Ivor Broadis, RAF navigator and England international footballer – obituary

Ivor Broadis in 1951
Manchester City player Ivor Broadis in 1951 Credit: Central Press

Ivor Broadis, who has died aged 96, was the oldest living former England international and almost the last link with a now distant era of football.

In a career during which he turned out for Sunderland, Newcastle and Manchester City, Broadis graced fields with Sir Stanley Matthews, Sir Tom Finney and Sir Bobby Charlton, and was not out of place in that select company.

Bill Shankly called him “one of the strongest and most dangerous inside-forwards that ever played”.

He also shared a pitch with Duncan Edwards, the young Alex Ferguson, and with Ferenc Puskas. In 1954, Broadis scored England’s consolation goal when they were beaten 7-1 by the “Magic Magyars” in Budapest: “We are now mere subordinates in this game,” he told readers of one football annual at the time as the illusion of English mastery was shattered.

After the end of the Second World War, during which he had flown with the RAF and played as a guest for Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, Broadis was posted to Crosby-on-Eden, Cumbria. A Londoner, he had never been so far north and quipped later that he thought he might need “a dog team” to get there.

Broadis, left, in action for England against Scotland at Hampden Park in Glasgow in 1952, a match which England won 2-1 
Broadis, left, in action for England against Scotland at Hampden Park in Glasgow in 1952, a match which England won 2-1  Credit: Keystone/Getty Images

Alerted to his presence nearby, Carlisle United approached him and he agreed to become their player-manager – the youngest ever in the English league. Despite his youth, he was not afraid to stand up to the club’s older administrators, describing the secretary as “a crook” after he replaced the new fittings in a house made ready for a player with his old ones.

When the directors jibbed at the cost of a lamp to illuminate the ash track around which the footballers jogged in the evenings, saying that they would only try to smash it with a ball, Broadis riposted that if they proved that accurate they could be sold for a fortune.

Although he admitted he was always “the first name on the team sheet”, Broadis justified this by scoring 52 times in 91 league appearances. Bigger clubs evinced interest in him, and in 1949 he became the first manager to transfer himself when he joined Sunderland.

He pointed out that the fee of £18,000 extracted from the team then nicknamed “the Bank of England club” was too big to turn down.

He credited his successor at Brunton Park, Shankly, for improving him further as a player. Broadis continued to live and train in Carlisle and adopted Shankly’s approach of giving everything in practice. “I made him realise what was needed to be a player,” observed the Scot.

At Roker Park, Broadis teamed up with the likes of Len Shackleton and Trevor Ford, making his name as a tricksy, deep-lying creator of opportunities with an eye for goal. His salary was £12 a week: “When I was playing, the only agent was Dick Tracy.”

Broadis, left, with fellow England international Tommy Taylor after the game against Argentina at River Plate in 1953 was abandoned after 20 minutes following torrential rain. Five years later, Taylor died in the Munich air disaster 
Broadis, left, with fellow England international Tommy Taylor after the game against Argentina at River Plate in 1953 was abandoned after 20 minutes following torrential rain. Five years later, Taylor died in the Munich air disaster  Credit: Popperfoto/Getty Images

Broadis always believed that Sunderland ought to have won the Championship in 1950, but after losing at Manchester City they finished a point behind Wolves and Portsmouth, who took the title on goal average.

In 1951, Broadis moved to Manchester City, where his preference for dropping deep caused problems for Don Revie, who wanted to do the same. Broadis departed for Newcastle United in 1953, playing alongside Jackie Milburn and Ivor Allchurch. He helped the side reach the FA Cup final in 1955, where they beat Manchester City, but he did not play after falling out with the trainer, Norman Smith.

Broadis had no telephone at home in Carlisle and was surprised one morning in 1951 to answer the door to a policeman. It turned out that Stan Mortensen had been injured and that Broadis had been called up, winning the first of his 14 England caps, against Austria. He had especially fond memories of scoring against Scotland at Hampden Park in front of 130,000.

He played in all three of England’s games at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. In the 4-4 draw with Belgium he became (by a few minutes from Nat Lofthouse) the first England player to score twice in a match at the tournament.

England went out in the quarter-finals, beaten by Uruguay, but while West Germany won the final, Broadis considered Hungary the better side.

Of the defeat in Budapest a few weeks before the competition, he recalled: “Hungary were brilliant, we couldn’t get near them … I remember my goal, left-footed from just inside the box. But I didn’t have the best left foot that day, Puskas was just wonderful, the best I’ve ever seen.”

Ivan Arthur Broadis was born on the Isle of Dogs, East London, on December 18 1922; his name was misregistered by an official when he played for Spurs and thereafter he answered to Ivor. He decided not to join the club when they docked him half a crown from his expenses after he had been overpaid the week before.

Growing up with four brothers and two sisters, he attended the Coopers’ Company School, Bow, and first featured for Finchley FC and in Kent for Northfleet. The family home was destroyed in the Blitz and, after joining the RAF, Broadis did his training as a navigator in America.

He subsequently clocked up 500 hours in Wellington and Lancaster bombers, rising to flight lieutenant, although he never took part in a raid. By the end of the war he was stationed in Italy and recalled the excitement of flying soldiers home to Britain.

Broadis ended his playing days with several more seasons back at Carlisle, and then two with Queen of the South (where he played against Ferguson). Although offered a contract by Hearts in 1960, he claimed that “referees were beating me for pace” and hung up his boots – or “clogs”, as he called them.

Broadis sends over a cross for Newcastle against Arsenal at Highbury in 1953
Broadis sends over a cross for Newcastle against Arsenal at Highbury in 1953 Credit: E Bacon/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

Spurning a career as a coach, he turned to writing about football: “There’s far less to worry about in the press box than the dug-out.” He had penned his first column, for the Manchester Evening News, when at City. For 18 years he worked for papers in Newcastle, and then covered Carlisle’s fortunes for the local press.

He continued to live in the city, enjoying golf and bowls, although he had a low opinion of modern footballers – and football writers. “Now they’ll employ anyone to cover football,” he noted. “They call them journalists, but it’s just cheap labour.”

His wife Joan, whom he married in 1948, died in 1994. Their son died earlier this year and their daughter survives him.

Ivor Broadis, born December 18 1922, died April 12 2019   

License this content