Edward Ernest Perrian Bovington (born 23 April 1941) is an English 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 ...

who played for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

as a right-half. Bovington played junior football with West Ham, and was a member of the FA Youth Cup Final team of 1958–59 alongside Bobby Moore, Harry Cripps and

Jack Burkett Jack William Burkett (born 21 August 1942) is an English former professional footballer who played as a full-back in the Football League for West Ham United and Charlton Athletic, and was player-manager at League of Ireland team St Patrick's ...

. He made his senior debut in a Football League match against Manchester United on 18 April 1960, although it was to be another 18 months before his second game. His cup debut was in the Football League Cup against

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

on 16 October 1962. Bovington made a total of 138 League appearances for West Ham, scoring a single league goal (against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

on 26 October 1966 at Upton Park). He made another 46 senior appearances for the Hammers in other competitions, including the

1964 FA Cup Final The 1964 FA Cup Final was the 83rd final of the FA Cup. It took place on 2 May 1964 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between West Ham United and Preston North End. West Ham, captained by Bobby Moore and managed by Ron Greenwood, won the mat ...

and eight

European Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourna ...

matches. His only cup goal was against Cardiff City, in a 5–2 home win on 20 December 1965 in the League Cup semi-final. He retired from football, aged 28, to join the

rag trade The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry. Industry process Cotton manufacturi ...

. He later became a keen marathon runner and member of Woodford Green Athletics Club. Bovington later recalled that he had had a poor relationship with manager,

Ron Greenwood Ronald Greenwood CBE (11 November 1921 – 9 February 2006) was an English football player and manager, best known for being manager of the English national football team from 1977 until 1982, as well as being manager of West Ham United for 13 ...

and that Greenwood had failed to pick Bovington for the team as he thought he was not good enough.

Career statistics

Honours

West Ham United *

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 ...

: 1963–64 * FA Charity Shield:

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

References

1941 births Living people English footballers West Ham United F.C. players Association football midfielders Footballers from Edmonton, London English Football League players FA Cup Final players {{England-footy-midfielder-1940s-stub