Brian McGowan Moore (29 December 1933 – 8 September 2006) was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player from Northern Ireland who played as an

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

Career

Born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Moore began his career at

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

and had been a youth international. He joined

Distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

in August 1953. He earned one representative cap with the

Irish League XI The Irish League representative team was the representative side of the Irish Football League, the national league for football in Northern Ireland from 1922 and, prior to that the league for Ireland. The Irish League was suspended from 1941–42 ...

, against the

Football League XI The English Football League XI was a representative side of the Football League. The team regularly played against the Scottish Football League XI and other national league select teams between 1891 and 1976. For a long period the annual fixture b ...

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

on 20 October 1954. He moved to England and joined

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club

in February 1955. West Ham paid a fee of £3000 and also agreed to play home and away friendly fixtures against the Belfast club. After making his debut in a friendly against Austrian club

Simmering Simmering is a food preparation technique by which foods are cooked in hot liquids kept just below the boiling point of water (lower than ) and above poaching temperature (higher than ). To create a steady simmer, a liquid is brought to a boil, ...

on 19 February 1955, a match that the Hammers won 8–2, Moore was involved in the first match to be televised live from Upton Park, in another friendly against Rotterdam side Holland Sports Club on 22 March. The match against Distillery in Belfast, on 28 March, represented the first time West Ham had travelled to Northern Ireland. Moore was made

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

for the game, which ended 2–2. In the return fixture at Upton Park, Moore scored in a 7–5 victory for West Ham. Moore made his League debut on the final day of the 1954–55 season, a 1–1 draw against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

on 2 May 1955. He then made nine League appearances for West Ham during the 1955–56 season and also played in the finals of the

Essex Professional Cup Essex ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the south, Greater London to the so ...

and

London Challenge Cup The London Challenge Cup was a association football, football tournament formerly organised by the London Football Association, London FA. It was first contested in 1908, and other than during the World Wars, was contested every season until 1974 ...

, before an injury ended his professional career. His final match came against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

on 26 December 1955, three days before his 22nd birthday. Moore was hit in the face with the ball, leaving him virtually blind in one eye. The club awarded Moore a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

, jointly with

Geoff Hallas Geoff Hallas (8 February 1930 – 6 June 1982) was an English footballer who played as a full-back in the Football League for West Ham United. His career started with Droylsden and Mossley for whom he played four games in the 1949–50 season, ...

, who had also seen his career cut short through injury earlier in the season. The match featured a number of big names in the All Star XI team, such as

Jimmy Scoular James Scoular (11 January 1925 – 19 March 1998) was a Scottish football player and manager. Known as a tough, combative player with precise passing skills, Scoular made over 600 appearances in the Football League with Portsmouth, Newcastle Un ...

Cliff Holton Clifford Charles Holton (29 April 1929 – 31 May 1996) was an English footballer. Born in Oxford, Holton played as a full back for non-league Oxford City as a youth, before joining Arsenal in October 1947 at the age of 18. He spent three sea ...

Roy Paul Roy Paul (18 April 1920 – 21 May 2002) was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a half-back for Swansea Town and Manchester City. He also represented the Welsh national team over 30 times and is regarded as one of Wales' best eve ...

and

Trevor Ford Trevor Ford (1 October 1923 – 29 May 2003) was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a centre forward for Swansea Town, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Cardiff City, PSV, Newport County and Romford, as well as for the Wales national tea ...

, and also included former West Ham players

Harry Hooper Harry Bartholomew Hooper (August 24, 1887 – December 18, 1974) was an American professional baseball right fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB). Hooper batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Hooper was born in Bell Station, C ...

and

Eric Parsons Eric George Parsons (9 November 1923 – 7 February 2011) was a footballer who played for West Ham United, Chelsea and Brentford in England. Career An outside forward and crowd favourite whose blistering pace earned him the nickname "the R ...

. Proceeds for the match were due to be halved between the two players, totalling £991 11s 3d from gate receipts and £15 0s 3d from donations for each player. However, a dispute between Moore and his former club, due to his subsequent registration with

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

, meant that he received only £500. After leaving West Ham, Moore played for

Eastern Counties League The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suffolk ...

club Cambridge United, making his debut on 10 November 1956. The 1957–58 season saw him switch to

outside right In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bei ...

and he scored a club record 68 goals, 49 in the league. He was later made club captain, but after a disagreement with incoming player-manager Alan Moore, he left in 1960 to join Cambridge City. At City, Moore's 19 goals helped the club to the Southern Premier League title in 1962–63. He scored 34 in all competitions that season. He totalled 107 goals for the Lilywhites before leaving for Wisbech Town, where he was part of the team that suffered a 10–1 defeat at the hands of

Brighton and Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gro ...

in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

game in 1956. Moore later played for

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club is known as 'the ...

and Newmarket Town. After which, he worked for Cambridge-based electrical company

Pye Ltd. Pye or PYE can refer to: Businesses * Pye (electronics company), an electronics manufacturer * Pye Records, a record label ** Pye International Records, its subsidiary Fictional characters * Jerry Pye and Ginger Pye, a boy and a dog in '' Ginge ...

and managed their football team. He died of cancer in September 2006.

References

External links

Brian Moore
at westhamstats.info {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Brian 1933 births 2006 deaths Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Men's association football inside forwards Glentoran F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Cambridge City F.C. players Wisbech Town F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Newmarket Town F.C. players Irish League representative players English Football League players Eastern Counties Football League players Southern Football League players Deaths from cancer in England NIFL Premiership players