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Rod Belfitt was on Arsenal's books as an amateur before joining
Leeds at the age of 17. He never quite made it as a regular during
his 8 years at Elland Road, but still managed a quite respectable
return of 33 goals from 128 appearances, including a hat-trick in a
Fairs Cup semi-final against Kilmarnock and two goals against Derby
in the League Cup semi-final against Derby. He was a willing runner
and made goals for his more illustrious strike partners as well as
bagging a few himself.
After leaving Leeds, he spent 5 years at 5 different clubs
before drifting down to non-league football and back to his
original career as a draughtsman.
Jabba says: Cheers to Ralph of Pride of Anglia for the
photos.
Brian Durrant from The
Sick Parrot says: Belfitt was a fine striker for Ipswich and we
were all mystified when Bobby Robson swopped him for an Everton
player that nobody had ever heard of, David Johnson who went on the
be England centre-forward.
Mike Loughlin says: I was in the same year at school (57-62)at
Danum Grammar or "Donny Tech" as it was otherwise known. I remember
him as captain of the school football team and even then he was
head and shoulders, both literally and metaphorically, above
everyone else. I recall him being quite a friendly person and
modest about his talents. David Pegg, killed at Munich in58 was
another old boy of the school.
Derek Blackham says: Like Mick Loughlin, I was also in the same
class as Rod. In fact I outscored him in the inter house games. I
also remember Rod being good at most sports, that is except for
Rugby. He was tackled very hard by a kid called Joe Green and that
was the end of his Rugby career. That is until I came across Rod
many years later when,as the owner of his own Insurance business,
he was a sponsor of Featherstone Rovers, A RUGBY club. I also knew
Rod's wife Shirley as we lived a couple of streets from each other.
I now live in Milwaukee in the States.
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