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12 - Following the Final at home Daphne Robins: watching the Final with my Dad

I remember watching this game very well!

It was the first football match I ever remember watching, either on the pitch or on telly. I remember watching it with my Dad, pure father and daughter bonding. He was in the British Army as a Sergeant with the Royal Engineers Post Office Services based in Herford in Germany at the time. We were both sitting in our living room in our army quarters, a three bedroom terrace with a garden. The rest of the family were out enjoying the beautiful Summer's day.

I remember it so well, as this was how I learnt the first basic rules of football - my Dad gave me running explanations of things such as the off-side rule, how many players were in a team, what a foul was, what a penalty was, etc.

Our TV back then was of course still just in black and white, and I remember the small white clad men running around, putting up a fight against the German team. The irony was, my Mum was German (she wasn't watching with us) and we were in Germany watching this match in a building belonging to the British Army.

I clearly remember the excitement, my Dad swearing at the TV, shouting at the players, when he thought they weren't pulling their weight, or doing the right thing, moaning at referee decisions, giving me running commentaries, alongside those on the radio. There was no BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Services) TV back then, so we watched the game on a German TV programme, turned the sound down, and put BFBS radio on, to hear the commentary in English.

Maybe I was only 9 years old, but I still have this very vivid picture of that black and white TV, the sun shining in through the gaps of the drawn living room curtains, the excitement in the room, my Dad jumping up from his armchair when England won the game, the Queen handing over the trophy.

Maybe that is why I still watch World Cup finals to this day - in particular all the games between Germany and England, bearing in mind I am half German through my mother. The excitement gets the better of me. I shout at the TV, I complain loudly when I think the referee makes a decision I don't agree with, I yell at the players if they foul.

Just like my Dad taught me all those years ago when England won the World Cup.

Daphne Robins


Memory added on August 26, 2016

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