Sir Alf Ramsey: A Different Kind of Hero

21/11/2025  -  4.30

Alex Alexandrou

The Football and War Network continuing its partnership with the National Army Museum and the Army FA recently supported a, very well-attended event and small exhibition entitled -  Sir Alf Ramsey: How The Army Shaped Him, which took place on the 17^th October. It was part of the National Army Museum’s Friday Insight Talks series.

The keynote speaker was Grant Gage, a writer, researcher, educator and an Honorary Fellow of The Historical Association. The talk was based on his recently published. book, The Unseen Sir Alf: A Different Kind of Hero, a fascinating biography that discusses and examines the life and career of England’s 1966 World Cup winning manager from different and unexpected perspectives.

For the purposes of this talk, Grant Bage discussed some of the formative family, social and footballing experiences of Sir Alf and most importantly his Army service during World War Two. He discussed his service with the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry which comprised primarily of home defence duties, with the added spice of a short sojourn in Palestine!

What became clear from Grant Bage’s presentation was that Sir Alf’s wartime experiences had a significant impact on him in terms of shaping his personality and outlook and attitude to life; learning valuable lessons in relation to discipline, leadership and loyalty. More importantly helping to develop his footballing experiences and skills that led him to playing a high level of football on a regular basis, leading to being captain of his battalion’s team, and then spotted by Southampton FC, who signed him firstly, as amateur and then a professional. All of which became the basis for his footballing career with Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and England, then extraordinary managerial career firstly with Ipswich Town which led to winning the First Division Championship (now Premier League) and the ultimate international prize of winning the World Cup with England in 1966.

Grant Bage (Centre) with the Army FA Team. Source: Author’s Collection

The talk was supported with a small temporary exhibition which showcased artefacts from the Army FA collection as well as other collections the National Army Museum holds, as well as a pop-up banner exhibition that set out the historical timeline of the Army FA and Army Football from its inception in 1888 to the current day and how the Army influenced the 1966 World Cup winning squad, by showing how a significant number of the management, coaching and playing squad had either served in World War Two or had undertaken National Service. This exhibition certainly brought to the fore unknown information for the appreciative and wide-ranging audience that attended the event.

Army FA Timeline History Exhibition Banners. Source: Author’s Collection

Biography

Alex Alexandrou is Co-Founder and Chair of the Football and War Network