He was never remotely in the class of Francisco Gento, Real Madrid's “El Supersonico”, but not for nothing was the dashing Ulsterman Bobby Braithwaite dubbed “The Irish Gento” during his early-1960s prime with Linfield in his hometown of Belfast.
The speedy Spaniard shone among some of the finest footballers who ever lived, but, in his unassuming way, Braithwaite was equally influential for the Blues as they lifted three Irish League titles and three Irish Cups between 1958-59 and 1962-63. Best of all was in 1961-62 when Linfield completed their celebrated clean sweep of seven available trophies, with the pacy, delightfully deft left winger contributing a dozen goals in his 50 games that term.
Signed from Crusaders as an 18-year-old in 1957, having already represented his country at schoolboy, youth and adult amateur level, Braithwaite was quick to make an impact with Linfield, and also excelled for the Irish league. In 1962 he collected the first of his ten full international caps, a total that would surely have been higher but for injury problems.
He was inevitably targeted by several English clubs, and was sold to Second Division Middlesbrough for £10,000 in the summer of 1963, much enthused by the ambitious plans of manager Raich Carter.
He made a good start at Ayresome Park, but his momentum was halted by a leg-break – and Carter's hopes for promotion failed to materialise over the next three campaigns. Indeed, Boro were demoted in 1966 and by the time of their return a year later, Braithwaite had left for South Africa, where he ended his playing days with Durban City and Bloemfontein City.
Robert Munn Braithwaite, footballer: born Belfast 24 February 1937; died South Africa 14 October 2015.
