country and both kept a clean sheet. Leighton made his debut against East Germany in the 2-0 victory in October 1982 while Goram was capped in the corresponding international fixture in October 1985 which ended 0-0.

When Chic Brodie’s professional career was ended after a collision with a stray dog while playing for Brentford at Colchester United’s Layer Road ground, he became a taxi driver in the capital. While driving through Westminster he had to swerve his cab to avoid hitting another stray dog that had run out into the road and hit another vehicle, driven by former West Ham and England striker Geoff Hurst…

Barrow goalkeeper Alan Coglan had the misfortune to break his leg three times during his career. The strange thing was that on all three occasions he was playing in a reserve team fixture against the same opposition – Sunderland.

There must be something in the water in Barrow – striker Bobby Knox had the distinction of becoming the first substitute to come and score a goal when he netted against Wrexham on the opening day of the 1965/66 season. However, Knox also went on to become the first substitute to come on and save a penalty, after he replaced the injured Ken Mulholland and kept out a Doncaster spot kick.

 

Book Keepers Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes novels, was a founder member of Portsmouth FC and also the team’s first ever goalkeeper.

After writing his first book about his life as a vet, author Alf Wight couldn’t find a suitable pseudonym under which to publish his memoirs until one night he was watching a game of football and was rather taken with the name of Hibernian’s goalkeeper – Jim Herriot. The name James Herriot went on to become a household name in the UK thanks to the TV series ‘All Creatures Great and Small’.

Alan Simpson, one half of the comedy writing duo Galton & Simpson, who were responsible for such classics as Hancock’s Half Hour and Steptoe & Son, was set to sign for Chelsea in 1947 but before he could put pen to paper, he contracted tuberculosis, which brought his goalkeeping career to a premature end.

Martin Waddell, awarded winning children’s author of such classics as Little Dracula and the Napper series of football books, was an aspiring footballer as a youngster and kept goal for Fulham’s youth team in the late 1950s.

Philosopher, journalist and author Albert Camus’ career may have taken a different path had tuberculosis not curtailed his promising football career in 1930. The Frenchman had kept goal for his university side and was reportedly quite taken with the game.

Slightly off subject, former Arsenal and Scotland goalkeeper Bob Wilson was immortalised in print when he signed for Melchester Rovers in the comic strip Roy of the Rovers in the mid-1980s. Wilson helped Rovers win the Milk Cup and kept a record-breaking successive number of clean sheets during the course of the season. Not a bad achievement considering he hadn’t played for ten years…

Goalkeepers Name Checked by Half Man Half Bisuit
Goalkeeper	Song
Luis Arconada	Emerging From Gorse
Joel Bats	Emerging From Gorse
Joseph-Antoine Bell	Emerging From Gorse
George Farm	1966 An All That
Brad Friedel	I Went to a Wedding…
Peter Grummit	Let’s Not
Jean Marie Pfaff	Emerging From Gorse
Mart Poom	Left Lyrics in the Practice Room
Bob Wilson	Bob Wilson, Anchorman
Lev Yashin	1966 And All That
Dino Zoff	The Referee’s Alphabet
Andoni Zubizarreta	The Referee’s Alphabet

 

Facts You Probably Didn’t Want to Know The only player ever to be capped for England while playing for Stockport County was a goalkeeper. Henry Hardy made his one and only appearance in an England shirt in 1924 in a game against Belgium. He kept a clean sheet too, as the national side ran out 4-0 winners.

How many times have current Rangers and Celtic goalkeepers faced each other in an international fixture that didn’t include Scotland? It certainly happened at Lansdowne Road in 1990 when Chris Woods and Pat Bonner were in goal.

Wigan Athletic had the “distinction” of providing both goalkeepers when Serbia met Ghana in the 2010 World Cup finals in the form of Vladimir Stojkovic and Richard Kingson. However, neither goalkeeper was retained by the Latics for the 2010/11 season after the club decided not to extend Stojkovic’s loan spell and released Kingson from his contract.

When Wales played Finland at the Millennium Stadium in 2004, both first choice goalkeepers came from the same English club, namely Paul Jones and Antii Niemi of Southampton.

Liverpool provided both goalkeepers when Northern Ireland met Scotland in 1920 – with Elisha Scott keeping goal for the Irish and reserve keeper Kenny Campbell between the sticks at the other end.

Jones also became the first goalkeeper ever to come on as a substitute in the FA Cup Final, replacing the injured Niemi when Southampton faced Arsenal in 2003. The following year, Manchester United’s Roy Carroll replaced Tim Howard in their FA Cup Final against Millwall.

In England’s first ever international, against Scotland in 1872, goalkeeper WJ Maynard changed places with Robert Baker during the second half and played up front. Both keepers kept a clean sheet.

Not to be outdone, Scotland also changed goalkeepers when they played England in 1872. Captain Bob Gardner kept goals in the first half before changing positions with Robert Smith to play outfield in the second. Like their English counterparts, both keepers kept a clean sheet and the game – unsurprisingly – finished 0-0!

In 1986, West Ham defender Alvin Martin, scored a hat-trick against three different goalkeepers in a game against Newcastle United, scoring his third against stand-in Peter Beardsley

Former Leicester City and Millwall goalie Kasey Keller used to be the proud owner of a gas-powered car that was unable to reverse.

The first West German player to touch the ball in the 1974 World Cup Final was goalkeeper Sepp Maier, who picked the ball out of his net after Holland’s Johan Neeskens scored from the penalty spot in the opening minute.

Liverpool FC has a proud tradition when it comes to goalkeepers. In 2730 games only six players kept goal: Ray Clemence (656), Bruce Grobbelaar (643), Elisha Scott (467), Tommy Lawrence (387), Arthur Riley (338) and Sam Hardy (239).

Peru’s Ramon Quiroga holds the distinction of being the only keeper ever to be booked during the World Cup Finals for a tackle in the opponents half of the field! It happened in 1978 when Peru met Poland.

Three goalkeepers have played against England without being registered to a recognised club. The first was Welshman Bob Mills-Robert who came out of retirement to play against England in 1892. At the time he was listed as being with a club called Llanberis, but Llanberis was simply the place where he lived and had no official team! The other two keepers were both from North America and played against England nearly a century later. In 1985 the USA fielded a team made up of college and Indoor League players but goalie Arnie Mausser, who was setting a new US record of 35 caps, had no club at all. Canadian goalie Paul Dolan found himself in a similar position a year later when he was selected to play against England. Both keepers were victims of the collapse of the NASL.

On October 16 1993, Colchester United became the first League club to have both keepers sent off in a game against Hereford United. John Keeley and Nathan Munson were both dismissed for professional fouls as the U’s slumped to a 5-0 defeat.

When England played Malta in 1971, Gordon Banks touched the ball just four times – all from back passes – and didn’t have a single save to make. England won 5-0.

Shaka Hislop used to work for NASA.

Towards the end of the 1998/99 season, Millwall conceded three penalties over the course of a few weeks. All three penalties were saved. The strange thing is, on each occasion the Lions had a different goalkeeper between the sticks – Phil Smith, Ben Roberts and veteran Nigel Spink.

Zairean Muampa Kazadi was the first goalkeeper to be replaced for any other reason than injury in World Cup history, when Zaïre were 0-3 down versus Yugoslavia after just 22 minutes in 1974. However, his replacement Dimbi Tubilandu couldn’t stop the goalrush and his country eventually lost the game 9-0! The only other time a goalkeeper has been replaced in similar circumstances occurred in USA 1994, when Bulgarian keeper Mihailov was substituted at half time when Sweden lead 4-0. Nikolov came in for him and kept a clean sheet in the second half.

In July 1999, all six races at Wolverhampton race track were named in honour of Mike Stowell, Wolves’ long-serving goalie!

During the 1997/8 Second Division Championship season, Watford defender Steve Palmer wore all 14 shirts during the campaign. In the last home game of the season he started in goal and switched with the Hornets’ regular keeper Alec Chamberlain after five seconds.

Sheffield Wednesday’s Lee Bullen repeated Palmer’s feat eight seasons later when he played in every possible outfield position for The Owls during the 2005/06 season, including a spell in goal when regular ‘keeper David Lucas was injured during a game against relegation rivals Millwall. Bullen kept a clean sheet as Wednesday ran out 1-0 winners.

In January 2004, Jan Moons of Racing Genk became the first footballer to receive instructions from the bench via an earpiece in a first class professional game. Genk won and the goalkeeper insists he wasn’t told which way to dive…

Despite producing some the best goalkeepers the game has ever seen, no keeper from the British Isles has ever topped the International Federation of Football History and Statistics’ (IFFHS) goalkeeping rankings ever since they were first introduced way back in 1987. To make matters worse, the last British goalkeeper to even appear in the Top Ten was David Seaman in 1999.

Brothers John and Charles Sutcliffe hold the record for the longest period between two brothers appearing in an F.A. Cup Final. Both goalkeepers, John kept goal for Bolton Wanderers when they lost to Notts County in 1894 while Charles turned out for Sheffield United 31 years later when they beat Cardiff City in the final in 1925.

Bolton Wanderers goalkeeper Dick Pym won three FA Cup Winners’ medals during the 1920s (1923, 1926 & 1929) and never conceded a goal at Wembley. He also lived longer than any other England international.

When Ron Springett returned to Queens Park Rangers from Sheffield Wednesday in 1967, his brother Peter moved in the opposite direction as part of the transfer deal.

German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn is very protective of his image rights, so protective in fact that he refuses to lend his name to the popular computer game Football Manager. He therefore appears as ‘Jens Mustermann’ – Mustermann being the fictitious name used for sample IDs and passports in Germany, while the name Jens was selected as it’s the name of his rival for the German goalkeeping shirt, Jens Lehmann.

Edwin van der Sar collects goalkeeping jerseys worn by the great custodians of the game. The Dutchman was also the first non-Italian player to keep goal for Juventus.

Mart Poom’s last-minute goal for Sunderland against Derby County in 2003 inspired one local brewery to produce a special edition of a beer called Poominator Ale.

In November, 1985, TV presenter Bob Wilson signed for Bristol Rovers as a standby goalkeeper. He was 44-years-old at the time.

Peter Shilton was sent off for the first time in his career on August 28th, 1992 in his 971st League game.

When Spanish goalkeeper Íker Casillas first broke into the Real Madrid first team squad he was forced to travel to training by public transport because he wasn’t old enough to hold a driving licence.

Italian goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi was a ballboy at the 1984 European Cup Final between Liverpool and AS Roma.

Olympiakos goalkeeper Kleopas Giannou won €1m in the Greek National Lottery in 2002.

Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar once won a bet by walking the length of Wembley Stadium on his hands.

DC United keeper Troy Perkins took a second job as a mortgage loan advisor at the start of the 2006 MLS season, which led to one wag in the crowd putting up a banner that read “Troy saves – and loans!”.

Scotland goalkeeper Bobby Brown holds two distinctive international honours for his country. Not only was he the last amateur player ever to play for Scotland, doing so in 1946, but he also became their first full-time manager in 1967. As an aside, he’s also the last player from Queen’s Park to be capped at full international level by the Scots.

Ex-England goalkeeper David James collects Raleigh Choppers.

Germany international Tim Wiese apparently has an expensive collection of model aeroplanes and helicopters

Former Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Scotland keeper George Wood is a keen bird watcher and has a nature reserve named after him back home in Lanarkshire.

Hamish McAlpine, formerly of Dundee United and Raith Rovers, once had a song written about him – “Hamish the Goalie” – by Dundonian musician Michael Marra.

In 1955 Doncaster Rovers Keeper Ken Hardwick was invited to attend an England Under-23 trial despite being 30 at the time. An embarrassed FA withdrew the invite once the error came to light.

When Pedro Almenez finally called it a day after twenty-two years between the sticks for Spanish amateur club Espira he was presented with a parting gift of one of the club’s goals, complete with netting, which he set up in his garden as a hammock!

Former Hungary internationl Gyula Grosics finally got to play for his boyhood team, Ferencváros in 2008, 46 years after the Communist regime refused to allow him to sign for them. The then 82-year-old Grosics stood in goal for the opening minutes of a friendly match against Sheffield United before being substituted.

Tony Roberts has the distinction of being the only goalkeeper ever to be sent off in the opponents penalty box in an FA Cup ties. The former Welsh international recorded the “feat” in January 2008 while playing for Dagenham & Redbridge after clashing with Southend United’s Peter Clark.

Former West Ham United and England centre half Alvin Martin scored a hattrick against three different keepers during a game against Newcastle United in April, 1986. He netted his first passed Martin Thomas, who was subsequently injured and replaced by defender Chris Hedworth, who Martin also beat. Hedworth was finally replaced by ex-England striker Peter Beardsley, allowing Martin to complete his hattrick in an 8-1 rout.

Belgian goalkeeping legend Jean-Marie Pfaff was dropped from Belgium’s 1982 World Cup side after pretending to drown in the team’s hotel swimming pool.

England and Old Etonians keeper John Hawtrey was the brother of famed stage actor Sir Charles Hawtrey