Ex-Portsmouth, Wolves, Bristol Rovers and Bradford winger Kyle Bennett: I quit professional football aged 30 to be with my terminally ill dad. Family comes first
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
An eye for the spectacular still exists within the three-time Football League promotion winner, who these days captains promotion-chasing Shifnal Town in the Midland League Premier Division.
At the age of 30, the dashing winger turned his back on the professional game after 400 career appearances to return to hometown Telford and be closer to his heartbroken family.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdBennett had painted on a smile and attempted to play through the anguish of dad Paul’s diagnosis with terminal prostate cancer and the collapse of his own marriage while with Bristol Rovers.


Following his departure from the League One club in the summer of 2021, the former Pompey favourite reassessed life priorities and snubbed approaches from Notts County, Fleetwood, Crawley and Colchester.
Instead he joined non-league part-timers AFC Telford. Back home.
‘Dad is why I came home. You can’t get those moments back. If I had been playing in the Premier League or Championship earning stupid money, it might have been different, but, at that moment, it wasn’t like that. This was my choice,’ Bennett told The News in the first interview about the tragedy.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad‘I fell out of love with football at Bristol Rovers. I was going through a divorce, my dad was dying, my main focus had changed. I’m not asking anyone to cry me a river, that’s life, it affects people in different ways - and it affected me on the football pitch.
‘Fans can sometimes be a bit harsh on players when, in reality, they don’t actually know the ins and outs. As a footballer, you are not a robot, you aren’t immune to death, you are not immune to bad circumstances in your family or whatever pain you’re going through.
‘No matter how much you earn, you’re a human being. You experience exactly the same awful circumstances that other people do.


‘My attitude towards football changed a bit because of things going on personally. There were contract offers, Football League clubs were interested in signing me, but I wanted to come home to dad. So I did.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad‘And do you know what, I ended up being with him most days, I did a lot of random stuff with him that I would never have got to do. Looking back, it was a great decision.’
Paul Bennett was a non-league winger who once trialled at West Bromwich Albion and represented Bridgnorth Town, Shifnal and Aberystwyth Town among others.
The sporting genes were passed down to sons Kyle and Elliott, with both on the books of Wolverhampton Wanderers from an early age, before progressing elsewhere in the Football League, enjoying fine professional careers.
While Elliott reached the Premier League with Norwich, younger brother Kyle earned promotion with Bury, won League One with Doncaster Rovers and then captured League Two with Pompey.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdFor two-and-a-half years he was a first-team fixture for the Blues, establishing a memorable left flank partnership with Enda Stevens and amassing 117 games and 13 goals, largely under Paul Cook.


Yet the Bennett family were rocked in late 2017, when their father was diagnosed with prostate cancer, having put off seeking medical advice over his condition.
Kyle added: ‘Dad was a very funny person and never cared about money, he just lived his life. All he wanted was to have a laugh and a joke, he was a proper character. I’ve got quite a few of his traits, too many of them!
‘When Dad’s health wasn’t right, he didn’t want to get it checked. That’s your personal pride as a man kicking in: “I’m all right, it will go away tomorrow”. Too proud. The likelihood is he’d had cancer for a long time.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad‘Following diagnosis, he was told he had 5-7 years to live. He lasted three years. Initially we paid for him to go private and have an operation, but it then spread into his liver and next into his bones. It became terminal.
‘Everything came to a head after I joined Bristol Rovers from Pompey. It got to the point where dad was dying and then I was going through a divorce. They say your personal life doesn't impact you on the pitch, but, in reality, it definitely does.
‘Listen, it’s what you sign up for as a footballer. Whether that’s right, wrong or indifferent, it doesn’t matter, that’s your job - and I always had that natural ability to brush things off.


‘Things happening off the pitch in your personal life, fans’ comments at games, whatever, I always carried on. It didn’t get to me. Then suddenly it did at Bristol Rovers. My life was losing its stability - my dad and my marriage.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad‘It’s like anything, not just football. When life events happen, matters affect people in different ways. You’re asked to play in front of thousands of supporters and perform, yet all these things are going on in your life, affecting your mindset and impacting your job.
‘Fans are obviously going to say things when you’re not performing because of that, rightfully so too. They don’t know what’s going on, why should they?
‘I had counselling, organised from the PFA, who really looked after me. I visited a lady in Weston-super-Mare for four months, which was a 30-minute drive from my Bristol home, and it really helped.
‘Everyone needs somewhere to offload, it’s so important you don’t keep it all inside. A counsellor can be your best friend or someone you don’t even know. It can be your dog, your mum, your dad, your sister. Just someone to get things off your chest to.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad‘Not enough is done in football to teach kids how to deal with emotions and feelings because players get affected. They’re human beings, after all.’
While battling his off-field issues, Bennett was loaned out by Bristol Rovers to League Two sides Swindon and Grimsby, before being handed a free transfer in the summer of 2021, leaving his career at a crossroads.
Football League clubs Colchester, Fleetwood and Crawley were keen on snapping up the 30-year-old, while then-National League Notts County also tabled an offer after training with them.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHe said: ‘I had deals on the table, but my priorities had changed. I turned them all down to play football part-time. I wanted to come home because of dad.
‘It also enabled me to be closer to my two kids, who were in Bristol. Had I lived in Colchester, for example, I would never have seen them. It was time to focus on family.


‘For 18 months I lived in a room at my mum’s. I still owned a house in Telford, which I had rented out, but it was during Covid and I could hardly kick the tenants out and move back in. While I was also still paying for the family home in Bristol.
‘When dad died in October 2021, there were eight or nine of us around his bed at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Some people don’t get the chance to say goodbye. One morning they’re there, the next they are not.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad‘He was 59 and at least we were able to prepare for it, but you’re never truly ready. You think it’s going to happen tomorrow, rather than today.
‘It started as prostate cancer and spread everywhere. After each dose of chemo, dad would spend the next four or five days in bed, he couldn’t get up, it zapped everything out of him. After starting treatment, he never again regained his full strength.
‘I asked him not to undergo chemo, I had watched my nan go through it and various other people in my family, it depletes the body. I’d seen how it strips your body. It gives you extra time, but is that worth it if you can’t enjoy it? I am not so sure.
‘In the end, he was in hospital for a week before he died. After two or three days, he didn’t want to see anyone. I think he knew what was coming, although hadn’t told us.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad‘When he began palliative care, we managed to visit. He told me he was hurting - I could see this was the end.’
More than three years since his dad’s passing, Bennett remains in Telford, now living with girlfriend Ashleigh, dog Oakley and cat Darcy.


Presently studying for his Uefa B Licence, the 23 Academy he launched in August 2022 is flourishing, overseeing the coaching of 100 youngsters each week.
Now aged 34, Bennett’s non-league playing career continues. Currently turning out for Shifnal, with 30 appearances this season, his only goal arrived last month at promotion rivals Lichfield City, yet well worth the wait.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad‘I haven’t quit football, I still play. It’s just not my sole purpose any more. My whole life doesn't revolve around it,’ Bennett added.
‘My life is no longer dictated to by other people, you get your power back as a human - and I love it. You have to love football to become a professional. Along the way you might lose that love a bit, you might get it back, you might not, but you always love football and dread the day you can no longer play.
‘I am Michael Doyle now, I’m not even joking, that’s my job. You have to adapt your game and I am a number six these days, a holding midfielder.
‘I just run and boot people, that’s it. I win it back for all the young bucks. My role is to break up play and give it to someone faster than me. I don’t get that far forward to score any more, so last month’s goal was worth 10 of them!
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad‘I was always a central midfielder as a kid, then my Wolves manager Mick McCarthy pushed me out wide because I was small, that’s the only reason I started playing left wing.
‘The standard isn’t bad either, there are some talented footballers. The actual standard of individual players isn’t much different from the professional game. Since moving into non-league, I’ve played with some who are technically better than the Football League, but cannot do it consistently.
‘Pros may have a bad game, it happens to everyone, but they perform consistently well during a season. Whereas some of the talented players you get at non-league levels will do it for one game, possibly two, before going missing for five. That’s the difference.
‘I also really enjoy my coaching, it has been two-and-a-half years and the business is doing really well. The biggest thing I take into it is to treat the player like a human being first, then you’ll see the best of them. Too often you are judged as a footballer rather than a human - and it should be the other way around.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad

‘If someone rollocked you every day at work and insisted you were terrible at your job, would you do better or worse? Instead try asking how their weekend was, what did they get up to, take an interest in that person as a human being. You won’t believe how much harder they’ll work for you.’
Last weekend marked the FA Cup third round, although Bennett’s involvement in the competition began more than five months earlier.
Featuring in August’s extra preliminary round, Bennett skippered Shifnal to a 3-0 success over Belper Town at the Acoustafoam Stadium in front of 145 people.
They progressed to defeat Sutton Coldfield Town, Wellingborough Town and Redditch United, before being eliminated by Hednesford Town in a third qualifying round replay - representing the Reds’ best FA Cup progress for more than four decades.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe Bennett brothers - Kyle and Elliott - were reunited for the October occasion, playing alongside each other in the centre of midfield for a 1-0 defeat which ended a remarkable cup run.
Kyle added: ‘Could I still be playing professional football now? I reckon so, I still have the legs and can move around, even though in non-league you only train twice a week.
‘You cannot have regrets, though - and the one thing you don’t ever get back is time. The most important lesson I’ve learnt in life is that, once something has happened, you can’t get it back.
‘Sure, you can question whether you value playing a few more Football League games and earning a bit more money over walking away from the professional game to be with your family.
‘Well, spending those final few months with dad was the best thing I did.’
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.