Alexander Rooney Forbes (21 January 1925 – 28 July 2014) was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Playing career

Forbes was born in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. As a teenager he worked in the dockyards and played junior football for Dundee North End. He signed for English professional club

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in 1944 and became a first team regular when competitive football resumed after the end of the Second World War. Forbes suffered an injury during the 1947–48 season and lost his place in the Sheffield United first team, which prompted Forbes to ask for a transfer.

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

signed Forbes in March 1948 for a fee of £15,000. The move was encouraged by Forbes' Scotland teammate

Archie Macaulay Archibald Renwick Macaulay (30 July 1915 – 10 June 1993) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. Playing career Born in Falkirk, Macaulay started his playing career in junior football a ...

, who subsequently lost his place in the Arsenal team to Forbes. Arsenal won the English league championship in 1947–48 and the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

. Forbes played an important role in the latter victory, as Arsenal defeated

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

2–0 in the final. Arsenal reached another FA Cup final in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

, but they lost 1–0 to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. The club then won another league championship in 1952–53, finishing ahead of Preston on goal average. Forbes suffered from recurring knee injuries during the 1955–56 season. Arsenal signed

Dave Bowen David Lloyd Bowen (7 June 1928 – 25 September 1995) was a Welsh football player and manager, who captained his country to their first ever World Cup finals, in 1958. Playing career Born in Maesteg, Bowen first played for Northampton Town. H ...

to replace Forbes, who they allowed to leave at the end of the season. Forbes played for

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

and non-league club Gravesend and Northfleet before retiring as a player. Forbes played 14 times for Scotland from 1947 to 1952. He also represented Scotland at

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

Coaching career

Forbes returned to Arsenal as a youth team coach. While taking an Arsenal team on a tour of South Africa in 1964, he was offered the opportunity to coach the Wanderers side. Forbes decided to accept and emigrated soon afterwards. Although Wanderers were an all-white club at the time, Forbes also coached black players in township and gold mine teams. He became manager of Orlando Pirates in 1975. His life in South Africa was not dull and saw him coach a few more teams after Pirates. The likes of Rangers, Highlands Park, Western Tigers and Swaraj all in his later years. He also coached football at Yeshiva College for many years. Forbes briefly became coach of the Israeli club Maccabi Haifa and he also worked in Kuwait. He only fully retired from football when he was aged 83, when he had already been diagnosed as suffering from prostate cancer.

Personal life

He loved to play snooker, joining the Wanderers Club in 1964 when he came to South Africa. He won more trophies at the Wanderers tournaments than in his football years, but it just shows that his determination to win was not left behind in England. He enjoyed greyhound racing and bought and owned the 1953 McAlinden Cup champion Rose of Meath. He was a teacher at Yeshiva College for 35 years and passed on his knowledge and expertise in football and life skills to many children. In the days after his death, 4,000 former pupils posted messages of condolence on a Facebook memorial page created by Yeshiva College. He died in his bed in the early hours of 28 July 2014. He was survived by his wife Peggy, who he met at Walthamstow dog track while on an Arsenal players' night out. Forbes was also survived by two children (Bobby and Jan) and three grandchildren - Jason and Andrew (Bobby) and Alex (f)(Jan).

Honours

;Sheffield United * Football League North: 1945–46 ;Arsenal * First Division: 1947–48 & 1952–53 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

;Swaraj United * Soccer Federation Cup: 1977 ;

Rangers Johannesburg Graneker Rangers FC was a South African football (soccer) club based in Johannesburg. Rangers FC won the Castle Cup in 1959 and played the final in 1967. Their best season in the National Football League was the inaugural season in 1959, when th ...

* NSL First Division:

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

References

;Sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Alex 1925 births 2014 deaths Scottish footballers Association football wing halves Sheffield United F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Scotland international footballers Footballers from Dundee Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Expatriate football managers in Israel English Football League players Dundee North End F.C. players Scottish ice hockey players Scottish football managers Scottish expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer managers in South Africa Maccabi Haifa F.C. managers Orlando Pirates F.C. managers FA Cup Final players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Israel Scottish emigrants to South Africa