Robert James Irvine (born 17 January 1942) is a Northern Irish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

. His younger brother

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...

was a star striker for

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

in the sixties.

Club career

Linfield

Irvine was signed by Linfield as a teenager in 1957 from Carrick Tech and established himself in the first team at

Windsor Park Windsor Park is a football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of Linfield F.C. who own the land the stadium is built on, while the Irish Football Association own and operate the stadium and pay Linfield an annual rent ...

when at 16. In the fifties, he featured in some of the south Belfast club's earliest

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

games. Irvine found disfavour with the Linfield selection committee during the 1960–61 season and at one stage it seemed he would be released.

Stoke City

In June 1963 Irvine was transferred to Stoke City for £6,000 and made his debut in the opening game of the season, a 2–1 defeat of Spurs. He lost his place after seven games, however, to

Lawrie Leslie Lawrence Grant Leslie (17 March 1935 – 4 June 2019) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Hibernian, Airdrie, West Ham United, Stoke City, Millwall and Southend United. Internationally, he represented Scotlan ...

and remained out of the side for the most of the season. Irvine did pick up a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

runners-up medal at the end of his first season. He was largely out of favour in 1964–65, making just one league appearance but returned to the first team the following year. Irvine was given the honour of captaining Stoke in a League Cup tie against Burnley, who were captained in that game by his brother Willie. The idea of them both captaining their sides came from Clarets' manager

Harry Potts Harold Potts (22 October 1920 – 16 January 1996) was an English football player and manager. As a player he won promotion with both Burnley and Everton, and both from Second Division. As Burnley manager, he guided them to the First Division ...

. The brothers met in the centre circle to shake hands and toss the coin and then played against each other for the first time since schooldays. Irvine's career at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

was brought to an end after an FA Cup third-round game against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

. He gave away a penalty that helped the Third Division side to a 2–0 win. Furious with Irvine's antics, manager

Tony Waddington Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football manager at both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City. Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at Stoke City. He progress ...

never picked him again.

International career

Irvine was capped at both schoolboy and

Under 23 Under-23 sport is a competitive age category grouping within sports for athletes under the age of twenty-three. An extension of age categories found in youth sports, the under-23 category is for adults who are still in a developmental stage within ...

level for Northern Ireland before making his senior debut against

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

in 1962. He was brought in to replace

Harry Gregg Henry Gregg, (27 October 1932 – 16 February 2020), was a Northern Irish professional footballer and manager. A goalkeeper, he played for Manchester United during the reign of Sir Matt Busby, with a total of 247 appearances for the club. He w ...

and would keep his place for the next six international matches. Irvine made his eighth and final international appearance in 1965 against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Career statistics

Club

Source:

International

Source:

References

External links

Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irvine, Bobby 1942 births Association football goalkeepers Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland international footballers Linfield F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Ulster Scots people Living people English Football League players