Bobby Evans was a magnificent right-half for Celtic
Bobby Evans was a magnificent right-half for Celtic, and probably the best wing-half in Britain during the early 1950s. He was also one of the cleanest and most sporting of players and (despite his red hair) always in control of himself on the field no matter how torrid the match… but he did have a reputation for touchiness off the pitch.
I have a personal memory of that trait of Bobby Evans. In the early 1950s I was waiting in the queue at a cinema in Sauchiehall Street to see the film The Great Caruso and noticed Bobby and his wife a couple of people ahead of me. Naturally I studied him, the first time I had seen him in real life, away from football: red hair, a shorter man than I would have thought but very powerfully built, dressed smartly in sports jacket and flannels and carrying a shopping bag from some department store. A pleasant young man and his wife, after shopping taking in a movie.
‘There was an interesting development’
There was an interesting development, however. They had just picked up their tickets, and started to move on, when Bobby suddenly stiffened, looked angry and seemed prepared to step backwards. His wife seized his arm, said a few words like “Don’t bother, Robert!” And the incident was quickly over, Bobby and his wife going on into the cinema.
But, obviously, something had been said by the cashier to which the footballer had taken immediate exception, or some gesture made, or perhaps a hostile look exchanged … but, whatever it was, it had changed the mood and the atmosphere. This incident made me think of the contradiction between the man’s somewhat prickly character off-field and his impeccable sportsmanship in game after game, season after season. ‘A puzzlement’, as the King of Siam might say.
Continues on the next page…
