England Goalkeeper Gordon Banks and the 1972 Car Crash

On Sunday 22nd October 1972 England and Stoke City goalkeeper Gordon Banks was driving his Ford Consul through Hanchurch in Newcastle Under-Lyme when he was involved in a head-on collision with a van. Roger Peake, a 28-year-old refrigeration engineer, was the van’s driver. Banks’ windscreen shattered. He was showered with flying glass, some of which lodged in his right eye. Peake, his wife and child were trapped inside the van, but fortunately, they suffered no lasting injuries.

After emergency services prised him out his vehicle with a crowbar Banks was taken to North Staffordshire Royal Hospital where he underwent an emergency two-hour operation in an attempt to save his eyesight. ‘The accident is extremely sad for both club and country,’ Stoke chairman Albert Henshall said. ‘Gordon is a gentleman in every way and this is tremendously tragic.’ 33-years-old at the time Banks had signed a contract in March 1972 that would keep him at Stoke until he was 40.

Only the day before the accident Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, watching Banks playing against his side at Anfield, hailed him as ‘Intense and determined, and is possibly the finest goalkeeper the world has ever known.’

Beginning his career with Chesterfield in his teens, Banks combined playing as a part-timer with work as a bricklayer. He did National Service with the Royal Signals in Germany, where he met his wife Ursula. Leicester City signed him for £6,000 in 1959. After over 300 games, and with Peter Shilton…