Sir Bobby Charlton’s death at the age of 86 in October brought an end to a remarkable life that began in humble circumstances.
Charlton was born and raised in Ashington, a working-class mining town in Northumberland. He was the middle child of Robert and Cissie Charlton’s three sons, born after Jack and before Tommy.
Bobby and his brothers grew up on Beatrice Street, a casual street home to prominent footballers: Bobby and Jack were both members of the 1966 World Cup-winning England team, and Jimmy Adamson, a former Burnley and England striker and international England. The winner of the annual Football Writers competition also lived there.
“It was a hard life,” Tommy said recently. “We had a difficult upbringing. My father worked in the pits, earned a little money… Bob recalled this with pride.”
Their father was a miner who retained a sense of duty even after his sons’ success. Robert was mining coal at Linton Colliery in Ashington while Bobby and Jack were playing for England against Portugal in the World Cup semi-final in front of 95,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium. Bobby scored both of England’s goals in the 2-1 win.
Bobby and Jack’s talents allowed them to spend their careers on the field rather than in the box. Football was in their genes.
Sissy had four brothers who were professional footballers, and her second cousin was the great Jackie Milburn, one of Newcastle’s all-time greatest players and the club’s all-time leading goalscorer until he was overtaken by Alan Shearer.
Bobby was certainly more gifted than his brother, an elegant goalscorer known for his ferocious long-range strikes. He was discovered by Manchester United in 1953, aged 15, while playing for East Northumberland schools, and signed a professional contract the following year. It did not take him long to impress the United first team, scoring twelve goals in seventeen games in his first season.
At the end of his career, Charlton had scored 249 goals in 758 appearances for United and a further 49 in 106 international appearances. With United he won three league titles, one before the 1958 Munich air disaster in which eight teammates died, as well as the FA Cup and European Cup.
Jack, on the other hand, came to Leeds after a successful trial and was considering becoming a police officer. He was a tough and uncompromising centre-back, and although he lacked the technical ability of his younger brother, he took him to the top of the sport in 1966.
“My proudest moment was when they both came out of the Wembley tunnel together – and then Jack reached the top of Bobby,” said her mother Sissy.
However, the couple had a difficult relationship. These were very different characters: Jack was sociable, Bobby was reserved. Jack loved the outdoors and hated spending time at home looking after Bobby when they were younger.
Due to differences between Bobby’s wife Norma, whom he married in 1961, and his mother, they separated for several years.
Sissy and Jack are said to have felt that Norma’s influence had drawn Bobby away from his Ashington roots. “I couldn’t understand why there was a rift between Bobby and my mother,” Jack continued. Trips to a desert island in 1996. “Suddenly he stopped going home. I do not know why.”
Bobby told his side of the story in his 2007 autobiography: “My wife has a very strong character and doesn’t like to be lied to.” A conflict arose that was never resolved.
“Jack went into the newspapers and said absolutely disgraceful things about my wife.” Ask anyone who has ever met my wife: “pride” is not a word they would use. My brother made a big mistake. I don’t understand why he did this. He couldn’t have known her and said what he said.”
Sissy died in 1996 and Jack and Bobby served as pallbearers at her funeral in Ashington.
However, a touching public reconciliation occurred in 2008 when Jack presented Bobby with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards.
“When we were kids, we went to the park to play,” Jack said. “I went home for dinner and he stayed there all day. Bobby Charlton is the best player I’ve ever seen. “He’s my brother,” Bobby looked visibly touched as he accepted the award.
Jack died in June 2020 after battling lymphoma and dementia, and Bobby was unable to attend the funeral as he was suffering from dementia at the time.
Tommy, 77, recently paid tribute to his two brothers following Bobby’s death. “They were my brothers and I was proud of them,” he said. “I’ve always been very proud of my two brothers.”
He added: “I never saw Bob and Jack as anything other than their brothers – they died as my brothers, not as famous footballers.”
“And this is difficult for me. It is difficult to separate these two concepts. And I’m pleased to see how many people, thousands of people, tell me that they respect Bob and Jack.
Bobby is survived by his wife Norma, daughters Suzanne and Andrea, and grandchildren.
Source: I News
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.