Edwin George Ditchburn (24 October 1921 – 26 December 2005) was an English professional football

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 ...

who played for

Northfleet United Northfleet United Football Club was a football club based in Northfleet, Kent. Around 1890 organised team football was being played in the town and in 1892 the Northfleet F.C. club was founded. It flourished for a few years in the mid-1890s u ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...

Brentwood Town Brentwood Town Football Club is a football club based in Brentwood, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Brentwood Centre Arena. History A Brentwood Football Club was established in the 19th century, and played ...

and represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on six occasions at international level.

Playing career

After working in a paper mill,Ditchburn fact file
Retrieved 9 August 2010 Ditchburn, a son of a professional boxer joined the ground staff of Tottenham Hotspur in 1937. He signed professional forms for the

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater it had a capacity of 36,284 before demolition. ...

club in 1939 after a spell with the club's 'nursery' team Northfleet United. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Ditchburn served with the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

as a

physical education instructor Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

. He made his senior debut for the ''Spurs'' in a wartime league match against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

on 25 May 1940. At this time he represented both the RAF and the Combined Services and guested at

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. At the end of the war the brave, muscular keeper returned to Tottenham and made his Football League debut in a 2–1 reverse against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

on 31 August 1946. He went on to play in an unbroken run of 247 matches between April 1948 and March 1954. An ever-present member of the side that won promotion as Division Two champions in 1949–50 and the First division league title the following year, he developed the 'short throw' that provided the starting block for Tottenham's famous

push and run Push-and-run, also known as a wall pass, a one-two or a give-and-go, is a tactic and skill often used in association football. It involves quickly laying the ball off to a teammate and running past the marking tackler to collect the return pass. I ...

style of the early 1950s. A broken finger against Chelsea ended his career with Spurs in August 1958 after making 452 appearances in all competitions for the ''Lilywhites''. In the following year he became player/manager of

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

. Ditchburn gave up his manager role in 1962, but kept playing for the club till 1965 and featured in 147 matches for the

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

based club. He went on to join Brentwood Town where he ended his senior career.

International and representative career

Ditchburn played his first international in an unofficial war time match in 1944. He earned six caps between 1948 and 1956, a time when the popular

Frank Swift Frank Victor Swift (26 December 1913 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City and England. After starting his career with local clubs near his home town of Blackpool, in 1932 he was signed b ...

and other consistent keepers dominated between the posts. His first match was against Switzerland in 1948 and in the following year versus Sweden. Ditchburn was a member of the 1950 World Cup squad but did not play. In 1953 he was selected for a tour of United States as the reserve keeper and played in the 6–3 victory over the home side. Following outstanding form with Tottenham Hotspur at the age of 35 he was recalled to the national team and played in a further three internationals in 1956. In addition, Ditchburn gained two England B caps in matches against

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

in May 1949 and Switzerland in January 1950. He was a regular member of the

Football League XI The English Football League XI was a representative side of the Football League. The team regularly played against the Scottish Football League XI and other national league select teams between 1891 and 1976. For a long period the annual fixture b ...

and the Football Combination XI.

Post–football career

After his football career ended he established a toy shop, a sports outfitters and was involved in an office equipment venture.The Independent obituary
Retrieved 9 August 2010 A keen cricketer and tennis player. He retired and settled in

and died on 26 December 2005.

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur * Football League First Division: 1950–51 *

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 t ...

: 1949–50

References

External links

Spurs Odyssey about Ted DitchburnGuardian obituary
*''Tottenham Hotspur: 100 Great'' by Roy Brazier

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ditchburn, Ted English Football League players English footballers England international footballers England wartime international footballers 1950 FIFA World Cup players Association football goalkeepers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Northfleet United F.C. players Romford F.C. players English football managers People from Gillingham, Kent 1921 births 2005 deaths Brentwood Town F.C. players England B international footballers English Football League representative players Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force airmen