BOB WILLIS; VERY MUCH A CASUAL CORINTHIAN

Bob Willis died on December 4th at the age of 70, having been suffering the effects of Prostate Cancer. I know so many males who have or had this disease, the more WE can make people aware of it and make men get tested, by arranging a simple blood test at the local doctors, before it is too late, the better! You don't have to be OLD!

1981 was Bob's big moment, we know what that was all about. He played cricket with dignity and much success for England and the MCC, for Surrey, the county of his school hood, Warwickshire and Northern Transvaal. He also "starred" as a pundit.

Robert George (Dylan) Willis MBE was born in Sunderland on May 30th 1949. He acquired the Dylan "handle" by deed poll when he was a teenager. Can't think why??!!

The youngest of three, his family moved to Manchester where he became obsessed with Bert Trautman of Manchester City, a goalkeeper. His father was a journalist and the "pundit spirit" was in Bob's blood.

The Willis family moved from the North-east to Surrey, to the village of Stoke d'Abernon near Guildford, and he went to the Royal Grammar School, having passed the entrance exams. The school had a good reputation for sport but played rugby as a main winter sport, which he hated. 
As well as school cricket, he played for the local village team and won a place in Surrey Schools' squad and the Surrey Young Cricketers. After O Levels and not too successful A levels he joined the Surrey "groundstaff" at £12.50 per week. His first team debut included a match against Yorkshire at Scarborough and later bowling out Garfield Sobers at Trent Bridge v Notts.

In the winter Bob played football, in goal (he was very tall) for his local club, Guildford City, in the Southern League as it was, and in the old Isthmian League, for the famous amateurs, The Corinthian-Casuals FC.
In less competitive games, when he was a little older, he played for the Casuals' Schools' XI, a team that visited schools, like mine at Charterhouse, promoting Soccer to the school's 1st XI, showing them how to play the game in the right manner! TV pundit Martin Tyler would have joined him in the same team, along with a number of other celebs.
http://www.corinthian-casuals.com/schools-xi.html
The "historic" photograph shows the Casuals Schools XI playing a match on Big Ground at Charterhouse against the school in the 1950s.

You should look up the BT Sports film about the Corinthian-Casuals "Brothers in  Football". Needless to say the C-CFC founded the famous Corinthians Club of Brazil.