England’s World Cup-winning keeper Banks is no more

STOKE-ON-TRENT, February 12 

Gordon Banks, the goalkeeper in England’s 1966 World Cup-winning team, has died at the age of 81, his former club Stoke City said on Tuesday. Banks won 73 caps for England between 1963 and 1972 and made nearly 200 appearances for Stoke before his playing career was brought to an end due to a car crash that cost him the sight in one eye.

He was widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers to have played the game and will be best remembered for the diving stop he made to deny Brazil’s Pele at the 1970 World Cup, which later became known as the “save of the century”.

“It is with great sadness that we announce that Gordon passed away peacefully overnight,” Banks’ family said in a statement posted on Stoke’s official website. “We are devastated to lose him but we have so many happy memories and could not have been more proud of him.” 

Save of the century 

Banks played every game in the 1966 World Cup including the 4-2 victory over West Germany in the final at Wembley — the only time England has won the world title. Four years later though, in Mexico, he produced one of the most outstanding saves in the history of the tournament in a group game between England and Brazil, which Brazil won 1-0.

Pele rose to head a cross from right-winger Jairzinho, thundering the header down towards Banks’ right hand post. The ball appeared to have gone past Banks but his agility and strength saw him get down and palm it high and wide to safety.

Pele travelled to Stoke 38 years later to unveil a statue to Banks and recalled the save. “From the moment I headed it, I was sure it had gone in,” he said. “After I headed the ball, I had already begun to jump to celebrate the goal. Then I looked back and I couldn’t believe it hadn’t gone in. I have scored more than a thousand goals in my life and the thing people always talk to me about is the one I didn’t score,” he said.

Banks recalled the moment modestly as a piece of good fortune. “As soon as I got my hand to it, I thought it was going in the top corner,” he said. “But after I’d landed on the hard floor, I looked up and saw the ball bounce behind the net and that’s when I said: “Banksy, you lucky prat.”  — Reuters 

Career highlights

• Date of Birth:  December 30, 1937 – February 12, 2019
• England caps: 73
• Clubs: Chesterfield, Leicester City, Stoke City, Cleveland Stokers, Hellenic, Fort Lauderdale Strikers, St Patrick Athletic
• Achievements: The International Federation of Football History & Statistics declared Banks the second-best goalkeeper of the 20th century after Lev Yashin and ahead of Dino Zoff.

Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year  (1972)

FIFA Goalkeeper of the Year on six occasions