Neil Sandilands "Sandy" Kennon (28 November 1933 – 17 August 2015) was a

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

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 ...

and amateur

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er. His position was

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 ...

. He made 367 appearances 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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

playing for

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. ...

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 2 ...

and

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 tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

. He also played rugby for Beccles Rugby club

Career

After beginning his career in his native South Africa, where he played for Umbilo FC,

Berea Park Berea Park is a multi-sport venue in Pretoria, South Africa, on Lilian Ngoyi Street (earlier Van der Walt Street) near downtown. It has been utilized by multiple local sports teams in both football/soccer, including Berea Park F.C., and formerly cr ...

and Queen's Park, he was spotted by

while playing for Rhodesia. He signed for the Terriers in 1956 and stayed there for three years before joining

in early 1959. Kennon was a member of the legendary Norwich team that reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1959 as a Third Division team and he played in both of the semi-final matches against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1 ...

, having replaced the injured

Ken Nethercott Kenneth Walter Samuel Nethercott (22 July 1925 - 14 December 2007) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Nethercott began his career as an amateur with Cardiff City before signing a professional contract with Norwic ...

for the sixth round replay against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games a ...

. The following season, he played a key role as Norwich won promotion to the Second Division of the Football League. Kennon went on to play for

and

Lowestoft Town Lowestoft Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Lowestoft, Suffolk, England. They are currently members of the and play at Crown Meadow. History The club was established in 1887 as Lowestoft F.C. by a merger of East Suf ...

before retiring. He was a bookmaker for many years after he stopped playing and also, for a while, had his own band called Sandy Kennon and the Blazers. Kennon is a member of the

Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame The Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame honours Norwich City F.C. players, coaches, managers, directors and executives who have "made the greatest contribution to the club in its long history both on and off the pitch." During the club's centenary s ...

. Outside of football, Kennon played

for

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

as a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, th ...

and right-arm

medium pace Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

bowler. Kennon made three appearances for the county in the 1970

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

. He died on 17 August 2015.

Honours

Club

;

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

Winner (1): 1961–62

References

;General *''Canary Citizens'' by Mike Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001), ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennon, Sandy 1933 births 2015 deaths South African men's soccer players Soccer players from Johannesburg Cricketers from Johannesburg English Football League players Men's association football goalkeepers Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players South African cricketers Norfolk cricketers South African expatriate cricketers in England