GOAL!

On the 30th July 1966 I was sitting in the front room of our house watching the tv alongside 32.3 million other viewers in addition to the 96,924 at Wembley stadium. I was really surprised when I was checking the numbers to discover those figures of almost 97,000 and that the viewing total made it the United Kingdom's most-watched television event ever.

I’m talking, of course, about the FIFA World Cup final between England and West Germany, with England winning 4–2 after extra time.

I can still remember the England team managed by Alf Ramsey:
Gordon Banks; George Cohen, Jack Charlton, Bobby Moore, Ray Wilson, Alan Ball, Nobby Stiles, Bobby Charlton, Martin Peter, Geoff Hurst, Roger Hunt.

England 1966 World Cup Winners

I can manage Tilkowski, Schnellinger, Beckenbauer, Haller, Weber, Overath, Seeler and Emmerich of the West German side.

I can remember some of the moves, especially when England were 2-1 up and one minute from the World Cup when Jack Charlton fouled Germany's skipper Uwe Seeler and all the red shirts of England lined up against the white shirts of West Germany on the edge of the area. Wolfgang Weber scored. I couldn’t believe it.

I remember the amazing scenes after the final. The players jogging round the beautiful green Wembley pitch, the colours of the flags and banners. I raced out the back, I’ve no idea why, and saw our next door neighbour working under his car. I told him the result and he said “that’s nice, pass me that spanner”.

I remember so much of that game quite clearly. And I am wrong.

I’m wrong because the game was only broadcast in black and white.

I can only presume that my memories have been altered by the watching of GOAL! the official FIFA film of the whole competition which went out to cinemas shortly afterward. I must have seen it at the Odeon in Sheldon, Birmingham.

GOAL!

I would certainly have wanted to forget it as now I’m remembering how I really thought it was a terrible film. All fancy camera angles, jumpy narrative, awful music, accents of a lost time.

In 2002 someone named Rick posted that:
‘In the sixties this was possibly a mediocre film of our greatest football year. Thirty years later however Goal is as collectable and nostalgic as Charlie Chaplin or Laurel and Hardy in that it takes us back to a distant era totally alien to anyone below the age of 35. Granted the football coverage isn't great but that isn't what Goal is all about (in 2002 anyway) - watch the opening sequence and listen to the music and you'll get my gist, this is classic stuff perfect for post pub, late evening viewing with a few mates.

But it doesn't stop there, the one liners are stunning and pregnant pauses the work of an unknowing genius - it sounds like the bloke from the clangers. The tension is built slowly and the description of the various teams and their various Stars as they disembark their planes at Heathrow keeps you smiling. If you love football, and have a sense of humour you will treasure this film and get excited every time you show it to unwitting friends. A three word summary - Hilarious, nostalgic, genius’.

Completely off topic but there is a ball from the Wembley game in the National Football Museum in Manchester.

Paul Cookson did have an idea to celebrate 1966. He wanted to get 11 poets to write 11 poems about the team of ’66. However, he couldn’t get a publisher or sponsor interested, so in the end he wrote a series of poems himself. He says that they are everyman recollections that try and capture something of the men, the magnitude, the mood and the memories. You can click on the names on the image to see the poems at this link: 1966 World Cup England Team

George Cohen before the 1966 World Cup Final

Almost Forgotten
( For George Cohen )

Almost forgotten
But you were there.

You may not have scored the three goals
You may not have scored the other goal
You may not have been dramatic in your exploits

But you were there
Solid and dependable

Not so much what you did
But more what you stopped them from doing
Without you it would not have been the same

A link in the chain
A brick in the wall
Part of the process
Integral to victory

Your place in history secure
Forever a World Cup winner
Forever a hero

Your heroics may be unsung
But you were there

And for that alone
We all wish we could have been you
And been in your boots that day
The day that you were there

                                          Paul Cookson

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.