Willie Woodburn (8 August 1919 – 2 December 2001) was a true colossus in the Scottish game and one of the finest centre-halves to play for Rangers and Scotland.  Good in the air, good on the ground, Woodburn was capped twenty-four times for Scotland, played 325 games for Rangers and won every domestic honour with the Light Blues.   Woodburn, part of the 'Iron Curtain' defence of the late 1940s and early 1950s, was a member of the first Rangers team to win the domestic treble, in 1948/49. Nicknamed 'Big Ben', he collected four Scottish championship medals, four Scottish Cups and two League Cups in an illustrious career at Ibrox. Woodburn was a rugged tackler and immaculate passer of the ball - had many brushes with soccer authority due to an all consuming desire for Rangers to win. He would castigate referees and his own players for what he considered inexcusable mistakes. He was sent off five times in his career and sadly is best remebered as the player whose career was prematurely ended when the SFA imposed a unique life ban in 1954.  Early in his career Woodburn carved a reputation for himself for hotheadedness despite his skills, which won him the accolade of 'greatest centre-half in the world'.  In 1947 he received a 14 day ban for a "violent exchange" with Motherwell's Dave Mathie, then in 1953 he punched the Clyde striker Billy McPhail, which earned a 21-day ban. Later that year, Woodburn was sent off for retaliation in a match with Stirling Albion and when the clubs met again, the following season, in a League Cup tie at Ibrox on 28 August 1954. Woodburn, playing with a knee injury, took exception to a bad foul and retaliated by headbutting a Stirling player. The SFA convened a disciplinary hearing the following month, which lasted just four minutes, and Woodburn was suspended for life. The SFA lifted the suspension three years later but, at 38, Woodburn never returned to football, his career forever tarnished by the ban.  He remains, neverthless, an iconic figure at Ibrox Park to this day. Shortly before his ban, Woodburn who would follow a lengthy career in journalism, set out his football philosphy. "Let us play football as we like it," he declared. "The Scottish fan wants to see some physical contact now and again, a bit of bite, thrills, spills and man-to-man stuff.  And although I shouldn't stick my nerk out in saying it, the Scottish fan would be bored in a perfect football world of no blunders". He died in November 2001 at the age of 82.