GoS: Player Details

DAVE CORBETT

Born: 15 April 1940

Came from: Swindon Town Went to: Retired

First game: 31 March 1962 Last game: 17 September 1966

Appearances: 90 (90/0) Goals: 8

Corbett was a right-winger born in Marshfield, South Gloucestershire and played locally as a youth for Marshfield FC.

He was spotted by Swindon Town and moved to the County Ground to continue his youth career before turning professional with the club. He made his debut for Swindon in 1958 and would spend four years with the club, making 60 appearances and scoring three goals.

Corbett was brought to Home Park in 1962 by Ellis Stuttard, with whom he had previously worked at Swindon. After joining Argyle, he made a big impression in his first two seasons and his displays on the wing made him a crowd favourite.

He spent six seasons in total at the club, making 90 appearances and netting eight times. His final game came in the 1966-67 campaign, a 2-1 defeat at Northampton Town. He was nicknamed 'Sooty' during his time at Argyle after the puppet of his TV namesake, Harry Corbett of Sooty & Sweep fame. The majority of his appearances came in the first three seasons, after which a series of injuries restricted his playing time. A broken leg sadly led to his early retirement from the game, aged just 26 years, in an era when such injuries could indeed be career-threatening or ending.

He was awarded a Testimonial (Benefit) match and in March 1970, a Dave Corbett's All Star XI took on Leicester City at Home Park, the visitors running out 4-3 winners in front of a healthy 5,748.

Corbett's time at the club remained a fond memory long after his retirement, and he often returned to Home Park as a popular guest of Forever Green (the former players' association) and remained living locally.

He passed away in Plymouth in April 2020, aged 79. He was just two days shy of his 80th birthday.

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From John Pickford in Sainghin-en-Mélantois, France on 16/04/2017 ...

Dave Corbett was a winger in an era of dashing Argyle wingers - Micky Lill, Peter Anderson, Nicky Jennings, Ken Maloy and Barrie Jones all played with Dave, who endeared himself to the Home Park faithful by invariably managing to get one of his trademark hanging crosses in, however unlikely or unpromising the situation seemed. This was especially welcome to the likes of George Kirby and Frank Lord, who thrived on his service.

In November 1962 the England U-23 side played Belgium at Home Park and it was strongly rumoured that Dave Corbett would be capped, as often happened with 'home' ... More

From John Eales in Plymouth on 02/03/2021 ...

Dave Corbett sadly died on April 13th, 2020 - just two days shy of his 80th birthday.

APPEARANCE DETAILS [reselect competitions]

The details below reflect appearances in all first-team competitions.