Bobby Moore was a professional footballer, considered by many to be one of the greatest defenders to ever grace the game.
A long and distinguished career for club and country reached its pinnacle when he lifted the World Cup as Captain of the England team which defeated West Germany in the 1966 final at Wembley Stadium.
Moore played for West Ham United for over 15 years, playing more than 600 games in all competitions. His great strengths lay in his reading of the game and the immaculate timing of the tackle, so wonderfully illustrated in the footage from the 1970 World Cup match against Brazil. Jock Stein’s quote “there should a law against him. He knows what’s happening 20 minutes before everyone else” aptly summarises Moore’s ability as a defender.
Moore signed a boot deal with Stylo Matchmakers in 1975 with the full fulham team and reached the final of the FA Cup that year but were beaten in the final by one of Bobbys former clubs West Ham United.
Moore was awarded the OBE in 1967, just one of many accolades he would receive, including induction in to the football hall of fame in 2002. In 2007 his services to English football were recognised when a statue of Moore was unveiled outside the new Wembley Stadium, while the following year West Ham retired the number 6 shirt in honour of their former Captain, 50 years after his debut for the club.
Bobby Moore died at the age of 51 from Bowel cancer in 1993. It was not his first fight with the disease, having survived testicular cancer a couple of years before his famous World Cup triumph. A gentleman of the game, respected by his peers for his sportsmanlike conduct on the pitch, he remains to date the only Englishman to have the honour of triumphantly raising the World Cup.