Irish Examiner View: Greavsie RIP

The funny old game has lost one of it's greatest sons

A big screen pays tribute to former England player Jimmy Greaves, who died at the of 81 on Sunday morning.

For a certain generation Jimmy Greaves was the embodiment of soccer’s transition from a post-war austerity era where the game was played in baggy shorts to a continental obsession to a mainstay of TV and into the worldwide megabucks industry of today. He also happened to be one of its greatest and most elegant goalscorers with a pan-European record which was only surpassed by Cristiano Ronaldo in recent years.

Greaves, an Essex boy who made his reputation in West London, was one of the first to swap the domestic game for Italy alongside other pioneers such as John Charles, Denis Law, Joe Baker and Gerry Hitchens.