On This Day – 30th July
It would almost be unpatriotic for me not to include the 1966 World Cup Final as the topic for today’s ‘On This Day’! For that reason alone, I will use it as the subject matter for today’s article.It is exactly 44 year to the day since Bobby Moore climbed the 39 steps to the Royal Box to lift the Jules Rimet trophy.
We all know the score and who won but there is still so much more about the game itself.
There are so many stories from the day. England’s third goal that is still debated about to this day; did the ball entirely cross the line or not?
Franz Beckenbauer, one of the West German’s who played in the Final, remains adamant that the game should have finished 2-2. He is certain that the ball never crossed the line and he also believes that the referee should never have given England’s fourth goal as some England fans had crept onto the pitch to celebrate before the final whistle.
Other stories such as Germany’s Helmut Haller stealing the match ball before hat-trick hero Geoff Hurst could get his hands on it and Alf Ramsey telling the England players that they have won the game once, now it’s time to do it again before extra time have all gone down in football folklore.
The victorious England team can be reeled off by most England fans who were old enough to remember it.
Gordon Banks, George Cohen, Jack Charlton, Bobby Moore, Ray Wilson, Nobby Stiles, Alan Ball, Bobby Charlton, Martin Peters,Geoff Hurst, Roger Hunt.
All heroes in their own right and the team can be recited by many fans as easily as naming the colours of the rainbow or letters of the alphabet!
Those who watched the game will always be able to say where they were when England won their only major trophy to date. My Dad was on a boat to Australia and listened to the game on a radio from his bed on the sick bay.
I don’t need to write what happened that day as every football fan knows already. As an Englishman though, I feel obliged to write that the final score was England 4 West Germany 2!
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