A Son of the Rock

And now Stan Bowles, the best football player I have seen live,as opposed to on television, has died. He most famously starred for Queen’s Park Rangers, but it was a Carlisle United player that I saw him dominate the midfield in a pre-season friendly against the Sons of the Rock at Boghead in 1972. He just glided over the pitch and past our midfielders as if they weren’t there. It was sublime.

This video kind of speaks for itself in illustrating some of his skills – but it tends to concentrate on him scoring goals. (I note that the person who titled it had a bit of difficulty spelling extraordinaire.)

I see from his biographical information he shared a birthday with me, though he was some years older.

Stanley Bowles: 24/12/1948 – 24/2/2024. So it goes .