I was nearly 16 at the time, a Villa fan in a home where there was no real interest from anyone else in football. Hence my father's decision to take the annual summer touring holiday at the beginning of the school holidays. As my mother was born in Germany in Schleswig Holstein it was traditional to spend some time with the German relatives, namely Mum's
sister, husband, son and daughter.
As we arrived on the North Sea coast at St Peter, imagine my delight to find out that England had made the final and even better, so had West Germany. (It was very difficult to get news on holiday, no mobiles email etc and Germany was and still is to some extent not a common British holiday destination). Even Dad's interest was piqued.
The day of the final arrived and so did my Uncle's best friend and some neighbours to watch on my Uncle's newly purchased large screen TV (well it seemed so at the time, we only had a small 12 inch Echo in a great big piece of furniture!). The German contingent which outnumbered us somewhat, sat in an arc to one side, my brother me and my Dad on the other with Mum in the middle, gleefully cheering on England in total incomprehension of the rules.
Things took a turn for the worst when West Germany scored, but after the noisy back slapping and shouts of Tor, Tor out came a bottle of Bommerlunder schnapps and bottles of beer chasers. When England equalised more schnapps etc and even when we took the lead late on the same happened. No prizes for guessing what happened after they equalised. The rest is history as they say.
There was no acrimony at all, as I remember, when we had won, though I think the Soviet linesman wasn't the most popular person in the room for allowing the 3rd England goal! Remember this was only a handful of years since the physical division of Germany was exacerbated by the erection of the Berlin Wall.
The evening that followed was interesting for me to see grown men, my Dad and my Uncle, his friend and the neighbour playing badminton in the garden in a rather inebriated state. I think more flies were swatted than shuttlecocks hit!
I was so proud next day to go out in our Wolesley with GB plate proudly be polished.
A day to remember!
Peter Hill
Memory added on February 3, 2016
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