LONDON // West Ham United will retire the number six shirt worn by the former Upton Park and England great Bobby Moore, the Premier League club has announced. Moore, who died in 1993 of bowel cancer, is one of the most celebrated names in English football, having lifted the Jules Rimet trophy in 1966 as the captain of England's World Cup-winning team. A ball-playing central defender, he was one of three West Ham players in Sir Alf Ramsey's victorious England team, alongside the striker Geoff Hurst and the midfielder Martin Peters.
A statue of the three stands outside the club's Upton Park stadium in East London. Moore, who was at West Ham from 1958-74, was the club's most successful captain, lifting the FA Cup in 1964 and European Cup Winners' Cup the following year. He died from bowel cancer at the age of 51. The West Ham chief executive officer Scott Duxbury told the club's official website: "When we were talking about ways to mark 50 years since Bobby Moore's debut, there was only one true gesture that would do him justice ? retiring the number six shirt he made his own."
Moore made his first appearance for the club aged 17 against Manchester United in Sept 1958 and to mark the anniversary West Ham will play Spanish club Villarreal in a preseason friendly on Saturday for the inaugural Bobby Moore Cup. After leaving West Ham, Moore ? who won 108 caps for England ? played for Fulham and American clubs San Antonio Thunder and Seattle Sounders. Matthew Upson, the England defender who has been wearing the number six for West Ham, will take the number 15 shirt.
* Reuters
