Bill Eckersley

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Bill Eckersley
Personnel
Surname William Eckersley
birthday July 16, 1925
place of birth SouthportEngland
date of death October 25, 1982
Place of death BlackburnEngland
position Defender (left)
Juniors
Years station
High park
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1947-1961 Blackburn Rovers 406 (20)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1950 England B 3 0(0)
1950-1953 England 17 0(0)
1 Only league games are given.

William "Bill" Eckersley (born July 16, 1925 in Southport , † October 25, 1982 in Blackburn ) was an English football player . The left- back played his entire professional club career with the Blackburn Rovers and was part of the English squad for the 1950 World Cup in Brazil .

Career

Eckersley was born in the north-west English coastal town of Southport and worked as a truck driver after leaving school. At the same time he played amateur football for a small club called High Park, where he was discovered in November 1947 by a talent scout from the Blackburn Rovers. He initially continued to drive and was part of the Rovers reserve team. There the left-back was found to be good enough for higher tasks and the newcomer was given a professional contract in March 1948. On May 1, 1948, he made his debut on the last day of the 1947/48 season in the English top division, which ended with a 1: 4 loss to Manchester United and relegation to the Second Division - the last-mentioned fate had already been determined.

The Blackburn Rovers played for ten years in the English second division, but that didn't change the fact that Eckersley was regarded as one of the best English defenders and although he had not played an international match before, he was added to the squad for the World Cup in 1950 appointed in Brazil. On July 2, 1950, he made his debut there against Spain , when England needed a win to advance after the surprising opening defeat against the USA . The game ended with a 1-0 defeat and early elimination after the preliminary round, but Eckersley formed a "defender pair" with Alf Ramsey , who played 15 times together between 1950 and 1953. An abrupt end was for both the 3-6 home defeat against Hungary on November 25, 1953, which was seen as a shame in England and resulted in Eckersley, Ramsey and Stan Mortensen never playing for the "Three Lions" again.

In the club, Eckersley was a constant identification figure of the supporters in the 1950s. As a "right foot" on the left side of defense, he was as it were strong in duels, fast and equipped with a high level of game intelligence, so that he kept calm on the defensive and switched to the offensive when the opportunity arose. With the exception of a semi-final in the FA Cup in 1952, successes were still rare. Only in 1958 did the Rovers return to the First Division via the second division title, after which Eckersley's sporting perspective deteriorated. The injury problems increased significantly and after 29 encounters at the beginning of the 1958/59 season , he only came into play sporadically. Eckersley was also left out in the FA Cup final of 1960; instead, Dave Whelan held his traditional position.

After the end of his career, his club and 21,000 spectators said goodbye to him on April 24, 1961 with a benefit game ("testimonial match"). From then on Eckersley had little luck in his “bourgeois life”. The attempt to earn money with a candy store failed and after some time as a taxi driver he returned to his original job as a truck driver.

Eckersley died in Blackburn at the age of only 57. Following his request, the two sons Billy and Stephen scattered his ashes on the playing field at Ewood Park , the home of the Blackburn Rovers.

literature

  • Mike Jackman: Blackburn Rovers - The Complete Record . Breedon Books, Derby 2009, ISBN 978-1-85983-709-2 , pp. 181 f .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "England - International Results B-Team - Details" (RSSSF)
  2. "Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 Blackburn Rovers 0" (www.fa-cupfinals.co.uk)
  3. "Bill Eckersley Testimonial Blackburn Rovers 1961" ( Memento of the original from July 30, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Football Zone) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.footballzone.co.uk