Bobby Moore's World Cup winning shirt has 'gone missing'
EXCLUSIVE Bobby Moore’s 1966 World Cup winning shirt has ‘gone missing’: England hero’s ex-wife last saw it in her attic… so how did a mystery ‘private buyer’ get their hands on it at auction?
- For the late England hero’s baffled family, there is a whiff of foul play
- Click here to read our full investigation exclusively on The Mail+
- Click here to read Bobby’s friend Jeff Powell on the mystery of the 1966 shirt
It is the defining symbol of England’s greatest football triumph – but World Cup captain Bobby Moore’s famous red shirt has gone missing.
Mystery surrounds its whereabouts 57 years after he hoisted the Jules Rimet trophy at Wembley. And for the football legend’s baffled family, there is a whiff of foul play.
The last time ex-wife Tina saw the 1966 red number six strip, it was in her attic. To her shock, it has now cropped up in the hands of an unknown private buyer at an auction. It could fetch millions of pounds.
Today the Mail can reveal the disturbing riddle that has bewildered Moore’s family, and prompted them to issue a heartfelt plea to recover the shirt.
Bobby Moore holds the Jules Rimet trophy aloft after England win the 1966 World Cup final against West Germany at Wembley
Sir Bobby’s first wife Tina, left, and daughter Roberta are appealing for the return of the shirt
Sir Bobby’s 1966 shirt was kept in the loft of his mansion in Chigwell, Essex
Click here to read our full investigation into what happened to Bobby Moore’s iconic shirt only on The Mail+
Mrs Moore, his wife of 24 years, said: ‘I would really love to get that shirt back where it belongs – with me, with my family, and with the nation, for everyone to have a chance to look at it and marvel at Bobby’s achievement.’
They last saw the shirt decades ago. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was kept folded in a leather bag in the attic of the house Tina and Bobby shared in Chigwell, Essex.
Their daughter Roberta remembers seeing it when they went up into the attic to fetch Christmas decorations.
When Moore was dying of cancer in 1992, his daughter brought his cherished trophies, medals and caps to his home so he could hold them for a final time.
But the famous red shirt was not among the possessions – nor an almost equally treasured yellow Brazil shirt that Moore had swapped with his rival Pele at the 1970 World Cup.
Also missing is the shirt given to Moore by Brazil star Pele after an epic encounter in 1970
Click here to read Jeff Powell on the night his friend Bobby nipped upstairs and came down holding THAT shirt – only on The Mail+
For years afterwards, Mrs Moore hunted for the missing shirts in vain. She simply does not know how they vanished.
Then in 2021 the family was astonished to be phoned by the Football Association and told: ‘Your father’s shirt has been found.’
Even more mysteriously, the FA revealed it was now ‘in the hands of a private buyer’, recalls Roberta.
There is no suggestion the current holder has done anything wrong. The shirt could have changed hands many times.
She said: ‘It was a huge shock and at first, totally baffling. The shirt belongs to my mother and she had been looking for it for years. Now out of the blue, they were telling us about some private buyer, and it had been “found”?’
Stunned by the news, Roberta and her mother sought more details about where the shirt had been – and where it was now.
The statue of Bobby Moore outside Wembley stadium – the site of his 1966 triumph
Roberta, 58, added: ‘It was all very strange. The information was vague. The shirt had been “found at a general auction of an unknown deceased person”. It was hard to comprehend – how does the shirt go from being tucked in a bag in my mother’s attic to an auction of a deceased person?’
And as for who has the shirt now, the Moores say they were told: ‘They asked to remain anonymous.’
In a further twist, the current holder of the shirt apparently got ‘spooked’ by all the attention.
The Moores are adamant that whatever the circumstances in which the person bought the shirt, it belongs to Tina. When Bobby divorced Tina in 1986 – and remarried Stephanie Parlane in 1991 shortly before his death in 1993 – his football memorabilia was given to Tina in the settlement.
Moore kissing Tina during a banquet in honour of the 1966 World Cup squad
Today the family are making a passionate plea to the holder of the shirt to come forward.
Mrs Moore, 79, said: ‘If there is somebody out there who has the shirt, I appeal for them to come to us, and explain how they came about it.
‘I’m sure it’s been done in very good faith, but I don’t think the people or this person are aware of what’s happened.
‘I would just love to be able to talk to them and find out. But more than anything, I just want to get back the shirt which Bobby gave to me and entrusted to me. I owe it to him and the family to get it back. That’s my wish.’
The Football Association does not know who has the shirt, nor how it came to leave the possession of the Moore family.
But an FA spokesman said: ‘Bobby Moore is an England hero. It would be wonderful if there was a way of finding his historic World Cup winning shirt and putting it on display for the nation.’
Do YOU know who has Bobby’s missing shirt? Call the Mail on 0203 615 1062 or the Mail on Sunday on 0203 615 2913 or email [email protected]
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