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 Cohen in 2007 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | George Reginald Cohen | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1939-10-22)22 October 1939 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Kensington, London, England | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 23 December 2022(2022-12-23) (aged 83) | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Right-back | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1956–1969 | Fulham | 459 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1959–1963 | England U23 | 8 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1964–1967 | England | 37 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
George Reginald CohenMBE (22 October 1939 – 23 December 2022) was an English professionalfootballer who played as aright-back. He spent his entire professional career withFulham and won the1966 FIFA World Cup withEngland. He is a member of theEnglish Football Hall of Fame and was the uncle ofrugby unionWorld Cup winnerBen Cohen.
Cohen was aone-club footballer, joining Fulham professionally in 1956 and remaining there until retirement through injury 13 years later in March 1969.[2] Fulham had been relegated to the Second Division the season before he retired as a player and did not return to the top flight for 33 years. He ended his career with 459 appearances for the club, a figure surpassed by only five other players in Fulham's history. As a full-back he also managed to score six League goals for Fulham.[citation needed]
Blackpool'sJimmy Armfield played in the1962 World Cup inChile. In April 1964, however, Armfield won his 41st cap in a 1–0 defeat to anAlan Gilzean ofScotland goal atHampden Park. England coachAlf Ramsey duly tried out Cohen for his international debut a month later in a 2–1 win overUruguay. With Armfield suffering an injury – badly timed with the World Cup imminent – Cohen went on to play in 21 of the next 23 internationals. Armfield managed two more caps in preparation for the 1966 tournament after regaining his fitness, but Cohen was Ramsey's first choice by the time the England-hosted competition started.[3]
Ramsey's team played without conventional wingers, allowing extra strength in midfield and relying on young, stamina-based players likeMartin Peters andAlan Ball to drift from centre to flank and back again as required. When these players were occupied in more central positions, or chasing high up the flank and needing support, attacking full-backs like Cohen proved their worth.[4]
After England's win overArgentina in the quarter-finals, Cohen was featured in a photograph in which Ramsey prevented him from swapping shirts as customary with an opponent – Ramsey had referred to the Argentine players as "animals" for their fouling and gamesmanship during the match.[5]
Three days later, one of Cohen's overlapping runs and near-post passes contributed to Charlton's semi-final clincher as England edged outPortugal.[6]
As vice-captain in the final againstWest Germany Cohen won his 30th cap. He blocked the last-minuteLothar Emmerich free-kick that subsequently found its way across the England six-yard box forWolfgang Weber to equalise 2–2. England won 4–2 in extra-time.[7]
Cohen played seven of the next eight internationals. His 37th and final England appearance was a 2–0 win overNorthern Ireland at Wembley on 22 November 1967. Although he never scored for England, Cohen was regarded as "England's greatest right-back" due to his skilledattacking intent.[6] He was the first of England's 1966 XI to retire frominternational football.[6]
Following his retirement, Cohen coached the Fulham youth team and the England under-23 team for a time.[8] He also briefly managed non-leagueTonbridge, who he led to victory in theKent Senior Cup in 1974–75.[6]
Manchester United'sGeorge Best described Cohen as "the best full-back I ever played against," whileAlf Ramsey called Cohen "England's greatest right-back".[6] Cohen also bears the distinction of being the only Fulham player to have won a World Cup winner's medal while at the Cottagers.[6]
Cohen was awarded theMBE in 2000, along with four teammates from 1966 after a campaign from sections of the media who were surprised that the quintet had never been officially recognised for their part in England's success. The others were Ball, Wilson,Nobby Stiles andRoger Hunt.[6]
In October 2016, a statue of Cohen was unveiled atCraven Cottage by club chairmanShahid Khan to commemorate their former player and mark the 50th anniversary of the England World Cup win. Cohen attended the ceremony. Hammersmith & Fulham Council announced that it was making the former footballer a freeman of the borough.[9]
In a documentary onChannel 4 to find the greatest England XI, Cohen was given the right-back spot by the public, ahead ofPhil Neal andGary Neville. He was one of four veterans of the 1966 team to make it.[citation needed]
His attacking intent has been regarded as an encouragement for modern day full-backs as well.[6]
In 2003, Cohen publishedGeorge Cohen: My Autobiography. (ISBN 9780755313976). He was a frequent guest at functions around the country as well as atCraven Cottage raising money for cancer charities. He hosted a luncheon before every home game at Craven Cottage in the George Cohen Restaurant.[6]
In 2010, Cohen criticized changes to the design of footballs following the intense criticism of theAdidas Jabulani used at the2010 World Cup. He was quoted: "Designers have constantly tried to create more goals by using lighter and lighter balls. It was thought they would fly further and everyone loves to see a 30-yard screamer bend into the top corner. But things have gone too far."[10]
Cohen was also known for being vocal in his demands for a public inquiry intodementia in football, following research that suggested ex-professionals were more than three times at risk of getting the condition.[6]
Born in Kensington, Cohen was brought up in Fulham, where his Irish-born mother, Catherine (née Gibbs), was a stores manager at the local Lots Road power station and his father, Louis (known as Harry) Cohen, was a gas fitter. Though of Jewish heritage on his father's side, with some of his family originally from Ukraine, he was brought up in theChurch of England.[11][12] He married his wife Daphne in 1962. They had two sons.[11]
He had a history ofbowel cancer, being first diagnosed with the condition in 1976.[13] He was ultimately declared cancer-free in 1990.[13]
His nephewBen Cohen is an English former rugby union player andRugby World Cup winner with England in 2003.[14]
Cohen died on 23 December 2022, at the age of 83.[11][15] He was known as one of the few "greatest one-trophy wonders", winning solely a World Cup winner's medal in his career.[16]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Fulham | 1956–57 | Second Division | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 |
| 1957–58 | 26 | 0 | 7 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 33 | 0 | ||
| 1958–59 | 41 | 1 | 4 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 45 | 1 | ||
| 1959–60 | First Division | 42 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 44 | 0 | |
| 1960–61 | 41 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 43 | 0 | ||
| 1961–62 | 41 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | 51 | 1 | ||
| 1962–63 | 38 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 41 | 0 | ||
| 1963–64 | 41 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 44 | 1 | ||
| 1964–65 | 40 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | 44 | 2 | ||
| 1965–66 | 39 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | - | - | 43 | 0 | ||
| 1966–67 | 35 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | - | - | 41 | 1 | ||
| 1967–68 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | - | - | 22 | 0 | ||
| 1968–69 | Second Division | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 7 | 0 | |
| Career total | 408 | 6 | 33 | 0 | 18 | 0 | - | - | 459 | 6 | ||
George Cohen ... was lauded by the Jewish, national and international press. ... [H]e rang up the editor to explain that he was not actually 'of the faith'. 'I have a Jewish great-grandfather,' he said, 'but that's it, really. Neither my father nor my mother was a Jew. I have always been Church of England.
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