Wally Bellett Obituary, Death – The Chelsea Football Club was saddened to hear of Wally Bellett’s death, which occurred when he was 88 years old. In the 1950s, Bellett was a member of the squad and played defense for them. Ted Drake signed Bellett from Barking at the beginning of our first league championship-winning season in September 1954, and that’s how Bellett got his start in the professional ranks. Bellett was born in east London, and his family still lives there. However, he did not make his debut until the following season because he had to compete for a position alongside the intimidating fullback combo of Stan Willemse and Peter Sillett.
When the new season started, he made his debut at home for Manchester City, where the match ended in a 2-2 tie. He started at left defender for the match. Despite the fact that Bellett was almost entirely concealed during the game, a famous football photograph was taken of the match, which was a 1-0 victory for the team over Preston North End in August of 1956. The photograph that became famously known as the “splash” shows the great Tom Finney slipping on a soggy Stamford Bridge pitch while Bellett is hidden behind a wall of water that has been thrown up. It was determined to be the best sporting photograph taken that year. It was used as the inspiration for a statue as well as a fountain that can be found outside of the Deepdale stadium in Preston.
The next year, Bellett played a total of 20 games for Chelsea and scored the lone goal he ever scored for the club. The match between Tottenham and Chelsea that took place in December at Stamford Bridge saw this occur. He also played in the game that followed, which Portsmouth ended up losing 7-4 on Christmas Day due to four goals scored by a player named Jimmy Greaves who had just recently arrived. After one year and 35 games for Chelsea, the quick and aggressive tackler Bellett decided to leave the club. Along with his move to Plymouth Argyle, Len Casey also relocated to Devon as part of the $12,000 deal that brought him to the club. They played an important role in Plymouth winning the third division championship.
We at Chelsea would like to extend our deepest condolences to Wally’s family and friends on their recent loss.
