Player Profile: Bobby Moore

Bobby Moore

12th April 1941.

Country: England

Club played for majorly: West Ham United

He stands 20ft. tall at the Wembley weighing about two tons, portraying the many successes he has won for his country. “He was my friend as well as the greatest defender I ever played against,” said Pele himself for this English Captain who was the first and till date remains the only one to have won the World Cup for England.

Robert Fredrick Chelsea Moore a.k.a. Bobby Moore is considered to be one of the greatest footballers in the history of England as well as West Ham United. He held a record of 108 caps for England until March 28th 2009, when David Beckham played against Slovakia at the Wembley. But unlike Beckham, Bobby Moore has played every single minute of every single cap he’s earned. He was a poised central defender and was well known for his ability to foresee the opposition’s movements. To mock his ability former Celtic centre half Jock Stein once said, “There should be a law against him. He knows what's happening 20 minutes before everyone else.”

Moore joined West Ham United in 1956 as a youth player and advanced through this setup to join the senior team on September 8th, 1958 playing his first match against Manchester United. But he’s more a legend for the English team than for The Hammers. It is said that in early 1966 Bobby Moore wanted to leave West Ham the reason being some heat he shared with his club manager Ron Greenwood. Also, the fact that his demand of £10 more per week as his wage with his contract expiring at the end of that month wasn’t being fulfilled made him decide that he would leave the club as soon as his contract expired. But Sir Alf Ramsey who was then the manager of England, intervened timely and helped Moore realize that he would become technically ineligible to contribute for the England squad if he left the club. Ramsey called Greenwood to the hotel where the English team was staying and told him and Moore that they had one minute to sort out their problems. Moore then signed a one month contract to elongate his stay at Upton Park which allowed him to captain the English National Team for the World Cup they later went on to win.

After the World Cup win, he won several individual honours including the “BBC Sports Personality of the year” and the OBE (Order of the British Empire) at the end of 1966.

He ultimately left West Ham in 1974 after playing for 16 years and making 544 appearances while scoring 24 goals in the process. After leaving West Ham he joined Fulham where he played for three years. Ultimately, he retired from club football playing for the Danish club Herning Fremad which is now known as “FC Midtjylland”.

Other than football, he also played county cricket for Essex with his West Ham teammate Geoff Hurst. More than being just a good footballer, Moore was also a good person and a good teammate. When the English team got a £22,000 bonus for winning the World Cup, Moore insisted that the money should be split between every player in the 22-man squad regardless of whether he played or not.

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-PRANAV MUKUL

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