Fred Kemp

Frederick George Kemp (27 February 1946 – 23 July 2026) was an English footballer who played as a half-back in the 1960s and 1970s. He started his professional career with Wolverhampton Wanderers, before joining Southampton for five years. Kemp then had three years with Halifax Town, for whom he made over 100 appearances followed by a short spell at Hereford United, before winding up his career in non-league football.

Career Kemp was born in Salerno, Italy, on 27 February 1946, to an Italian mother and an English army father. He joined Wolverhampton Wanderers as a 15-year-old apprentice in April 1961, signing as a professional in May 1963. He made three Football League appearances for the Wolves before Ted Bates signed him for Southampton in June 1965 for a fee of £5,000.

He made his debut at The Dell playing at inside-left against Preston North End on 27 November 1965, when George O'Brien was ill with hepatitis. He scored the Saints' second goal with a "brave header" in a 5–2 victory, and retained his place in the forward line for the next three matches before losing his place to Norman Dean. Southampton finished the 1965–66 season as runners-up in the Second Division, gaining promotion to the top division.

Kemp spent two years in the reserves as a forward before being converted into a wing-half with goal-scoring ability in March 1968. On 24 August 1968, he returned to the first team, replacing Hugh Fisher at right-half, scoring the opening goal in a 2–1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers. He retained his place for the remainder of the season, making 37 appearances and scoring four goals as Southampton finished seventh and qualified for European football for the first time, in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Although Kemp made one appearance in the Fairs Cup, he lost his place to Fisher in November, with his final first-team appearance coming on 31 March 1970.

Known as "Fiery Fred" and described as "a delightfully tippy-toed runner", Kemp's "crowd-pleasing surges down the right wing" were not popular with his teammates, including Joe Kirkup and Ken Jones, who considered that the team needed the more defensively-minded Fisher at right-half to allow Terry Paine the freedom to operate on the right wing. Paine himself considered that Kemp's runs "didn't warrant all that energy"