Too many years have passed since 1966 but for football fans in England, that year came to a climax on Saturday 30th July, the day on which England won the World Cup. As a young boy living in England at that time, that World Cup held special memories for me, memories that will remain with me forever.
At the time I was a football mad 12 year old Manchester United supporter. In late 1965 my father, then a football writer with the News of the World, inexplicably decided we should move from our comfortable home, 20 minutes drive from Old Trafford to a small town 40 miles away called Thornton Cleveleys. Dad chose to purchase a newsagency in this little village which was certainly not a centre of high commerce in Lancashire. The rationale for the unexpected newsagency venture was never shared with our mum Rose or the 7 children. We can only assume that Dad thought that he would enjoy getting up at 4.30 a.m. every morning, work 14 hour days and deliver newspapers in the wind, rain and snow. This business venture would not be provident for me on World Cup Final day 30th July 1966
Football was in my father’s blood and despite the business purchase he would continue to work as a freelance football writer in conjunction with selling newspapers and 20 packs of Woodbine cigarettes. Of course Dad was in the press box at Wembley Stadium on that special day in July 1966 to watch the historic match. It was a match of such footballing significance that England had never before contested nor has since. On that day, others would be left to manage the demands of the Thornton Cleveleys newsagency.
By early 1966, I was coming to grips with our move from Manchester, accepting that my Old Trafford visits would be more infrequent in the future. Our new home did however have some advantages for a United fan, as manager Matt (later to be Sir Matt) Busby frequently used to take his squad to nearby Blackpool, to prepare for games. The team would stay at the Norbreck Hotel on the beachfront and my friends and I could sit and watch United training on the lawns of the hotel. Soon to be England World Cup heroes, Bobby Charlton and Nobby Stiles, would be playing 5 a side games only metres from where we would be sitting and interaction between players and onlookers was quite common. What a stark contrast with 2013 when spectators were charged $15 at Allianz Stadium Sydney, to watch from a distance, the same club train. But I digress.
The 1966 World Cup drama unfolded before a ball had been kicked with the cup, then known as the Jules Rimet trophy being stolen from it’s temporary home in London. It was later found wrapped in newspaper in a London suburban garden, by a collie dog called Pickles. The portents were there for what was not going to be an ordinary World Cup competition.
For English football fans, the cup opened with much expectation, possibly too much as England were kept scoreless against Uruguay. For a Manchester United fan however, it was inevitable that Bobby Charlton would light the fuse on England’s road to World Cup glory. In England’s second group match against Mexico, a typical Charlton burst from inside his own half ended with a 25 metre piledriver into the Mexican net. It was a wonderful goal and despite an unimpressive win over France in their final group match, England qualified for the quarter finals.
The 1966 World Cup drama unfolded before a ball had been kicked with the cup, then known as the Jules Rimet trophy being stolen from it’s temporary home in London. It was later found wrapped in newspaper in a London suburban garden, by a collie dog called Pickles. The portents were there for what was not going to be an ordinary World Cup competition.
For English football fans, the cup opened with much expectation, possibly too much as England were kept scoreless against Uruguay. For a Manchester United fan however, it was inevitable that Bobby Charlton would light the fuse on England’s road to World Cup glory. In England’s second group match against Mexico, a typical Charlton burst from inside his own half ended with a 25 metre piledriver into the Mexican net. It was a wonderful goal and despite an unimpressive win over France in their final group match, England qualified for the quarter finals.
The Brazilians came to England as favourites. My father who in Sweden and Chile had seen Brazil’s previous World Cup victories, rated Pele, Garrincha and company very highly. Unfortunately aside from a magnificent Garrincha free kick scored against Bulgaria, the Samba Boys struggled. Pele particularly, suffered brutal treatment from the Bulgarians and Portugese and as in Chile in 1962 he was on the peripheral for the tournament.
I attended one match in the tournament, a group game at Old Trafford. Eusebio da Silva Ferreira the greatest player to have come out of the African continent, scored for Portugal in a 3-0 victory over Bulgaria. That Lancashire based group witnessed one of the best ever world cup matches when Hungary beat Brazil 3-1 to knock out the favourites. I clearly remember watching on black and white television, the Hungarian’s second goal – a stunning volley by Janos Farkas after Florein Albert and Ferenc Bene combined beautifully. This will go down as one of world cup’s greatest ever goals.
My World Cup memories include a slight North Korean player named Pak Doo Ik scoring the only goal of the game at Middlesborough to send the Italians packing. Italy, boasting the legendary names Mazzola, Rivera and Facchetti were outplayed by the marauding North Koreans who could have scored three that day. The English, at that time not big fans of Italian football, were only too happy to report on the tomato pelting The Azzurri faced upon their return to Italy.
The West Germans and the Argentinians cruised through their groups, the Germans inspired by Franz Beckenbauer, yet to be crowned Der Kaiser. When the Argentine captain Antonio Rattin was sent off (somewhat harshly I can say 47 years later ) in the quarter final against England at Wembley, relations between the two nations sunk to depths only surpassed by the Falklands War, many years later. England manager Alf Ramsey branded the Argentine players “animals” and Ramsey physically intervened to stop players exchanging shirts at full time.
Portugal’s amazing 5-3 quarter final victory over North Korea and four Eusebio goals meant that England would have to face the in form Portugese in the semi final. There was minor controversy when the game was conveniently (for England) switched from provincial Goodison Park to Wembley. England had played all their games at Wembley but if this move had upset the Portugese (which certainly it had), the English press weren’t reporting it. Once again Manchester United’s Bobby Charlton was the matchwinner scoring both goals in the semi final as England beat Portugal by the odd goal in three. We all looked forward to Saturday 30th July 1966 and the final against West Germany.
I had been brought up on boy’s magazines, The Victor and The Rover, where invariably the cover story centred around some act of heroism by a British soldier almost always against the Germans in World Wars 1 or 2. Being an avid and gullible reader, I had the utmost confidence that, as in the comic books, England would beat West Germany to win the World Cup final just because we were the “good guys”. That the home country were to wear Manchester United red in the final was one good reason to expect an England win.
In July 1966 The Kinks were on top of the pop charts with Sunny Afternoon but on the Saturday morning of the match, there had been drenching rain at the Empire Stadium in London. By midday however the rain had cleared for what all England hoped would be a very sunny afternoon.
Helmut Haller, a dynamic blonde striker opened the scoring for the Germans after 12 minutes. England equalized soon after through Geoff Hurst, the find of the tournament and when his West Ham colleague Martin Peters put England ahead in the 78th minute, all of England sensed our time had come for football glory. The 90th minute and West Germany are awarded a free kick on the edge of the penalty box. When the ball is deflected more than once and ends up within the outstretched foot of Wolfgang Weber, we prayed for a miracle but goalkeeper Gordon Banks was beaten. It was 2-2 and extra time beckoned.
When Weber slid home this agonising, 90th minute equalizer at Wembley Stadium on 30th July 1966, forcing the World Cup Final to extra time, not one of the six regular paper boys fronted to the Thornton Cleveley’s newsagency to deliver the Saturday afternoon papers. Our mother Rose said to big sister Theresa and I “the papers must go out – off you go”. Despite my pleas, I missed that historic half an hour of football.
I’m on my Raleigh pushbike and delivering newspapers like a paper boy possessed. Ninety eight minutes into the match and the redheaded Alan Ball makes another exhaustive run down the right touchline and cuts the ball back. Geoff Hurst kills the ball and crashes a shot against the underside of the crossbar. Surely the ball was over the line. “No” say the Germans. Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst consults with his Russian linesman and without hesitation the linesman nods in the affirmative and the goal is awarded. It’s 3-2 and the German players are distraught – England euphoric. To this day the Germans won’t accept that this third goal was legitimate
West Germany continues to press for an equalizer then Bobby Moore releases Geoff Hurst into the West German half. Alan Ball, socks around his ankles, is away to Hurst’s right but Hurst ploughs ahead towards the West German penalty area. Spectators are already on the pitch when the BBC’s Kenneth Wolstenholme utters possibly the best known words in the history of football commentary “some people are on the pitch. They think it’s all over – it is now” as Geoff Hurst smashes the ball past the weary Hans Tilkowski. Jubilation for England – utter despair for the courageous West German team.
As a music lover, I consider myself blessed to have been brought up in England in the swinging sixties but also as a football fan, I could have wished for nothing better than to witness the country of my birth, England win the World Cup in my homeland.
England had won the World Cup, my parent’s customers got their newspapers and I got paid two shillings for the paper round. Even Pickles the collie dog had reason to be happy, being invited to the official England World Cup celebrations. Of course I did eventually get to see that magical thirty minutes of extra time and have relived the tournament many times, courtesy of the wonderful documentary “Goal”
As a music lover, I consider myself blessed to have been brought up in England in the swinging sixties but also as a football fan, I could have wished for nothing better than to witness the country of my birth, England win the World Cup in my homeland
A World Cup win for Australia ? More on that later
David Jack
Copyright 2014
David Jack 