England Legends - Alan Ball

As a festive treat, TheFA.com has a series of seven articles with England Legends, one from each of the match programmes in 2007, today it's Alan Ball;

“Young man, you will never play a better game of football in your life than you did today.”

Sir Alf rarely said a truer word. Remember Alan Ball, midfield dynamo, hero of 1966 and the man who ran himself daft for England

Ball was too small to be a footballer. At least, that’s what they tried to tell him. “The only apprenticeship you’ll get, lad, is an apprenticeship as a jockey,” he was informed by Bolton Wanderers manager Bill Ridding. Wolves took one look at the red-haired 5ft 6in teenager and turned him down too.

He didn’t listen. Most young footballers probably wouldn’t have had the heart to carry on after rejection like that, but with the help of his football-manager father, he pressed on until he found a place for himself at Blackpool at the age of 17.

Ball’s combination of aggressive tackling, tireless running and an insatiable desire to win quickly brought him recognition. The international stage beckoned and that first cap was always at the forefront of his mind. He had promised his father that he would play for England before his 20th birthday.

And he did… just. He made his England debut against Yugoslavia in 1965 aged 19 years and 362 days. “First of all he taught me how lucky I was,” said Ball of his father. “Then he never let me forget how lucky I was.” A further 71 caps followed.

The midfielder’s finest 120 minutes in an England shirt came in the 1966 World Cup Final. Ball hadn’t been one of Sir Alf Ramsey’s first-choice midfielders at the start of the tournament, but by the time England had booked their place in the Final, he had become an automatic selection.

Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, West Germany’s left-back that afternoon, probably still has nightmares about Alan Ball. Ramsey decided to push Ball out right and use his energy to run Schnellinger into the ground.

When extra time came around, the effects were there for all to see. Nobby Stiles played a pass into the right wing and Ball left the full-back for dead. The German’s legs were gone. Ball rampaged on and cut a cross in for Geoff Hurst to swivel and shoot against the underside of the bar and in. Ball admitted after the game that when Stiles played the pass in, he’d felt like he’d ‘already died twice’, such was the energy he had expended during the match. No wonder BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme felt moved to announce, at one point, that Ball was ‘running himself daft’.

Sir Alf approached the shattered Ball after the match. “Young man,” he told him, “you will never play a better game of football in your life than you did today.”

Ball’s performances for England and Blackpool earned him a move to Everton, where he formed part of their famous midfield ‘Holy Trinity’ with Colin Harvey and Howard Kendall. Ball was the club’s top scorer in his first two seasons and totalled an amazing 60 goals in his first three years at Goodison Park.

Back on the international stage, he helped England reach the semi-finals of the 1968 European Championship, where he was hacked at every available opportunity by the Yugoslavian opposition. Although the Slavs’ approach was clearly painful for Ball, he played out the whole game, which England eventually lost 1-0.

Four years on from the glory of Wembley, Mexico ‘70 proved a different story. He was at the start of several of England’s ‘what if…’ moves. In the group match against Brazil, he not only struck the crossbar but also played in Jeff Astle, who missed a sitter to make it 1-1.

In the Quarter Final against West Germany, Ball started a move that ended in Geoff Hurst narrowly missing the chance to put England 3-1 up. Following their eventual 3-2 defeat to the Germans, it is reported that Ball returned to the team hotel and promptly threw his tournament medal out of the window. Losing simply wasn’t an option for him, hence the autograph he proudly scrawled for fans through the decades: “Alan J Ball – WIN”.

The qualification campaign for the 1974 World Cup was the low point of Ball’s international career. He was sent off following a scuffle in Poland, and the red card meant he was suspended for the return fixture at Wembley, which England needed to win to qualify. They could only draw 1-1, and the unthinkable had happened: a World Cup would be played without England.

Soon after, Ramsey left the England manager’s position, and his successor Don Revie made Ball captain. He led out the Three Lions six times, won four and drew two. His last appearance for England came in a 5-1 thrashing of Scotland on 24 May 1975.

Ball had left Everton in 1971 to join Arsenal, spending five years at Highbury before moving to the south coast for an Indian summer at Lawrie McMenemy’s Southampton, in tandem with the likes of Kevin Keegan and Mike Channon. He also spent three summers in the North American Soccer League, playing for Philadelphia Fury and Vancouver Whitecaps.

He later entered management, briefly returning to Blackpool as player-boss, before moving on to Portsmouth, Stoke City, Exeter City, Southampton and Manchester City.  It says much about Ball’s personality that he is one of the few people to have had connections with both the Saints and their rivals Portsmouth, and still be held in the same high regard by both sets of fans.

On 25 April, Alan Ball died of a heart attack, aged 61.

Born: 12 May 1945, Farnworth, Lancashire

Clubs: Blackpool, Everton, Arsenal, Southampton, Philadelphia Fury (USA), Vancouver Whitecaps (Canada), Bristol Rovers

England: 1965-75, 72 appearances, 8 goals

Debut: 9 May 1965 v Yugoslavia 1-1

Last game: 24 May 1975 v Scotland 5-1

Fans memories: More than 600 England fans signed the online book of condolences to Alan Ball on TheFA.com. Here are just a few of your contributions…

“I was just a young boy of eleven when I saw you gracing that wonderful World Cup Final in 1966. It was so very special then and has remained so through my life. Thank you for the pleasure you have given me, the fond memories and the smile that you put on my face.”

Martin O’Hara

“You were an inspiration for many football players in this country. I was born 16 years after you helped England win the World Cup in 1966, and I never saw you play, but the people who did will miss you greatly.”

Damien van Steeden

“The thing that stands out in my mind from the 1966 Final is the sight of Alan Ball, socks round his ankles, running himself ragged for the team.”

Ben Goodchild