Nathan Wayne Munson (born 10 November 1974) is an English former

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 played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

for

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

. He has also represented a number of

non-League Non-League football describes association football, 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 ...

clubs, and has also served as goalkeeping

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Needham Market Needham Market is a small town in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, set in the Gipping Valley. Nearby villages include Barking, Suffolk, Barking, Darmsden, Badley and Creeting St Mary. The town is located just east of the A14 road ( ...

Career

Born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

Gilberd School The Gilberd School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, in Colchester, Essex, England. History The school originally opened on 12 July 1912 in buildings on North Hill, Colchester. During the 1930s the school became known ...

student Munson was brought through the

youth system and was handed his first-team debut by

Roy McDonough Roy McDonough (born 16 October 1958) is an English former professional football player and manager in the English Football League. Playing career Roy McDonough was born in Solihull, he was one of four brothers and a twin to Gaz McDonough. He c ...

at the end of the 1992–93 season. The game against

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

finished 4–3 to the Welsh club, conceding an 89th-minute winner from

Steve Watkin Steven Llewellyn Watkin (born 15 September 1964) is a former Welsh cricketer who played for Glamorgan County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. A reliable seam bowler who never suffered serious injury despite several lesser niggles, he ...

on 8 May 1993. His next appearance for the club came in bizarre circumstances as Colchester became the first club to have two goalkeepers sent off in the same fixture. The game against

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

on 16 October 1993 saw

John Keeley John Henry Keeley (born 27 July 1961) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently a goalkeeping coach at Woking. Playing career Born in Plaistow, Essex, Keeley began his career at Southend United. He made 63 f ...

sent off in the 43rd minute, the U's already 1–0 down from a

Chris Pike Christopher Pike (born 19 October 1961) is a Welsh former professional footballer. His clubs included Fulham, Cardiff City and Gillingham. He made over 250 Football League appearances. Career Pike began his career playing in the Cardiff Com ...

goal.

covered in goal until half time, where he conceded another goal to Pike. Munson was brought on at half time but was sent off in the 68th minute after conceding to Chris Fry and Pike once again, giving him a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

, scoring against three different goalkeepers in the same game. McDonough returned to goal following Munson's dismissal and conceded again, this time to Derek Hall in the 88th minute to result in a disastrous 5–0 loss. Munson was to make only two further league appearances for the club, a 2–1 home win against Carlisle United, before playing his final U's game on 11 December 1993, a 4–2 defeat to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

Layer Road Layer Road was a Football League stadium in Colchester, England. It was the home of Colchester United Football Club from its inception in 1937, up until the club relocated to Colchester Community Stadium in 2008, resulting in its closure. The ...

. Following his release from Colchester, Munson joined a number of non-league clubs in the Colchester,

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

and

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

area, including

Wivenhoe Town Wivenhoe Town F.C. is an English association football, football club based in Wivenhoe, Essex. The club are currently members of the and play at Broad Lane. History The club was established as Wivenhoe Rangers by Frank Slaughter and students ...

, Billericay Town, and

Stanway Rovers F.C. Stanway Rovers Football Club is a association football, football club based in Stanway, Essex, Stanway, near Colchester, in Essex, England. They are members of the and play at the Hawthorns. History The modern club was established on 10 July 1 ...

He then joined the police force, representing both the English and British police at international level. He later signed for Harwich & Parkeston F.C.,

and

AFC Sudbury Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury is a association football, football club based in Sudbury, Suffolk, England. The club was formed in 1999 by the merger of Sudbury Town F.C., Sudbury Town and Sudbury Wanderers F.C., Sudbury Wanderers, the proc ...

. He announced his retirement from playing on 15 November 2007, but took over as Sudbury's goalkeeping coach. He was called into action on a number of occasions due to other players being

cup-tied In association football, a player who has appeared for a football club during a knockout cup but subsequently transfers to another club is ineligible to play for the new club in the remainder of that season's cup competition. Such a player is sa ...

, making a total of 92 appearances for the club. He left Sudbury in July 2008 to join Brantham Athletic, but returned to Harwich in October of the same year. For the 2009–10 season, he returned to Brantham in a

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

capacity. He joined

Leiston Leiston ( ) is a town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is close to Saxmundham and Aldeburgh, north-east of Ipswich and north-east of London. The town had a population of 5,508 at th ...

in May 2011, again acting mostly as goalkeeping coach but also made some appearances for the club when required. He returned to another former club, Needham Market in March 2013 as part of the coaching team alongside former Leiston manager Mark Morsley.

Personal life

Munson was included in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

list, receiving an MBE for his services to counter-terrorism while working for the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

as Detective Sergeant Hazardous Substances Industry Engagement Officer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munson, Nathan 1974 births Living people Footballers from Colchester English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Colchester United F.C. players Wivenhoe Town F.C. players Billericay Town F.C. players Harwich & Parkeston F.C. players Stanway Rovers F.C. players Needham Market F.C. players A.F.C. Sudbury players A.F.C. Sudbury non-playing staff Brantham Athletic F.C. players Leiston F.C. players English Football League players British police officers Civil servants in the Home Office Members of the Order of the British Empire