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10 - Attending the World Cup Final John Cave: England's third goal might not have been a goal

During the Tournament my Dad had phoned from Leeds to say that he had managed to get a ticket for the Final in the best seats and he hoped to see me before the game, but in the end he decided not to come down because in reality my Mum would have liked to have gone to the match as well, as they were both massive football fans. So he sent his ticket down to me in the post and told me to sell it on the day at Wembley.

There is one interesting statistic that is not widely understood about England’s Semi Final and Final matches in that although all the tickets were sold not all of them were used. This had come about because many tickets had been sold to supporters of all the competing teams in books that contained tickets for both games. As a consequence many fans decided to return home after their teams had been knocked out so supporters of say Brazil, who had a large following, found it quite expensive to stay on in London and hence decided to leave early. I went by train to Wembley clutching my 2 tickets and had no trouble in selling the spare one to a young German student who was very surprised to have to only pay the face value of the ticket. He could not afford the stand seat so I sold him my terrace ticket for 10/6p. I hope he recalls the match and remembers the young Englishman who did not rip him off.

The World Cup Final was the only England game I have ever been to where the atmosphere resembled that of a club game. My Dad’s £5 ticket had a brilliant view right over the half way line where I sat behind the then Fulham Chairman – Tommy Trinder – a well known music hall comedian of an earlier generation. Being right over the half way line meant that I was not in a position to see if Geoff Hurst’s disputed goal crossed the line or not, although my first instinct was that it had not done so and that England were on that occasion a bit lucky. However that was evened out in my eyes because Germany’s goal on the stroke of full time was very fortuitous, as Jack Charlton should never have been penalised for the free kick that led to the melee when the German equalising goal was scored. I was just about wrung out and hoarse by the time Hurst completed his hat trick with that fourth tremendous goal.

It seemed hours before I finally left the stadium after the game what with the presentations, the lap of honour and Nobby Stiles stupid dancing with the World Cup on his head, Bob & Jack Charlton in an uncharacteristic show of emotion with each other. The German supporters were magnanimous in defeat despite the disputed Hurst goal and their team had some great players. I was particularly impressed at the time with the young Franz Beckenbauer although any respect I had for him went out of the window when I watched him orchestrate the referee in their European Cup Final ‘win’ 9 years later in Paris. I hope I will witness retribution for that particular evening before my time is up.

Just a few years ago I was on my way back to England from Nigeria and was stood in the check in queue at Lagos airport for the flight home and I realised that the England hat trick hero from the Final, Geoff Hurst, was stood immediately in front of me – he and Bryan Robson had been doing some FA-sponsored coaching clinics in the country. Normally I am not star stuck, but given that I was at Wembley in 1966 I felt it justifiable to mention the match to him. I was brought right back down to earth with his reply, “If I believed that everybody was at Wembley who has told me that they were there then there must have been a crowd of something like 250,000 at the match”. End of conversation, so that put me in my place!!!

I do not suppose the enormity of what the England team had achieved came home to me for sometime afterwards and over the years, and with England’s continued lack of success in the competition, the importance of the win in 1966 has taken on almost mystical proportions. I just wish I had kept the programme and ticket stub (if only to show the latter to Geoff Hurst!!!).

John Cave

Memory added on August 25, 2016

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