Ralph Banks was an English footballer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

.

He played for Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers F.C.

Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....

 from 1940 to 1954, although for the first years of his career he fought in the second world war

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and, after the cessation of hostilities, was called up for National service

National service

National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...

. He played over a hundred games for the club, mostly at left back, and came up against Stanley Matthews

Stanley Matthews

Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE was an English footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the English game, he is the only player to have been knighted while still playing, as well as being the first winner of both the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers'...

 in the 1953 FA Cup Final, which turned out to be his last game for the club. After leaving Bolton, he played for a season and a half at Aldershot

Aldershot F.C.

Aldershot Football Club was an English Football League club, which was wound up in the High Court in March 1992. They became the first Football League club since Accrington Stanley to resign from the League during the course of a season. The club was nicknamed the Shots for both the last syllable...

 before retiring.

Banks' younger brother Tommy Banks

Tommy Banks (footballer)

Thomas Banks Thomas Banks Thomas Banks (born 10 November 1929 at Farnworth, Bolton is a retired English footballer.He played for Bolton Wanderers from 1947 to 1961, and six matches for the England national football team in 1958, including all four matches in the 1958 FIFA World Cup...

 also played for Bolton Wanderers. Ralph Banks died in Bolton

Bolton

Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...

in 1993.