Somebody pointed out to me recently that Bright is at least the second Kiwi to play for Lincoln City.
Former All Whites legend from the 1982 team, Richard Wilson is held in high regard there after helping them win the Conference Premier in the 1987-88 season.
Richard Wilson had a couple of seasons in the Conference in the 1980's playing for Lincoln City and Kettering Town.
With Kettering Town he finished second in the Conference Premier and reached the fourth round of the FA Cup in 1988-89.
Richard had a brief spell in England playing in the Vauxhall Conference in the late 80's but mostly had a stellar career as one of the best goalies of the 80's in the old Aussie NSL, mostly for Canberra City and Preston Makedonia. I seem to remember him still playing in the early 1990's but not in the NSL perhaps. Last All Whites game was in 1985. Coached and played the odd game in Christchurch in the 1990's and early 2000's (Avon United, Woolston, Rangers).
Some interesting facts:
(1) Richard was a pioneer in trying to establish a Players' Union in Australia in the 1980's. His dad was a prominent Trade Unionist in Christchurch. See here:
http://www.library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/ASSH%20Bulletins/No%2024/ASSHBulletin24c.pdf
"Richard Wilson, New Zealand international goalkeeper, made an attempt to start a players’ union in Victoria, Australia in May 1985.
Wilson was in dispute with Preston Makedonia at the time, having been replaced by his protege Phil Traianides. Wilson claimed that being
demoted to the reserves for seven weeks had cost him his place in the New Zealand international team. He also pointed to other recent cases where players were in dispute with clubs or were concerned about the running and organisation of the game. Robert Markovac had gone to court to try and arrange a transfer between Melbourne Croatia and Heidelberg Alexander. Tommy Cumming had an injury compensation claim, while playing with the international team, and Charlie Egan had caused a public sensation with his complaints about the running of the Australian international team.
Wilson was recalled to the New Zealand team in May, when his rival for the keeping position, Clint Gosling’s employers refused to release him for a series of four games against the visiting English club Newcastle United. Unfortunately, Hardie Wilson, Richard’s father died a day earlier. Wilson, senior, was a prominent figure in sporting and trade union circles in Christchurch. After his trip to New Zealand, Wilson returned to sort through ‘a mountain of mail’ from players keen to join in starting a players’ union. He reported that he had talked to the English players about the formation of a union and about the operations of the Professional Footballers’ Association while he was in New Zealand. He announced that he would call a meeting shortly to form an Australian players’ union.
The timing of Wilson’s intervention was not propitious. It coincided with the Heysel tragedy in Brussels, when hooliganism by English fans,
before the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus of Italy, precipitated an incident in which thirty-nine fans died, the majority
crushed to death, when a wall collapsed under the pressure of fleeing spectators....By mid-June, Wilson reported that the players’ union was set to go. He claimed all the players of thirty-two teams and sixty other players had agreed to join a national players’ association. Wilson said
that he would call a meeting in August to start the association officially would seek affiliation with the Victorian and Australian Soccer
Federations. The objectives of the new body were: to represent all players in any dispute contractual or otherwise; to protect the rights and conditions of contracted players; to represent the players at State and National level; to support the players in the preparation of an appeal; to publicly investigate any unjust action taken against a player or players; and to promote a better environment in which a player can continue his career as long as he wishes.
....When the players met in St Kilda on 22 August, they were told that they should be free to move on completion of their contracts. ‘It would
stop the transfer fee system—and that is one of our aims.‘ This latter aim is of course one of the key demands of the current players’
association. A larger meeting was planned to be held in October or November, with the association being ‘operational’ by January 1986.
There was however, no sign of a union meeting in the October issues of Soccer Action in 1985, or that the union had become active early in 1986. Both Peter Desira of the Herald-Sun and Laurie Schwab of the Age remember Wilson’s attempt to set up a players’ union in 1985-86. Schwab, who was the editor of Soccer Action, says that the players ‘chickened out’ on this occasion. There was pressure from the soccer authorities on potential members. He remembers having to encourage Wilson to go on with his activities, after giving the proposal strong support in the paper.So the pattern detected by Dabscheck of a clear sense of grievance among players and a strong initial interest in the formation of a union, proved once again to be an inadequate basis for the establishment of a viable organisation among semi-professional soccer players."
(2) Richard is a professional graphic designer and graphic design teacher (had a graphic design business in Australia and taught graphic design at Christchurch Polytech in the 1990's). Richard moved back to Christchurch to live in 1996 and coached Avon United but has since moved back to Australia I believe.
He is also a painter and has had exhibitions in Christchurch and Australia.
(3) Held the world record (listed in the Guiness Book of Records) for many years for longest time with a clean sheet in World Cup qualifying:
went 921 minutes without conceding a goal during New Zealand's successful World Cup qualifying campaign in 1982.