Gloucester Rugby pay tribute to club legend, Mickey 'The General' Booth
He's passed away at the age of 86
Gloucester Rugby say they're 'saddened' to hear the passing of club legend, Mickey 'The General' Booth.
He played 475 times for Gloucester in the 1950s, 60s and 70s - ending his career at Twickenham with the 1972 knock-out cup victory over Moseley.
Together with outside half Terry Hopson, Booth formed one of the outstanding half-back partnerships in club rugby.
The club have called him a 'wily tactician who could control a game from an early age', with 'sniping runs', 'sound tactical kicking' and 'fine service', which they say marked him out as one of the very best scrum halves of his generation.
His 41 drop goals are also a club record.
He was born in Kingsholm 'about 70 yards from the corner flag' back in December 1938, and later went on to play schools rugby for Gloucestershire and the South West and in March 1954, played for the Probables in the final England Schools trial at Kingsholm.
When he left school he went to play for the newly-formed Longlevens club and then for Spartans before he was invited by Roy Sutton, who was on the selection committee, to join Gloucester early in the 1956-57 season.
On return from National Service in 1962, Mickey Booth was elected Gloucester captain for the first time.
Terry Hopson said: “Mickey Booth…a very very good player…good at protecting an outside half…he was deadly accurate with his passing…he was an immaculate chip kicker…if his pack wasn’t going forward, he’d make sure it was… he’d do little sniping breaks to break the game up… he could win a game without an outside half.”