Iconic images: The man who 'deserved all 11 medals'
Throughout LFC's 125th anniversary year, Liverpoolfc.com will retrace the club's history through the striking images that plot a fascinating journey.
Fourth in the series is a photograph of a bona-fide Liverpool legend who went above and beyond the call of duty to help the club achieve a landmark trophy win...
It's perhaps easy to forget now, in these days of 18-man matchday squads, that there was a time when the rules of the game did not permit substitutions.
Footballers who picked up an injury during a game had a choice to make: come off and leave your team a man down, or accept the health risks - both short and long-term - involved in playing on through the pain.
For Gerry Byrne, in the 1965 FA Cup final, the decision was simple.
"Gerry had clattered into the chunky Bobby Collins. As soon as I reached him I knew that my initial touchline diagnosis had been painfully accurate. He had broken his collarbone," then-Liverpool physio Bob Paisley recalls, in his 1990 book 'My 50 Golden Reds'.
Byrne had indeed broken his collarbone. The full-back's early collision with opposing captain Collins threatened to derail Liverpool's hopes of landing their first FA Cup against a formidable Leeds United team.
Paisley picks up the story.
"My first reaction should have been to wave to the bench to call for a stretcher. But Gerry got in first. Looking up at me he pleaded: 'Don't tell anyone!' I asked: 'Do you know it's broken?' Gerry knew, but still insisted on playing on through the remaining 87 minutes and, as it happened, another half-hour of extra-time. He told me defiantly: 'I can get by.'"
Not only did Byrne 'get by', not only did he carry out his defensive duties with typical diligence and grit for another 117 minutes on the Wembley turf, he also, for good measure, provided the cross for Roger Hunt to score the opening goal of the game three minutes into extra-time.
Liverpool went on to win 2-1. The FA Cup was finally added to Anfield's trophy cabinet, and the iconic image above shows Byrne, arm in sling, and Gordon Milne proudly sharing the spoils with the Kop.
Speaking after Byrne's death in November 2015, the Reds' record appearance holder Ian Callaghan - who played in the 1965 final - said: "I was listening to a tape recently about the 1965 final and on it Bill Shankly said Gerry Byrne should have got all 11 medals for what he did.
"Bill was saying Gerry was one of the best players he had. And he was."
Byrne was a Scouser who played 333 times for Liverpool. He won league titles and was part of England's 1966 World Cup-winning squad.
But he'll forever be remembered for his heroism on Saturday May 1, 1965.
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