Bobby Scarth was the son of the 1950s Spurs forward Jimmy Scarth and made a good impression at the club, despite the fact that he was deaf.
His disability did not hamper his progress from the time he signed as an amateur in 1970-71, a season in which the Juniors reached the South-East Counties Division 2 Cup Final.
The following season, Bobby was made an apprentice professional and was in the side that finished as runners-up in the South-East Counties Division 1. Success followed in 1972-73 with victory in the London FA Youth Cup final and the team also topped the South-East Counties Division 1. It was in this season that he was promoted to the Reserves and made his debut against QPR aged 17.
In his three years coming through the ranks at Tottenham, Bobby played 89 times, scoring ten goals. However, Spurs released him without offering a professional contract in the summer of 1973. bobby thought it was because Tottenham believed that his hearing impairment would hinder his chances of making it at the top level, while others erroneously reported a series of injuries hampered him from showing his true ability.
After leaving Spurs, Scarth went into non-league and played for a series of clubs including Enfield, Walthamstow, Haringey Borough, Boreham Wood, Bishops Stortford, Ware, Hertford Town, Royston Town and Barking.
Moving to Luton Deaf FC,
Bobby helped build the side there and worked in his own
time to promote the
game whenever he could, giving inspiration to deaf
players around the world.
Bobby was regularly called upon to play in early
incarnations of the Spurs Legends team in the late 1990s
through to 2010, alongside Martin Chivers, the
late Jimmy Neighbour, Phil Beal and Ralph Coates.
When Chivers retired as the Legends organiser, Bobby
only played one more game. Scarth then was a member of the Celebrity United charity team which
featured his former Spurs youth team-mate Roger Gibbins,
playing from 2007-2009. Run by former Watford and
England striker Luther Blissett, Bobby was in the side
for three years and won man of the match awards.
Still following the progress of the club, Bobby sometimes watches the games from the Legends lounge in the East Stand and still fit, is keen to play charity matches.
Bobby was very proud to be mentioned in the seminal "behind the scenes" football book, "The Glory Game" written about Spurs by Hunter Davies between 1970 and 1972 and published in 1972.