Five times fathers and sons shared a football pitch: Ashley and Tyler Young set to play in FA Cup tie
Five times fathers and sons shared a football pitch: Ashley and Tyler Young set to play in FA Cup tie
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The FA Cup is famous for throwing up magic but Thursday’s otherwise run-of-the-mill clash between Everton and Peterborough could present the rarest of occurrences: a father and son on the same pitch. The fixture at Goodison Park has the potential to see the Toffees’ 39-year-old full-back Ashley Young take on his 18-year-old son, Tyler.
He later said: “I saw that we’d been drawn against Peterborough and, like I said for years, if there was any way that we could play against each other or play with each other, it would be the pinnacle of my career. It would eclipse everything I’ve done.”.
The occasion would be immense for the Youngs but it is not totally without precedent. Here are a few times when sons have joined their dads on the professional field. However, with all of these examples they were – unlike the Youngs – on the same team.
George Eastham Jr started a career that saw him play for Arsenal by turning out for Northern Irish team Ards. From 1953 to 1956, his father – also George – made appearances as well as being a player-manager. Arsenal’s captain from 1963-1966, Eastham Jr was also part of the 1966 World Cup-winning England squad.
Sadly, he died at the end of December. Former Celtic and Barcelona striker Larsson was known to come out of retirement on occasion to drop down the divisions in his native Sweden. In 2013, he answered an SOS call during an injury crisis to play alongside his son, Jordan, who was starting his career with Högaborgs.
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