I was at the match. I was with a friend from Liverpool who had a ticket for the match bought months beforehand. I did not have a ticket so I bought a ticket about 30 minutes before kick off from a tout dressed as World Cup Willie, the England mascot, a sort of cuddly cartoon lion.
The ticket was valued at ten shillings (50p) and I paid the over the top, a ridiculous sum of £2.00 for it to watch the match! Unfortunately I did not realise until I found my spot on the terrace inside Wembley Stadium that everyone around me was German. Yes I was in a German sector; I could hardly believe it!
I can tell you I got a lot of funny looks and seething glares every time England scored as I seemed to be the only one cheering and I was the only one not cheering when Germany scored. It must have been obvious to the Germans I was English. However none of them had a go at me and by the end of the game I was totally ignored. It was a tremendous experience and the atmosphere in the ground was 'electric' and something a person can never forget. It is amazing the ticket (what's left of it) has survived and I still have it 50 years on.
The story does not stop there. I met up with my friend after the match and we continued on our journey relating the most exciting moments of the match to each other as you would expect. We were on our way to Spain on holiday by car and we caught the car ferry at Dover to take us to Calais in France with the intention of driving through France to Spain. It was not until the ferry was well under way we realised that most of the passengers on the ferry were Germans making their way home after the match and many were drowning their sorrows in the bar and were well oiled by this time. What they were going to do to the English, the Ref and the goalkeepers was nobody's business as you can well imagine and as a precaution we found it a good idea to remain silent and unseen for the ferry crossing not daring to let on we were English. At the time I was 19 years old and off on my first trip abroad.
Andrew Dobson
Memory added on September 1, 2016
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