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

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

who played for Northfleet United, Tottenham Hotspur,

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

, Brentwood Town and represented

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on six occasions at international level.

Playing career

After working in a

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...

,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 Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Ditchburn served with the RAF as a physical education instructor. He made his senior debut for the ''Spurs'' in a wartime league match against Chelsea on 25 May 1940. At this time he represented both the RAF and the Combined Services and guested at

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. At the end of the war the brave, muscular keeper returned to Tottenham and made his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

debut in a 2–1 reverse against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional 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. The team compete in the ...

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 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

. 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 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 ...

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 Fleetwood, near his hometown of Blackpool, in 1932 he was signed by ...

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 provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

in May 1949 and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in January 1950. He was a regular member of the Football League XI 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 The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 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 tier ...

: 1949–50

References

External links

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

*

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