OTD: Brothers for England

  • Saturday, 10 April, 2010
  • Bobby and Jack Charlton

Bobby and Jack Charlton played together for England for the first time on this day.

The Charlton brothers, Bobby and Jack, won 141 England caps between them and scored 55 goals. They played together in the same England team for the first time on this day 45 years ago.

Bobby, the younger of the two, was an England player at 20, scoring on his debut in a 4-0 win against Scotland at Hampden in 1958. He finished at the Mexico World Cup with 106 caps to his name and a goal tally of 49 that remains the all-time best for an England player.

Jack was 29 when Alf Ramsey chose him for the big Wembley clash with the Scots on 10 April 1965. A crowd of more than 98,000 saw him line up at centre-half with brother Bobby on the left wing. England went 2-0 up after a downpour, Bobby Charlton and Jimmy Greaves scoring, but were holding on at 2-2 after losing Ray Wilson to one injury and having Johnny Byrne hobbling around with another.

The Charlton brothers actually ended up playing together in defence, Bobby heroically filling in at left-back for the stricken Wilson.

They played together for England 28 times, including the World Cup Final of 1966, and both of their international careers concluding in June 1970.

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