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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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