By Elliott West
“Bobby Moore — he defended like a lord. Let me tell you about this man. When I played, I would face up to a defender, I would beat him with my eyes, send him the wrong way; I would look one way and then go the other. Defenders would just kick me in frustration. They would foul me because they couldn’t stop me, or because I would confuse them with my movement. I would move my eyes, my legs or my body, but not always the ball. They would follow my move, but not Bobby, not ever. He would watch the ball, he would ignore my eyes and my movement and then when he was ready and his balance was right, he would take the ball, always hard, always fair. He was a gentleman and an incredible footballer”.
Pelé
Introduction
If you had to pick one football player in the history of the game that defined football, it would have to be Bobby Moore. Like a stick of seaside rock, he had the word football running through him, it was in his blood and DNA and what Bobby didn’t know about football was not worth knowing. Rarely do you find someone with such gravitas, bad-mouthed by somebody but Moore was the exception. If praise was a tank of petrol, it would quickly be depleted on the superlatives bestowed on this true genius. A centre-back who foxed his opponents with a myriad of twists and turns that resulted in the ball hitting the back of the net as eloquently as a knife gliding through butter. A man who didn’t have an ounce of malice in him, unphased to tackle and map out his path to goal with devastating results. Sleek, calculated and football poetry in motion. A symphony of moves and shots that took your breath away and was compulsive to watch.
Genius Personified
Bobby Moore just wanted to play football. It was a game he fell in love with from the age of seven. A Barking-born lion who would roar, lifting the World Cup in 1966 at Wembley and the Jules Rimet trophy. Who can forget that tackle on Jaizinho from the 1970 World Cup? Pure magic that took the wind out of the sails of Brazil. An England captain who set the benchmark for brilliance for this International side who were feared, famed and loved by the nation. Football that had to be accompanied with a Three Lions shirt, a pint of ice-cold beer and the Kinks’ single ‘Sunny Afternoon’ playing in the background. He played 108 times for his country and was never a substitute in an international career that lasted 11 years and 178 days. He was captain for 90 of his appearances.
Bobby was a player whom West Ham welcomed in their arms. An East End bubble that never seemed to burst. His soul is entwined in the very turf of the pitch, wearing the red and blue shirt with pride, making 646 league and cup appearances for the Hammers, scoring 27 goals from 1958-1974, helping them win the FA Cup in 1963 and the UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup in 1964. A player who was eternally missed when he signed to Fulham in 1974. A playing career that continued with far-flung spells at San Antonio Thunder, Seattle Saunders, Herning Fremad and Carolina Lightnin’ before he retired from the game in 1978.
Leaving the Pitch
It is safe to say that Bobby Moore didn’t take well to hanging up his football shirt. Rather than England or West Ham come knocking at his door offering a managerial position, the communication lines were silent. It was a difficult period of his life for this very private man. A time that took him to the very precipice of despair. A man who was robbed of a knighthood but who just carried on the best way he could. Moore was endorsed by Elton John as the next manager for Watford in 1977 but denied the role when the job was given to Graham Taylor. He would go on to have managerial stints at Oxford City, Eastern AA and Southend United but nothing fulfils that desire to run a prolific team. Sadly we never got the opportunity to see how good Moore would have been as a manager but I would bet my bottom dollar that he would have been a cracker.
Even a football commentator, Bobby never lost that flair he was filled with. Sitting in a stand or studio equipped with headphones and a microphone, Moore was the epitome of fashion, suited and booted with a knowledge of football that would trounce any roadmap. He did it till he couldn’t. This was the man who could cut up cars on a motorway but still get motorists winding down their windows to cheer him, someone who would stop his car to give you a lift, pause a fight in a World Cup scuffle and the one person a weeping Paul Gascoigne would turn to for solace when England exited the World Cup in 1990. A man approached his ex-wife Tina on a commuter train and stayed with her till her stop and serenaded his wife Stephanie with a song on holiday.
The Last Days
Bobby Moore had already beaten testicular cancer in 1964 but faced his biggest battle when he was diagnosed with bowel and liver cancer. It was a disease that as an outsider you wouldn’t have thought he had. He got on with it and lived every day as if it was his last. His love for his children and Stephanie was so touching. Bobby was selfless and even in his hour of need, was driven to raise awareness for cancer and help others in the same situation. Hospital visits were of course emotional but Moore tried to fill them with laughter as well, praised by his consultant on how he managed the situation. Moore planned out his last days, going back to the Royal Garden Hotel in London where the 1966 England squad had celebrated their victory with a lunch with a friend. In the end, the doctors wanted to take him to a hospice but his son persuaded them to let him spend the time left at home. He died peacefully in his Putney home with his family around him in 1993 in 1993, aged only 51.
A brilliant football player, a devoted husband and father, who had so much to offer but ultimately left this world far too early. A man whose memory lingers in his statue outside Wembley Stadium and the very passion of England, West Ham and Fulham fans. His memory lives on in the brilliant cancer charity The Bobby Moore Fund a restricted fund of Cancer Research UK to raise money for pioneering bowel cancer research. A charity set up by his wife Stephanie in 1993.
