Stuart Brightwell (born 31 January 1979) is a former English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who spent one season in the

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system b ...

in the USA. He last played for

Horden Colliery Welfare A.F.C. Horden Community Welfare Football Club, usually abbreviated to Horden CW is a football club based in Horden, County Durham, England. The club was formed as Horden Colliery Welfare in 1908 and joined the North Eastern League in 1935, reaching t ...

in the

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

. Currently, he works as a coach at the i2i International Soccer Academy. . Brightwell came up through the

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

youth system, before transferring to

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

in 1998. Brightwell played in 20 games for the Monkey Hangers. He then played for

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surro ...

and Durham City. In November 2002, he transferred from Durham City to

Spennymoor United Spennymoor United Association Football Club was an association football club based in Spennymoor, County Durham, England. History Spennymoor United Association Football Club was formed in 1904 as an amalgamation of Spennymoor Town and Weardale ...

. In the summer of 2004, he moved back to Durham City before transferring to Billingham Town on 12 October 2004. At Hetton Lyons CC, he scored a hattrick in the FA Sunday Cup Final. In May 2007, Brightwell signed with the Carolina RailHawks of the

. He played well, seeing extensive playing time, but was released by the team at the end of the season.

References

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Stuart Brightwell
at NonLeagueDaily.com 1979 births Living people Footballers from Easington, County Durham English men's footballers Manchester United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Bishop Auckland F.C. players Durham City A.F.C. players Spennymoor United A.F.C. players Billingham Town F.C. players North Carolina FC players Darlington Town F.C. players English Football League players USL First Division players Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff People educated at Easington Community Science College Men's association football midfielders English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers {{England-footy-midfielder-1970s-stub