Between the sticks

“…I am glad he saved my header – because that act was the start of a friendship between us that I will always treasure. Whenever we met, it was always like we had never been apart.” –Pele

If you are reading the article and have no idea who this Gordon Banks is, he is the goalkeeper who you frequently see in different goalkeeping video compilations for thwarting Pele’s header in the 1970 World Cup. There have been flashier saves in football history, but no so far has attained such a mythical stature. A save that went on to be known as “Save of the Century”.

Roll back the years and things were a lot different for Banks. His father was a steelworker in Tinsley. Later they shifted to the village of Catcliffe and his father set up an illegal betting shop. With riches, came misery. One day, his disabled brother was mugged and left fatally injured. He died a few weeks later. Banks took up a job as a bagger with a local coal merchant at a young age of 15. During his ventures for amateur club Millspaugh, he was scouted by Chesterfield and offered a 6 game trial. His first year at Chesterfield was a rather forgettable one as he conceded 122 goals for the reserve team and finished last. His only silverwares in England includes two league cups, one for Stoke and one for Leicester. After the 1966 World Cup, which he won for his country and was crowned the best keeper of the competition, Matt Giles, the manager of Leicester believed that Banks’ best days were over. He was dropped in favour of the promising Peter Shilton. But his best days had just begun. Gordon went on to win FIFA Goalkeeper of the Year for six consecutive years starting from 1966 to 1971. Banks was one of the best readers of thr game. His impeccable positioning along with his handling and reflexes earned him a place in the list of greatest keepers of all time. The IFFHS named him the second greatest goalkeeper just after Lev Yashin. Even as a coach, Banks was ahead of his time. According to Neville Southall, he focused more on technical aspects of the game rather than just hard workouts.

The entire football world mourned when the news came that Gordon Banks has lost his long battle with cancer. The legacy of Gordon Banks continues to live on. The kid who went from a steelworker’s son to the poster boy of England who made kids think Goalkeeping was after all a cool position to play in will never die.

– Sanmitro Chatterjee