Colin David Bettany is an English former professional footballer who played in the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 for Crewe Alexandra

Crewe Alexandra F.C.

Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional football club based in Crewe, Cheshire. Nicknamed The Railwaymen due to the town's links with the rail industry, they currently play in Football League Two, the fourth tier of English football, and are based at the Alexandra Stadium.The club...

 and Torquay United

Torquay United F.C.

Torquay United Football Club, nicknamed the Gulls, are an English association football club based in the tourist resort town of Torquay, Devon. They played in the Conference National in 2008–09, but were promoted to Football League Two after a 2–0 win over Cambridge United on 17 May 2009 at Wembley...

.

Bettany, a Leicester

Leicester

Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

-born full back

Defender (association football)

Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....

, was an amateur

Amateur

An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....

 with his local side Leicester City

Leicester City F.C.

Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...

 when he signed professional

Professional

A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...

 forms with Crewe Alexandra

Crewe Alexandra F.C.

Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional football club based in Crewe, Cheshire. Nicknamed The Railwaymen due to the town's links with the rail industry, they currently play in Football League Two, the fourth tier of English football, and are based at the Alexandra Stadium.The club...

 in August 1953. Six goals from 29 league games led to a transfer to Birmingham City

Birmingham City F.C.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...

 in June 1955, but in two years at St Andrew's he was never to make a league appearance. In April 1957 he joined Torquay United

Torquay United F.C.

Torquay United Football Club, nicknamed the Gulls, are an English association football club based in the tourist resort town of Torquay, Devon. They played in the Conference National in 2008–09, but were promoted to Football League Two after a 2–0 win over Cambridge United on 17 May 2009 at Wembley...

, making his debut at centre forward on the opening day of the following season in a 3–0 defeat away to Colchester United

Colchester United F.C.

Colchester United Football Club is an English football club based in Colchester. The club was formed in 1937, and briefly shared their old Layer Road home with now defunct side Colchester Town who had previously used the ground from 1910....

. After three games Bettany lost his place as Torquay manager Eric Webber

Eric Webber

Eric Victor Webber was an English footballer, playing as a centre-half, and manager.-Early days:Although he was born at Shoreham in West Sussex, Webber's family moved into Hampshire when he was a child and he played for Fareham Senior School, before joining Fareham Town and then Gosport Borough...

 shuffled his side to allow Dennis Lewis

Dennis Lewis (footballer)

Dennis Lewis is a Welsh former footballer who played for Torquay United for twelve years, racking up 442 appearances in the Football League...

 to return after injury.

After two games on the sidelines, Bettany returned to the side, but at full-back where he was to establish himself. Between 4 April 1958 and 31 August 1963, Bettany was an ever-present in the Torquay league side (a run of 195 consecutive appearances, a figure bettered only by Lewis for Torquay. This spell included all 46 games in Torquay's 1959–60 Fourth Division

Football League Fourth Division

The Fourth Division of The Football League was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season...

 promotion

Promotion and relegation

In many sports leagues around the world, promotion and relegation is a process that takes place at the end of each season. Through it, teams are transferred between divisions based on their performance that season...

 season. He eventually made 335 league appearances, scoring four times, before returning to the Midlands, joining non-league

Non-league football

Non-League football is football in England played at a level below that of the Premier League and The Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top football clubs in England all belonged to The Football League; all clubs who were not a part of The Football...

 club Nuneaton Borough.

External links

• League stats at Neil Brown's site