Robert Walker was a Scottish professional footballer, who played for Heart of Midlothian and Scotland.
During Hearts’ first overseas tour to Norway in May 1912, King Haakon of Norway attended one of the games to specifically see Walker play.
Walker became a Hearts director in 1920. He died at the age of 51 in August 1930. Huge crowds lined the funeral route and thousands stood round his graveside. His obituary in The Scotsman stated “The Hearts never had a more brilliant forward than Walker. He was amazingly clever in manipulating the ball, and , it was on skill alone that he relied, for he was never favoured with physique. With the ball at his feet he could turn on his course elusively, and in such little space, that he could often put a whole defence out of position with his deft movement.”
The Football Encyclopaedia from 1934, edited by Frank Johnston, referred to him simply as “Bobby Walker, the greatest natural footballer who ever played.”
29 caps – Amassed at a time when Scotland only played three games a year, Walker was the most capped Scotland player for 20 years and Hearts’ most-capped player for the best part of 100 years.
A book telling his story has also been published.