Robert Ronald Almond (born 16 April 1951 in England) was a

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 lea ...

who represented

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and was part of the first New Zealand side to contest a

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

Career

Almond was a part of the

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

youth set-ups and a first team player for Walthamstow Avenue in the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

before he emigrated to New Zealand in 1973. Almond made his New Zealand debut in a 1–0 win over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on 13 June 1979. He pulled on the All White strip a total of 49 times between 1978 and 1982, although only 28 were full A-internationals. He was a member the All Whites squad at the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

in Spain, playing in all 15 qualifiers, and started two games at the finals, the 5–2 loss to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and 4–0 loss to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, having to sit out the game against

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

with an Achilles tendon injury. Almond retired from international football following their elimination. Almond co-authored a book, ''To Spain the Hard Way'', with

Steve Sumner Steven Paul Sumner (2 April 1955 – 8 February 2017) was an English-born, New Zealand footballer who played as a midfielder. He was captain of the national team during the country's first successful campaign to qualify for the World Cup, in ...

and Derrick Mansbridge, chronicling the experience.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Almond, Bobby 1951 births Living people English men's footballers New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England English emigrants to New Zealand Men's association football central defenders Naturalised citizens of New Zealand New Zealand men's international footballers New Zealand men's association footballers 1980 Oceania Cup players 1982 FIFA World Cup players Footballers from London 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen