Bennett Buggers Off

Very shortly, Alltraders legend Leigham Bennett will be off to start a new life in the good ol' US of A. In light of this, on Friday 6th April, Alltraders held a testimonial match in respect of the self-proclaimed honourary pikey (pictures below).

Leigham Terrence Razzle-Dazzle Bennett was born in the Swiss Alps in 1983. After being raised by goat farmers for 6 years, he then moved to Broadfield, England.

A child genius, Bennett learned to play the piano by the age of 9, and was Southern Youth Piano Champion 4 years running.

In 2003 Bennett joined the ranks of Alltraders in the famous club re-structure. Quickly he established himself as a key player. Very often manager Nick Hawtin remarked that Leigham's name was the first name on his team sheet.

Spin helped the team to break records, and firmly cemented the role of goalkeeper for himself, clearly the best keeper the team had had for years.
In his own inimitable style, 'Spin' would casually stroll on to the pitch, donning a black Slipknot top, 3 quarter length trousers and a baseball cap. Opposition would be fooled into thinking he was just there to make up the numbers. How wrong they were! It was this false sense of security that only added to the Bennett effect.

The high-point of Bennett's Alltraders career came in 2004, when he was a key factor in the team famously winning the Summer Fives. The save against FC Jiggle was the defining moment not only in that tournament, but perhaps his whole career. It demonstrated that despite his casual approach, he was triumphantly agile when called upon. This was even more impressive when you take into account that he was often a spectator for large periods of a game, but was always ready to spring into action when called upon.

In 2005, in a Summer Fives playoff, Bennett tragically had his head knocked off in a penalty shootout. The killing proved to be a defining moment. It was the beheading that led him to tell himself, 'Right, I've had my head cut off, I'm dead, maybe now's the time to call it a day.'

After a glittering career with the club, with trophies, league titles and a tournament victory to his name, Leigham has now opted to move to America to start a new life with his fiancee Brandy.

How will he fare in a country that has an irony deficiency, where subtlety is just an unknown word in the dictionary, and where Football is called Soccer?! Only time will tell. We wish him luck.

Well, at least there aren't any Chavs there.

We wish you well Leigham !