JIMMY'S TRIBUTE TO HIS BLUENOSE DAD / News Archive / News …

by on Saturday, March 27th, 2010 | No Comments

Wednesday 16 May 2007, 09:48
by Scott McLeod

It is three weeks since the untimely death of Everton legend Alan Ball and tributes for one of the finest players to ever don the blue shirt are still flooding in to evertonfc.com, the memorabilia is still adorning the Dixie Dean statue and Blue hearts are still in mourning.

And for Jimmy Ball, Alan's son, the response of Evertonians everywhere since his father's death has helped him understand precisely why the England World Cup winner always considered himself a Bluenose.

Alan had been due to attend a sportsman's dinner at the Devonshire House Hotel in Liverpool last week. Jimmy was invited as a special guest to the event.

And he passed on to the gathered Evertonians his thanks and appreciation for the help the support of the Club's fans has provided the family in the last three weeks.

He said: “Believe it or not, I had never been to Goodison Park to watch a game, or see the crowd that my dad talked so passionately about.

“Funnily enough it was one of the things I couldn’t get out of my mind the day he died, because he always promised he would bring me up here and show me it.

“I couldn’t get it out of my head all day, the fact that that was never going to happen now.

“Then his pal, Jim Buckley, rang to pass on his condolences and I said to him ‘Do you know Jim, I’ve never been up there?’

“He said ‘Alright, I’ll call you back in a couple of hours.’

Tributes to Alan Ball were held at Goodison Park

“When he did he said ‘Jimmy, get yourself back up here on Saturday with your sisters and the Evertonians will show you exactly what your dad meant to them.’ And they surely did.

“Everton was definitely his club. He was a Bluenose without any shadow of a doubt. Everton was the club in his heart.

“But Pompey came a close second. He had an affinity with the people there, too, and they are two similar cities.

“Two dock cities, two tough cities, two fighting cities in the war, both steeped in history and very, very similar when you think about it.

“They’re obviously his kind of people. He had a room down at his house in Hampshire where we used to watch the matches on television, and the TV had an Everton scarf around the top.

“There was an Everton mat on the floor and a big pal of his, Terry Hussey who used to run a couple of the nightclubs in town, was a big, big Evertonian.

“They were both mad Bluenoses, and they used to watch every game and look for every result.”

  • Discuss
  • Facebook
  • Share
  • Add to YE
  • Add to YE
  • Email
  • 573

Related posts:

  1. Chairman: No Moyes Exit / News Archive / News / evertonfc.com … Tuesday 27 April 2010, 09:29by Matthew Gamble 17 Everton...
  2. Club pays its tribute to legend Stan – Manchester Evening News A guard of honour was formed for a footballing...
  3. Womens Football Archive – January 2007 – English ladies soccer news & stories. Womens Football Archive - January 2007 You are here: Football...
  4. Lane 9 News Archive: Industry News: FINIS Inc. Signs Two-Year Sponsorship Deal with Curl Burke Masters LIVERMORE, California, July 23. FINIS inc., the Worldwide Leader in...
  5. Norwich City Norwich City vs Everton live streamwatch Norwich City vs Everton...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Portsmouth

Leave a Reply