Thomas Banks (born 10 November 1929) is an English retired

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 as a left back. He was born at

Farnworth Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southeast of Bolton, 4.3 miles south-west of Bury (7 km), and northwest of Manchester. Historically in Lancashire, Farnworth lies on the River Ir ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

. He played for Bolton Wanderers from 1947 to 1961 and was a member of the 1958 FA Cup winning team when Bolton beat Manchester United. He also played six matches for the England national team in 1958, including all four matches in the 1958 FIFA World Cup. He got his opportunity in the England team because of the death of incumbent left-back

Roger Byrne Roger William Byrne (8 September 1929
England Football Online. Retrieved 6 June 20 ...

in the Munich Air Disaster in February 1958. Despite strong performances in the World Cup, he made only a single appearance for England after the tournament, as he was hampered by a persistent hamstring injury which ultimately curtailed his career. As recounted in Declan Hill's book ''The Fix'', Banks also had a small but influential role in the fight to acquire better pay and conditions for football players in the 1961 labour dispute with the Football League. He also played non-League football for

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population ...

References

* 1929 births Living people English men's footballers England men's international footballers Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Bangor City F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football fullbacks Footballers from Farnworth 1958 FIFA World Cup players English Football League representative players {{england-footy-defender-1920s-stub