Maurice Bunyan

Maurice Bunyan and his footballing brother Charles, Jr., were brought up by their grandparents before they moved to Europe to join their father, Charles, Sr., who was a football coach at Racing Club de Bruxelles. The pair of them both ended up playing for their father’s club. Maurice was twice the top scorer in the Belgian first division before World War I and the first time, in 1912, when he scored 33 goals, he was just 17 years of age and was the youngest top scorer in the Belgian League until 2010 when Romelu Lukaku topped the scoring list at the age of 16 years and 10 months. In just over 150 games for Racing Club, Maurice scored 150 goals.

He was forced to leave Belgium dramatically in 1914 after the German occupation and Bunyan left with his father and brothers Charles and Ernest. Within 36 hours of returning to England the four men signed up to serve their country, with Maurice joining The Royal Marine Light Infantry. Whilst back in England he was on the books of Chelsea when selected for the 1920 Great Britain Olympic squad despite not having won an England amateur cap.

Upon returning to the Continent, Maurice turned professional with the French club Stade Francais and played for them between 1923-27. He later became a qualified referee and coach and was manager of FC Bordeaux between 1945-47. He wrote several coaching manuals and books including Le Football Simplifié in 1934 with a foreword by Jules Rimet.

Bunyan’s father was also a well known footballer who played for many English teams and after a brief spell coaching at Newcastle United he moved to the continent to become the football and cricket coach at Racing Club in 1909. He also had a spell coaching in Sweden and was responsible for preparing the Swedish national side in preparation for the 1912 Olympics before returning to Belgium when he later coached one of the country’s top sides Anderlecht He was their coach when he died in 1922. Charles senior’s greatest claim to fame was on 15 October 1887 when he played in goal for Hyde United in the FA Cup tie against Preston North End which established an English record 26-0 scoreline. Bunyan was Hyde’s man-of-the-match, and had it not been for his performance, the score would have been greater.