Iconic Moments in Football No.25
England’s third goal – World Cup Final 1966
This goal is still argued about to this day and we are still no closer to knowing whether the ball did entirely cross the line on that hot July afternoon back in 1966.
Alan Ball, England’s youngest player at only 21 years of age, took the ball down the right wing before whipping a cross in to the near post. Geoff Hurst was facing Ball and trapped the cross well before turning his marker.
In an instant, Hurst fired a shot at goal. Hans Tilkowski in the West Germany goal couldn’t get near it and the ball cannoned off the underside of the crossbar. Where the ball ended up next is hotly disputed to this day.
As the ball came down off the crossbar, it bounced on or just over the goal-line. Hurt’s strike partner Roger Hunt ran in and may have got to the ball to score himself. Instead of trying to score himself, Hunt raised his arms above his head and celebrated as if Hurst had scored.
There was an almighty confusion as players from both sides crowded the referee. West German players who were protested, claiming that the ball didn’t cross the line. England players argued that Hurst’s effort had gone in. Referee Gottfried Dienst decided to go and consult his linesman Tofiq Bahramov who stood over on the side where Alan Ball had made the cross from to see if he had a better view.
After a brief exchange, Bahramov indicated that he felt the ball had crossed the line and Dienst awarded the goal. The majority of the 97,000 crowd celebrated as West German players continued to argue that the ball hadn’t entirely crossed the line.
Bakhramov became a celebrity in his native Azerbaijan as a result of major part to play 1966 World Cup Final and the Azerbaijan National Stadium is now named after him in his honour. He would go on to become known as the “Russian Linesman” and gained as much fame as any of the England players in the Final. Without his confirmation that Hurst had scored, the whole game could have changed.
Geoff Hurst has always maintained that the ball crossed the line. His justification is that as Roger Hunt didn’t try to score himself and chose to celebrate and that is all he needs as proof that it was a goal.
Franz Beckenbauer (the West German captain that day) raised an interesting point when asked about the 1966 Final, saying that the game should have really ended 2-2. His argument was that this goal never crossed the line and should never have been given. He also argued that Geoff Hurst’s third goal in the last seconds of extra-time should not have been awarded as there were some England fans on the pitch at the time. These fans were mentioned in the now-famous commentary of England’s fourth goal by the BBC’s Kenneth Wolstenholme who came up with the immortal words “There’s some people on the pitch, they think it’s all over…..it is now!”
Whether the ball did or did not cross the line, it still remains one of the most iconic moments in World Cup history.
About Author
