Tony Heaney won early representative honours with Hampshire’s National Association of Boys Club and then with England Youth: eight appearances, all of them abroad, often lining up alongside Bobby Moore. An apprentice motor-mechanic when he joined Southampton, he was farmed out to Lymington, when it was effectively the Saints’ “B” team. Progressing to the Reserves, where Don Roper was a “brilliant” mentor, Tony had a while to wait for a first-team game at full-back, as the dependable pairing of Ron Davies and Tommy Traynor seldom missed a game, either in the promotion season of 1959-60 or during the next season in the Second Division. Tony played in the one game that Davies missed in 1960-61 and that was the extent of his League career.

His non-league career culminated in 25 seasons at Netley Sports, while he was working his way up the clerical ladder at the Docks. He retired as Operations Manager, after 43 years there.