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10 - Attending the World Cup Final Mike Fitzjohn: supporting England with the fans of other London clubs

I was 18 in the Summer of '66, and between school and Uni. Being a mad Arsenal fan, myself and a school mate, who was a big Chelsea fan, booked our World Cup tickets in January. It wasn't a question of being 'lucky', we simply paid out £3, 17 shillings, and sixpence for a 10 match ticket - 6 Group matches in London, the quarter final against Argentina, the semi final against Portugal, the 3rd/4th play off (each 7 shillings and sixpence), and the Final against West Germany, where the price rose steeply to 10 shillings (50p) !

Memories fade after 50 years, but several come to mind:-

1. We were in Block H63 (standing of course), at the opposite end to the tunnel. If Geoff Hurst's third goal (England's fourth) in the Final had instead gone over the bar it would have landed very near us.

2. In the same Block there seemed to be the cream of real supporters from all the London football clubs - the Highbury North Bank, the Chelsea Shed, and all the rest, all united in their support for England.

3. But we were nearly 'out-gunned' in the Final. Until then the regular chant for England had been the regular club chant - 'clap, clap/ clap, clap, clap/ clap, clap, clap, clap/ ENGLAND'. But an hour before the kick-off the West Germans were out-chanting us with their 'Uwe, Uwe, Uwe, Uwe, Uwe' (Uwe Seeler, of course). So, in that moment, was borne the chant 'Eng-land, Eng-land, Eng-land, Eng-land......

4. Our gang used to meet before matches in a pub close to Wembley (think it may have been called 'The Torch'). Before one game I went to the Gents and found a £1 note in the 'trough' (bear in mind that was twice the price of a ticket for the Final !). So I fished it out, washed it down, and it kept us in beer for the rest of the night.

Mike Fitzjohn

Memory added on August 29, 2016

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