West Ham legend Bobby Moore lost his fight with cancer twenty six years ago today. The Barking born boy played over 500 times for the Hammers as well as being capped 108 times for England. He may be gone but he is not forgotten.
Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore was born in Baking on 12th April 1941. He was recruited to West Ham’s academy in 1956, making his debut for the senior team as a replacement for Malcolm Allison against Manchester United in September 1958.
In 1960, at the young age of 19, he was called up to the England under-23’s, and earned his debut cap in 1962 in Peru. In 1963 he was made captain of the squad, quickly earning the trust of his coach and manager. At first Moore was just filling in for more senior players, but the position was made permanent in 1964. That year Moore was first treated for testicular cancer, but he did not let that stop him winning the FA Cup with West Ham. He was also named Football Writer’s Association Football player of the Year.
In 1966, he captained England to their only World Cup victory. After the World Cup, Moore continued to play for West Ham and England, as well as promoting the British pub industry and opening his own sports shop. In the second half of the decade, he received national recognition. In 1966 Moore was the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and in 1967 he was awarded an OBE, and a punk band even recorded a song about him entitled ‘Viva Bobby Moore’.
Moore was again named captain of England again for the 1970 World Cup. The tournament was not a wild success for England, but it went down for one piece of genius from Moore when, during their match with Brazil, he performed a spectacular tackle on the advancing Jairzinho – still considered perhaps the finest (if not, the most iconic) tackle in history.
Moore made his final appearance for England in 1973, when they failed to qualify for the World Cup. On his retirement, he was the most capped player in the history of the England football team.