A plumber by trade, Ralph Wildig came through local football to join Southampton on amateur forms. With Jack Robinson in possession and Harry Moger as his deputy, there was little chance of Ralph’s getting a game in the first-team goal. He was limited, in his two seasons at The Dell, to two run-outs in the Western League.

Judged by the Echo to be “unsteady”, he conceded 10 goals in those matches.

He duly returned to local football, first as a player and then as a popular referee and in 1921 could be found turning out in goal in a match between Southampton and Portsmouth referees . 

In 1919 he had been happy to trade on his time between the posts as a Saints player when he placed an advert in the Saints v Exeter programme, advertising his Plumbing business.