England World Cup winner Alan Ball has died after suffering a heart attack.

[BGonaSTICK]

The ex-Arsenal and Everton player, who also managed Manchester City, Southampton and Portsmouth, died after collapsing outside his Hampshire home.

Firefighters and officers discovered the 61-year-old's body when they were called to his home in Warsash, at 12.15am.

A police spokesman said Ball had died after trying to tackle a bonfire in his garden. There are no suspicious circumstances to the death, he added.

The marauding midfielder was the youngest member of the country's cup-winning team in 1966.

He earned 72 international caps and scored eight goals during a 10-year England career.

Ball is the second member of the side that beat West Germany 4-2 at Wembley in the 1966 final to pass away.

Captain Bobby Moore died of cancer in 1993.

Ball, a key member of manager Sir Alf Ramsey's 'Wingless Wonders', was awarded an MBE in 2000 for his services to football.

His ex-England team-mate Alan Mullery told Sky News: "He was a loveable, bouncy character. He loved football and just lived football."

Ball began his career at Blackpool and went on to play for Everton, Arsenal and Southampton, before a spell playing in America.

He was part of Everton's 1970 league championship-winning side.

Ball made his England debut in May 1965 in a 1-1 draw with Yugoslavia in Belgrade and also appeared in the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico.

In May 2005, Ball put his World Cup winners' medal and commemorative tournament cap up for auction to raise money for his family. They were sold for £140,000.

Source: Sky News

[fergiz]

Sad news,

I met Jock Wallace and Alan Ball in my local boozer when they were Manager & Assistant Manager with Colchester United.
They were up in Scotland on a pre-season tour and were playing my local (semi-pro) team. Alan ball sat at one end of the bar and big Jock the other and told stories all afternoon and got fed free drink from us locals. Great company, and boy could he sink the haufs.