Brian Leslie Labone (23 January 1940 – 24 April 2006) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played for and captained Everton. A

one-club man List of one-club men may refer to: * List of one-club men in association football * List of one-club men in rugby league * List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise * List of NBA players who have spent ...

, Labone's professional career lasted from 1958 to 1971, during which he won the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

championship twice and the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

once. He also played 26 times for the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affiliat ...

Biography

Brian Labone was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, England, on 23 January 1940. His parents were Arthur Leslie Labone and Bridget Patricia Rice. The Labone family have distant Italian roots on his paternal side through an ancestor called Nicholas Antonio Labone who taught various foreign languages in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

, Scotland. He was also of Irish descent on his mother(Bridget Patricia Rice) side.Ancestry
/ref>

Education

Labone attended the Liverpool Collegiate School.

Playing career

-born Labone chose to join Everton at 17 in July 1957 instead of going to university. His debut for the first team was in 1958. He was widely regarded as one of the best central defenders of his era. He was a strong tackler, good in the air, adequately fast but he rarely used his left foot. Labone made 451 League appearances for Everton and a total of 534 in all competitions. He scored two league goals and was booked only twice throughout his career. Manager Harry Catterick called him ''"the last of the Corinthians"''. Labone played in the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

teams of 1962–63 and 1969–70, in the

winning team of

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo is ...

, and in the FA Cup final of

1968 The year was highlighted by Protests of 1968, protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechos ...

. He also won the

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier L ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

and

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and 1 ...

. Labone showed his high opinion of Everton in a simple quote ''"One Evertonian is worth twenty Liverpudlians"'' Labone played 26 times for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

between 1962 and 1970. He withdrew from England's

1966 World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

squad because of his imminent marriage but played in three of the four games in the World Cup in 1970 in Mexico. In 1970–71 Labone sustained a serious injury to his

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

and retired from playing. A few years earlier he had announced, at the beginning of the season, his intention to retire at the end of that season, in typical fashion giving the club as much notice as possible so that he could be replaced. Such was the outcry however that he changed his mind and played on for two more seasons.

Post-playing and death

Labone maintained his links with Everton where he worked as a guide for guests & visitors and a website columnist. Labone was included in Everton's 'Greatest Ever Team' as voted for by the fans at the start of the 2003/04 season to mark the club's 125th anniversary. Whilst returning home from an Everton fans awards evening at the Winslow Hotel in Walton, Labone died suddenly after collapsing in the street close to his Lydiate home at the age of 66. He was survived by Pat, his wife of 40 years,Liverpool Echo
/ref> and daughter Rachelle (born 1970). Another former Everton captain, Kevin Ratcliffe, paid the following tribute: ''"Brian was Everton. If you could put together a team of every player that has ever captained Everton, every one of us would turn to Brian to lead us out. He will always be known as the captain of Everton"''. Everton Chairman

Bill Kenwright William Kenwright, CBE (born 4 September 1945) is an English West End theatre producer and film producer. He has also been the chairman of Everton Football Club since 2004. Kenwright was born in Liverpool and attended Booker Avenue County Pri ...

also paid tribute by saying: ''"On the foot of the Dixie Dean statue outside Goodison Park are the words 'Footballer, Gentleman, Evertonian'. Those words summed up Dixie and they apply, equally, to the great Brian Labone."''The Guardian
/ref> Part of Everton's home ground,

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpo ...

, was named in his honour.

Honours

Everton *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First D ...

: 1962–63, 1969–70 *

: 1965–66 *

References

External links

BBC Online report of his death

''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', 25 April 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Labone, Brian English footballers England international footballers England under-23 international footballers Footballers from Liverpool Everton F.C. players UEFA Euro 1968 players 1970 FIFA World Cup players 1940 births 2006 deaths People educated at Liverpool Collegiate Institution English Football League players English Football League representative players Association football central defenders FA Cup Final players