Gerry Byrne

Gerry Byrne
Gerry Byrne (2006)
Personnel
Surname	Gerald Byrne
birthday	August 29, 1938
place of birth	Liverpool ,  England
date of death	November 28, 2015
Place of death	Wrexham ,  Wales
position	Full-back (left)
Juniors
Years	station
1953-1957	Liverpool FC
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1957-1969	Liverpool FC	274 (2)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1963-1966	England	2 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Gerald "Gerry" Byrne (born August 29, 1938 in Liverpool , † November 28, 2015 in Wrexham ) was an English football player . The defender became famous when he played for Liverpool FC in the FA Cup despite a broken collarbone .

Athletic career

The left-back Byrne was injured in 1965 in Wembley Stadium after a violent attack by Bobby Collins ( Leeds United ) already in the third minute mark, but had during the whole rest of regular time plus an extension to hold out - at that time were no substitutions allowed - and helped Liverpool win the cup for the first time. He managed to hide his teammate and coach Bill Shankly as much as possible, the injury from the players of Leeds.

The game went into overtime and despite the severe pain Byrne felt, he continued to join the attacking game by running crosses on the left side. In such an action, he struck a cross that Roger Hunt could use to hit. Leeds leveled through Billy Bremner , but Ian St. John's header was the winning goal and secured Liverpool the title win.

In the aftermath of the game, the FA was put under great pressure to allow a substitute player in competitive games in the future, who could be freely chosen by the respective team. In the years before, in the final games of the FA Cup, teams were often able to either end the game with just ten players or players continued the game despite serious injuries. This included Bert Trautmann , who played with a broken cervical vertebra in 1955, and Ray Wood in 1957 with a broken jaw, two goalkeepers . This was followed by Roy Dwight in 1959 and Dave Whelan in 1960, two players each with a broken leg, and then in 1961 Len Chalmers , who played for almost 70 minutes with a fractured ankle. Byrne's injury was the last case that led the FA to allow the first substitutes in the FA Cup final.

Byrne had joined Liverpool FC as an amateur and became a professional footballer in 1955. He made his debut for the club in 1957 and won the second division championship in 1962. Winning the FA Cup in 1965 was framed by two English championships in 1964 and 1966 . He completed two international matches for the English national football team , where he did not get past the regular Ray Wilson from local rivals Everton FC and was not used in the 1966 World Cup in his own country.

Due to an injury, Byrne retired in 1969 and was inherited by Alec Lindsay in the 1970s.

Web links

• Profile at liverpoolfc.tv
• Profile at lfchistory.net

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Liverpool FC FA Cup final hero Gerry Byrne passes away aged 77