38 Facts About Ivor Allchurch

Ivor John Allchurch was a Welsh professional footballer who played as an inside forward.

Ivor Allchurch attracted attention from numerous clubs during his early years with Swansea, but chose to remain with the club until the age of 28, when he joined First Division side Newcastle United.

Ivor Allchurch jointly held the record number of goals scored for Wales, along with Trevor Ford, 23, which was eventually broken by Ian Rush.

Ivor Allchurch's talents were more widely recognised after his performance for Wales during the 1958 FIFA World Cup, in which he scored twice and helped them to reach the quarter-finals.

Ivor Allchurch's brother Len was a footballer and the pair played alongside each other for Wales on several occasions.

Ivor John Allchurch was born on Waun-wen Road in Swansea on 16 October 1929.

Ivor Allchurch's father had worked as a banksman in Dudley but found employment in Swansea as a furnace man.

Ivor Allchurch was the sixth of seven children, with two sisters and four brothers, who grew up in a three bedroomed house on Landeg Street in Plasmarl.

Ivor Allchurch instead took up work as a porter in a local fish market, after noticing that the younger boys working there were frequently allowed early finishes during winter time due to a lack of stock in wartime which allowed them to play football on a regular basis.

The job allowed him to supplement his income as each worker was allowed to take any remaining stock to sell of their own accord once a week, a task that Ivor Allchurch would undertake with his brother Len.

Ivor Allchurch's brothers were keen footballers, Charlie and Arthur both played football in local leagues, Arthur represented Wales at amateur level and Len played professionally for Swansea Town, Sheffield United and Stockport County as well as representing Wales.

Ivor Allchurch was playing local youth football at under-18 Cwm Level Park when he was spotted by Joe Sykes, a scout who worked for Swansea Town under the management of Haydn Green.

In 1948, when he turned 18, Ivor Allchurch was called up to start his National Service and enlisted as a gunner in the British Army.

Ivor Allchurch returned to Swansea in 1949, where manager Billy McCandless had already received offers for Allchurch even though he had not made his professional debut.

However, the side struggled to perform in the Second Division, finishing in 18th and 19th positions between 1950 and 1952, and Ivor Allchurch contemplated a move away from Vetch Field after being encouraged by some teammates at international level to move to a First Division side.

Ivor Allchurch was persuaded to remain at the club, encouraged by Sykes and McCandless' belief in a number of local youth players making their way through the Swans setup, including Cliff Jones, Harry Griffiths and Ivor Allchurch's brother Len.

Liverpool chairman Tom Williams and manager Phil Taylor travelled to meet Ivor Allchurch, but were rejected as he wished to move to a team in the First Division.

On 10 October 1958, Ivor Allchurch travelled to Manchester to meet Newcastle manager Charlie Mitten, where he was convinced to join Newcastle, signing his contract on a luggage trolley at Manchester Exchange railway station.

Ivor Allchurch himself submitted another rejected transfer request, this time due to his wish to return to South Wales in order for his wife Esme to be near her family during a new pregnancy following the loss of a child during her previous pregnancy.

Mitten eventually backed down and, following reassurance over his wife's condition, Ivor Allchurch withdrew his transfer request.

Later in the season, following an injury to captain Jimmy Scoular, Ivor Allchurch was elected as the stand in captain by the squad.

Ivor Allchurch later resigned from his position as captain after the Newcastle board again attempted to block his call up to the Welsh national side.

Ivor Allchurch finished as the club's top league scorer, scoring 12 times including a hat-trick against Sunderland in September 1963.

The club's struggles saw George Swindin dismissed as manager and replaced by Jimmy Scoular, who had captained Newcastle during Ivor Allchurch's spell in the North-East.

Ivor Allchurch found Scoular's loud and vocal form of management difficult and in mid-October 1964, found himself dropped from the side after recovering from a brief thigh injury as Scoular favoured playing Peter King in his place.

Murray later commented that he regarded it as a privilege to play alongside Allchurch and Charles and stated "There was a saying among the players, if you are in trouble give it to Ivor".

Ivor Allchurch scored nine times following his return to the first team, including a hat-trick against his former side Swansea which condemned them to relegation into the Third Division, to finish as the club's top goalscorer for the second consecutive season.

The club finished the season in the bottom half of the table but did win the Welsh Cup, defeating Chester City in the final with Ivor Allchurch scoring the winning goal.

Ivor Allchurch remained with the club, entering the final year of his contract, but was switched to playing as a striker by manager Billy Lucas in order to lessen the amount of running required of Allchurch who had turned 38 during the opening months of the season.

Ivor Allchurch retired from professional football as Swansea's all-time record goalscorer.

Ivor Allchurch later spent time playing non-league football with Worcester City and had a spell as player-manager of Haverfordwest County before ending his career at Pontardawe Athletic at the age of 50.

Ivor Allchurch would remain a regular fixture in the Wales side, making a further 26 consecutive appearances for his country after his debut over the following six years, and was part of the squad that qualified for the 1958 FIFA World Cup by defeating Israel in a play-off match, scoring in both legs of the tie.

Ivor Allchurch played his final game for his country against Chile in 1966.

Ivor Allchurch was named BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year in 1962 and, in 1966, he was awarded a Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in recognition of his services to Welsh football.

Ivor Allchurch is a member of the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame and the English Football Hall of Fame having been inducted in 1995 and 2005 respectively.

Ivor Allchurch died on 10 July 1997 at his home aged 67.

Ivor Allchurch's funeral was held at Swansea Crematorium and attracted over 500 people.

In 2005, a life-sized statue of Ivor Allchurch was unveiled outside Swansea's newly opened Liberty Stadium.