These players were true greats of the game
t took a sad news story this week to make me reflect on just how much an important part of my life has changed over the years – and not for the better.
The passing of the great Charlie Hurley brought back a lot of memories.
Looking back at the time I fell in love with the ‘beautiful game’ in the late 1960s before becoming a passionate supporter in the 1970s, it really did feel like a sport for the working class.
It was my father and eldest brother who ignited my interest as a young child.
And Saturday was football day – the excitement of the vidiprinter from around
I4.45pm while watching Grandstand on the BBC, clicking through the the scores as final whistles blew all across the country, and then watching Match of the Day in the evening – it was the one night of the week I was allowed to stay up late.
By the mid to late-sixties as my excitement for the game was growing, our Dad stopped attending games. He had gone to a game every Saturday afternoon before I was old enough to understand anything, but with three young boys his time, and the cost, meant his priorities changed.
But I’ll never forget who he believed to be the best two footballers he ever saw playing: Len Shackleton and Charlie
Hurley – ‘The Clown Prince’ and ‘The King’.
Hurley he described as a ‘colossus, cultured defender’, while Shackleton was simply ‘entertaining’.
Today we have countless footballers who could be labelled with the same descriptions, and there are many great talents out there. But, for me, the way my father spoke about the guile and skill of Shackleton and the commitment and class of Hurley puts them way ahead of anything I see today.
In those days footballers had to graft for every penny and then find a new career when their footballing days came to an end early in life. Shackleton became a sports journalist after retiring from the game, and this after having done a spell as a barber while still playing.
Greats of the game who deserve their place in the history books.