IT is 50 years ago to the day that England lifted the World Cup.
Our boys’ 4-2 win over West Germany brought the nation together at a time of economic crisis and industrial strikes.
With a sun-soaked Wembley at its 97,000 capacity, more than 32million Brits tuned in to watch the extra-time triumph on TV.
As for the players, the night before the final they went to the Hendon Odeon in North London to watch comedy Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.
Here, NATASHA HARDING takes extracts from Jonathan Mayo’s book The 1966 World Cup Final Minute by Minute (Short Books) to relive Saturday, July 30, 1966 — the day England conquered the world.
6.15AM: At Wembley, fans have started to arrive. A group who have just been dropped off by a coach look in vain for somewhere to have breakfast before flagging down a milk float.
6.45: Nobby Stiles is getting dressed at team hotel Hendon Hall, North London. Stiles is a Roman Catholic and every day of the World Cup has walked into Golders Green to attend Mass. Although today he is playing in the final, his routine remains the same.
8.40: As shops open up around the country, Saturday staff are hanging bunting in the windows. In the John Collier’s department store in Kingston, Surrey, Malcolm Stock is putting out TVs in a semicircle for any customers who want to watch the final. If he’s lucky, Malcolm thinks, he may get some sales.
11.00: There is a clap of thunder over Wembley and hail starts to fall. Percy Young, the groundsman for more than 30 years, and his five technicians stop marking out the white lines and make their way up into the stands to watch the pitch go whiter and whiter.
I thought it was all over...
By MATTHEW EASTLEY
“SOME people are on the pitch. They think it’s all over. It is now.”
It is the most famous segment of sporting commentary in this nation’s history. As Kenneth Wolstenholme broadcast those words, one of the impromptu invaders was 17-year-old Hertfordshire lad Mike Richardson.
With extra time almost up and the score at 3-2, the referee looked at his watch and put his whistle to his lips. Fans started clambering over the barriers to get on the pitch.
Except Dienst had not blown for full-time but to indicate play could continue, allowing Bobby Moore to make that raking pass to release Geoff Hurst.
Mike, now 67, recalls: “As Hurst scored, I was on the pitch being chased by policemen. I was leapt on by about six of them who shepherded me off and put me back in the crowd. Later I remember walking through Piccadilly Circus, where everyone was partying. It was a fantastic night, the best night of my life.”
It is the most famous segment of sporting commentary in this nation’s history. As Kenneth Wolstenholme, below, broadcast those words, one of the impromptu invaders was 17-year-old Hertfordshire lad Mike Richardson.
With extra time almost up and the score at 3-2, the referee looked at his watch and put his whistle to his lips. Fans started clambering over the barriers to get on the pitch.
Except Dienst had not blown for full-time but to indicate play could continue, allowing Bobby Moore to make that raking pass to release Geoff Hurst.
Mike, now 67, recalls: “As Hurst scored, I was on the pitch being chased by policemen. I was leapt on by about six of them who shepherded me off and put me back in the crowd. Later I remember walking through Piccadilly Circus, where everyone was partying. It was a fantastic night, the best night of my life.”
From 66 on ’66: I Was There, by Matthew Eastley, out now.
1.15PM: Fans on the pavement bang on the sides of the coach carrying the England squad as it pulls away from the hotel. The players have a police motorcycle escort to the stadium.
2.45: “Come on! Come on! Let’s go!” The England dressing-room door opens and the players file out into the tunnel. Bobby Moore is carrying his shorts.
3.00: Kick-off. Referee Gottfried Dienst blows his whistle.
3.02: There is a rush of people in the stands. Most photographers are behind Gordon Banks’ goal, anticipating West Germany will take the lead.
3.07: Stiles chips the ball into the West German penalty area but it goes over Roger Hunt’s head and ’keeper Hans Tilkowski punches it away.
3.10: Jack Charlton plays a tidy one-two with Alan Ball, who passes the ball to Martin Peters on the far side. He shoots. Tilkowski dives across the goal.
3.13: Ray Wilson slides with both feet into West German captain Uwe Seeler’s ankles. Helmut Haller takes the free kick quickly. Siggi Held pauses, looks up and kicks a high, speculative ball into the far side of the England penalty area. “Leave it!” Banks shouts to Wilson. But the left back, under no threat from any German attacker, heads it weakly down to the feet of Haller, who controls it neatly and with his right foot sends it low into the far left-hand corner of the net.
ENGLAND 0 WEST GERMANY 1
3.18: Bobby Charlton skips over a challenge from Franz Beckenbauer and passes to Moore, whose heel is clipped by Wolfgang Overath. The England captain is brought down 15 yards outside the German penalty area. He picks himself up and sees Geoff Hurst unmarked in front of goal. Hurst knows exactly what Moore is going to do as the skipper kicks a high, 40-yard ball. Hurst runs and heads it sweetly into the net. A stunned Tilkowski stands behind the line, pointing at the spot where Hurst had been seconds before.
ENGLAND 1 WEST GERMANY 1
3.29: Despite being stopped for speeding on the M1 on the way to Wembley, Manchester United’s George Best and Manchester City’s Mike Summerbee made it in time. They are in the crowd, sitting on benches close to the pitch, on the opposite side to the royal box.
3.30: Ball is furious. Held grabbed his shirt – but referee Dienst has given the free kick to West Germany.
3.33: About five yards into his own half, George Cohen sends over a perfect ball for Hurst, who heads it towards the goal. Tilkowski stops it – but can’t hold on. The Englishman gets the rebound and sends the ball across the area – but there’s no one waiting.
3.45: Dienst blows his whistle for the end of the first half. Some fans are making a dash for the toilets. Ten minutes is very little time to get there and back. There is an accepted practice of urinating where you are, with cries of, “Watch out, chum!”
3.47: In the England dressing room the players are slumped on the benches. Manager Alf Ramsey is full of words of encouragement. He doesn’t mention Haller’s goal.
3.54: It’s raining as the 22 players get in position. England kick off the second half.
4.05: About 80,000 people shout “handball!”. The England supporters reckon Helmut Haller handled the ball. Referee Dienst signals play-on.
4.15: Outside the German penalty area, Moore quickly takes a free kick. Hurst is blocked but Jack Charlton is free to jump and he heads the ball towards goal. It’s wide.
4.24: It’s a corner. Seeler and Peters jump for Held’s cross. Peters jumps higher. The ball bounces once in front of Beckenbauer, who thumps it high over Jack Charlton and the England goal.
4.27: Ball pauses by the corner flag. With his head down, he strikes. Two German defenders jump for the ball. It falls to Hurst, who sends the ball one way and then the other to fool Seeler. Peters and Hunt move away to keep onside. Hurst shoots with his right foot. Horst-Dieter Höttges slips as he clears the ball. It spins into the air behind him and in front of Peters, six yards from the goal line. He flashes a look to check he’s onside then volleys the ball into the back of the net with his right foot.
ENGLAND 2 WEST GERMANY 1
Peters runs with his arms in the air, pursued by Hunt and Hurst. Banks runs the length of the pitch to join the celebrations. Stiles kisses the turf.
4.32: Moore tells Banks to slow down to waste some time but Banks throws to Ball, who darts around Karl-Heinz Schnellinger.
4.39: Lothar Emmerich sprints in and hits a free-kick – it flashes past the England wall and strikes Cohen on the right knee, knocking him over. The ball falls to Held, who shoots across the goalmouth – it’s going wide but then hits Schnellinger on the back. All the pace goes from the ball. Banks and Wilson are wrong-footed. The England players shout “handball!” Linesman Tofik Bakhramov raises his flag – then drops it. Wolfgang Weber runs for the ball. Wilson stretches out a leg. Banks dives but Weber, with the tip of his boot, sends the ball flying into the net above the goalkeeper’s hands.
ENGLAND 2 WEST GERMANY 2
4.45: Extra time. England players take their places.
4.47: Hunt, moving swiftly on the left, tries to make it three.
4.49: As Banks takes a free kick, few of the England players look keen to receive it – they appear tired. Moore, however, looks as if he’s just started the game.
4.55: Hurst is making a run into the West German penalty area. But Ball reaches the ball and hits it, first time, towards the near post. Hurst realises he’s made his run too soon – the ball is falling behind him. He turns his back to the goal. He hooks the orange ball with all his strength and topples over. The ball flies over Tilkowski’s outstretched arms – he touches it with his finger tips. It hits the underside of the bar. The net shakes. Spinning, the ball then smacks the ground and bounces up. Did it cross the line? Weber runs in and heads the ball away over the bar for a corner. Lying on the ground, Hurst sees Hunt stop running towards goal, turn and put his hand in the air. Tilkowski, Höttges and Hurst look to the linesman on the near side and then back to referee Dienst. Bobby Charlton runs over celebrating, waving his hands in the air. Weber tries to stop him. But it’s been given.
ENGLAND 3 WEST GERMANY 2
5PM: Dienst blows for the end of the first half of extra time.
5.02: England kick off the final period of extra time, 15 minutes from glory.
5.11: In the royal box, the Queen keeps asking Fifa president Sir Stanley Rous: “How much longer to go?”
5.17: Referee Dienst looks at his watch. Moore’s legs are weary. But he has the ball. “Get rid of it,” Banks shouts. He kicks a spectacular, long, left-footed shot downfield to Hurst, who is ten yards inside the West German half. The exhausted Hurst can sense that Overath is chasing him. As he runs, Hurst can hear Ball shouting to him to his right. “Here! Square! Give it!” The ball bounces on a divot. Hurst hits the ball as hard as he can. “The feel, the sound of leather on leather were exactly right . . .” The ball rockets into the top corner of the net. “ . . . it is now! It’s four!” Wembley erupts.
ENGLAND 4 WEST GERMANY 2
Jack Charlton sinks to his knees, looks up to the blue sky, bows his head and covers his face with his hands. Ball still has the energy to do cartwheels across the turf.
5.20: The England players start to assemble at the bottom of the 39 steps that lead up to the royal box. These are steps that Moore knows well. He walked up them to collect the FA Cup in 1964, after West Ham beat Preston North End, and then a year later when they won the European Cup Winners’ Cup, defeating 1860 Munich.
5.22: Manager Ramsey refuses to be drawn into the celebrations. “This is your day. You won the World Cup,” he says to Stiles and Moore as they hand him the trophy. Ramsey holds it only briefly.
5.30: In the German town of Goch, the local police are running into a bar to break up fighting between the locals, British soldiers and RAF personnel. They start to chase everyone out into the street. There’s beer all over the floor.
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7.25: The England coach finally arrives at West London’s Royal Garden Hotel. The vast crowd are chanting “Eng-land! Eng-land!”. Many of them have come straight from Wembley. A hotel doorman stands on each side of the coach steps as the players alight. Moore is first off and he walks round the side of the coach to wave to the crowd.
8.15: The players’ wives have been escorted upstairs to the hotel restaurant, the Chophouse. They are seated at long tables decorated with the flags of the 16 countries that have taken part in the tournament. On the wall is a screen showing the players’ celebratory banquet downstairs on closed-circuit television. The women’s mood has not been improved by the gift they’ve each received from the FA – a pair of scissors.
8.30: At the Chequers pub in Wembley, the police have been called as the fans have been dancing so energetically that the landlord is worried the floor is about to give way, and he can’t get them to stop.
11.45: Stiles and wife Kay, Ball and his girlfriend Lesley Newton, and John Connelly (unselected winger) and wife Sandra are getting out of a black cab in front of the Playboy Club. The crowd outside cheer when they see them. The players are then told by a doorman that they’ll have to wait for a photographer to arrive before they can go in.
12AM: Hurst, Stiles, Ball and Connelly and their wives and partners have moved on to Danny La Rue’s – a club in Hanover Square, in the heart of London. Tonight, England’s World Cup winners have tables and complimentary jugs of beer and Bacardi.
The players are happy to be silent for much of the time, occasionally turning to each other to say: “We did it, we won the World Cup!”
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