Captain Bobby Moore raises the Jules Rimet Trophy,
while his teammates raise him
England had never done well in past World Cups, but were determined to show the world that the country that had invented the sport (though the Greeks and the Chinese had football-like games 500 years before the birth of Christ) just how it could play the sport, especially on home soil.
England were managed by Alf Ramsey, who had played right back for England at the 1950 World Cup, and on the Tottenham Hotspur team that won the Football League title in 1951; and was hired to manage England after leading Ipswich Town to the League title in 1962. These were the players he selected:
* Goalkeepers: Number 1, Gordon Banks, Leicester City; 12, Ron Springett, Sheffield Wednesday; 13, Peter Bonetti, Chelsea.
* Defenders: 2, George Cohen, Fulham; 3, Ray Wilson, Everton; 5, Jack Charlton, Leeds United; 6, Bobby Moore, West Ham United, England's Captain; 14, Jimmy Armfield, Blackpool; 15, Gerry Byrne, Liverpool; 18, Norman Hunter, Leeds United.
* Midfielders: 4, Norbert "Nobby" Stiles, Manchester United; 7, Alan Ball, Blackpool; 9, Bobby Charlton, Manchester United, younger brother of Jack; 16, Martin Peters, West Ham United; 17, Ron Flowers, Wolverhampton Wanderers; 20, Ian Callaghan, Liverpool; 22, George Eastham, Arsenal.
* Forwards: 8, Jimmy Greaves, Tottenham Hotspur; 10, Geoff Hurst, West Ham United; 11, John Connelly, Manchester United; 19, Terry Paine, Southampton; 21, Roger Hunt, Liverpool.
England played all of their games in Group 1 at the national stadium, the original version of Wembley Stadium in West London. They got off to a slow start with a 0-0 draw against Uruguay, then beat Mexico and France, in each case by a 2-0 score, to win the Group. Uruguay also advanced.
Old Wembley
Group 2 was won by West Germany, with Argentina advancing as well. Group 3 was won by Portugal, with Hungary following. Two-time defending Champions Brazil only finished 3rd in Group 3, because defenders from Portugal and Bulgaria relentlessly fouled Pelé, by this point recognized as the best player in the world. Brazil would be back in 1970, but, for 1966, they were out.
And Group 4 was won by the Soviet Union, with another Communist nation, North Korea, surprising everyone by also advancing. North Korea's 1-0 win over Italy at Ayresome Park in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, is the most embarrassing defeat in Italy's history. (The most infuriating one was also against Koreans, co-host South Korea, in the 2002 World Cup.)
In the Quarterfinals, West Germany beat Uruguay 4-0 at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, Yorkshire, home of Sheffield Wednesday. The other games were considerably more dramatic. It took until Hurst's goal in the 78th minute for England to beat Argentina, 1-0 at Wembley. With memories of Soviet tanks crushing the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 still fresh, the Soviet team beat Hungary 2-1 at Roker Park in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.
And at Goodison Park in Liverpool, home of Everton, North Korea took a 3-0 lead on Portugal, before Eusébio -- one of several players from Mozambique that Portugal fielded before that African colony gained its independence in 1975 -- scored 4 goals, 2 spectacular ones from open play and 2 penalties, to lead Portugal to a 5-3 win. With Pelé literally kicked out of the tournament, Eusébio was its dominant player.
Bobby Charlton scored 2 goals for England in the Semifinal against Portugal at Wembley. A late penalty, converted by Eusébio, briefly put the game in doubt, but England held on for the 2-1 win. The other Semifinal, at Goodison Park, had echoes of both World Wars, but the opposite result of each, as West Germany defeated the Soviet Union, 2-1.
As a crowd of 96,924 filed into Wembley, "The Great War" and "The War" were on Ramsey's mind as he addressed his players before the Final: "Fear not if they shall defeat us at our national game on our soil; for, twice in this century, we have defeated them at their national game, on their soil."
England wore red, and West Germany wore white. Kickoff, as was traditional in England, came at 3:00 PM on a Saturday. In America, NBC aired the Final on a 2-hour film delay, using the black-and-white feed from the BBC. This marked the 1st time that soccer had ever been shown in the United States as a stand-alone television event.
In the 12th minute, disaster struck for England: Siegfried Held of Borussia Dortmund sent a cross into the penalty area. Wilson attempted to head it away, but sent it in the wrong direction, to Helmut Haller, then playing his "club football" for Italian side Bologna. He put the ball past Banks, and it was 1-0 to "Ze Germans."
The lead didn't last long, as Hurst put a header past Hans Tilkowski of Dortmund. The score remained 1-1 until the 78th minute, when England won a corner. Ball took it, and it reached Hurst, whose shot was deflected by Tilkowski, to Hust's West Ham teammate Peters, who scored. It was 2-1 England.
England just had to hang on for another 12 to 15 minutes. They couldn't: Jack Charlton fouled Uwe Seeler of Hamburg, West Germamy's Captain and best scorer, in the 89th minute. The ensuing free kick caused a scramble, where Wolfgang Weber of Köln took it, and shot. It deflected off Karl-Heinz Schnellinger of Italian team AC Milan, and went in past Banks. Banks claimed that the ball hit Schnellinger's arm, which would make the play, however unintentional, handball. But replays showed that the ball hit him on the back. And so, it was 2-2, and there would be extra time.
In the 95th minute, Bobby Charlton hit the post, took the rebound, and shot wide. Then, in the 101st minute, came the most controversial shot in the history of soccer. Ball put in a cross, Hurst took it, and fired. The ball hit the underside of the crossbar, bounced down, and was cleared.
The referee was Gottlieb Dienst -- in spite of his German-sounding name, he was from Switzerland: Had he actually been from Germany, he would have been ineligible to officiate. He wasn't sure if the ball had gone in. He asked a linesman, Tofiq Bahramov, from Azerbaijan but then representing the Soviet Union: He said the ball crossed the goal line, and Dienst gave the goal. 3-2 England.
Ever since, the Germans have argued that the ball did not fully cross the goal line, and blamed "the Russian judge" for it. Since the coming of Video Assisted Refereeing (VAR), it has been argued more strenuously than ever that the Germans were cheated by a home-team call. And computer analysis has suggested that "only" 97 percent of the ball got over the line, roughly the percentage that cost Liverpool a goal in a game against Manchester City, and thus the Premier League title, in 2019.
Hunt immediately turned to celebrate the goal with Hurst. Hunt went to his grave insisting that, if he thought the ball hadn't gone in, he would have rushed forward to tap it in, which makes sense.
I've seen the play many times. The ball clearly hit the top of the net before it came back down. It was a legitimate goal. You don't believe me? Judge for yourself.
In the 120th and final minute of play -- not counting whatever stoppage time would be added on to the end of extra time -- West German manager Helmut Schön sent his defenders forward in one last desperate attempt. But Moore, got the ball, found an unmarked Hurst, and passed it to him.
Some fans ran onto the field, and got closer to Hurst than any German players did. He completed what remains the only hat trick, the only 3-goal performance, by a man in a World Cup Final, matched only by American Carli Lloyd in the 2015 Women's World Cup Final. And this 4th goal for England ensured that the disputed goal from earlier wouldn't matter.
Geoff Hurst
As Hunt approached his shot, BBC announcer Kenneth Wolstenholme made the most famous call in the history of sportscasting -- yes, more famous than "The Giants win the Pennant!":
And here comes Hurst! He's got... Some people are on the pitch! They think it's all over! It is now! It's four!
Kenneth Wolstenholme
England have been inconsistent in international tournaments since. They didn't reach another Final until Euro 2020 (delayed until 2021, due to COVID). Their best World Cup performances since have been runs to the Semifinal in 1990 and 2018.
And so, in the 1960s, England, in the midst of Beatlemania, Swinging London and early James Bond, had a moment that brought the whole country together. Old rivalries were put aside for the greatest patriotic moment since the end of The War.
Famously, Denis Law, Manchester United teammate of Bobby Charlton, Nobby Stiles and John Connelly, was such a Scottish patriot that, instead of watching the Final hosted and won by his arch-rival "country," he played golf.
America would have its great moment in 1969: We went to the Moon. England had theirs in 1966: They won the World Cup. Neither has been able to match it since.
The old Wembley Stadium is 1 of 3 stadiums to have hosted an Olympic Games, a World Cup Final and a UEFA European Cup/Champions League Final. The others are the Olympiastadions in Berlin and Munich. In 2024, the Stade de France outside Paris will make it 4.
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This was the 3rd year in a row that Moore, Hurst and Peters had won a Final at Wembley. Together, the 3 players had helped East London team West Ham United win the 1964 FA Cup and the 1965 European Cup Winners' Cup. Being together on the 1966 England team led Hammers fans to say, "West Ham won the World Cup."
A statue of Hurst, Peters, and Everton’s Wilson hoisting Moore on their shoulders as he lifts the trophy, labeled "Champions," was placed across from the Boleyn Ground, a.k.a. Upton Park, West Ham's stadium at the time. (When the old Wembley was torn down in 2000, and the new one opened on the site in 2007, a statue of Moore, England's only World Cup-winning Captain, was placed outside.
But this cup success did not lead to League honors. Moore played for West Ham from 1958 to 1974, and over that stretch, their best finish was 6th in his rookie year, 1958-59, and again in 1972-73. In their Cup win year of 1963-64, they were 14th; in 1966-67, 16th, barely avoiding relegation. As teammate Harry Redknapp, later a Cup-winning manager, put it, "We had Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, and we finished 17th every year. Which should tell you how crap the rest of us were."
Peters would later move to North London's Tottenham Hotspur, where he won the 1971 and 1973 League Cups and the 1972 UEFA Cup. Earlier, Greaves had played for Tottenham, a.k.a. "Spurs," winning the 1962 and 1967 FA Cups and the 1963 Cup Winners' Cup.
With Manchester United, Bobby Charlton won the 1957 League title; and, having added Stiles, and Scotland’s Denis Law, and Northern Ireland’s George Best, won the 1965 and 1967 League titles; the 1963 FA Cup; and the 1968 European Cup. Connelly won the League with Burnley in 1960 and Man United in 1965.
With Liverpool, Byrne, Callaghan and Hunt won the 1964 and 1966 Football League titles, and the 1965 FA Cup. Callaghan stayed long enough to also win the 1973, 1976 and 1977 League titles; the 1974 FA Cup; the 1973 and 1976 UEFA Cups; and the 197 and 1978 European Cups.
Flowers was the senior player. With Wolverhampton Wanderers, a.k.a. "Wolves," he won the 1954, 1959 and 1959 Football League titles, and the 1960 FA Cup. With Leicester City, Banks won the 1964 League Cup. With Stoke City, he and Eastham won the 1972 League Cup. With Chelsea, Bonetti won the 1965 League Cup, the 1970 FA Cup, and the 1971 European Cup Winners' Cup.
With Everton, Wilson won the 1966 FA Cup. They then purchased Ball from Blackpool, and he helped them win the 1970 League title, by which time Wilson had been sold. Oddly, he played for 3 teams in the season after they won the FA Cup: 1966 Everton, 1971 Arsenal, and 1976 Southampton – but never won it himself. He then went to the North American Soccer League, and won the league title in 1979.
With Leeds United, Jack Charlton and Norman Hunter won the 1968 League Cup, the 1968 and 1971 Inter-Cities Fairs Cups, the 1969 League title, and the 1972 FA Cup. Hunter was still there for the 1974 League title.
All of the England players lived to see the 25th Anniversary of the achievement. All lived to see the 30th and the 40th, except for Bobby Moore: He died of colon cancer on February 24, 1993. He was only 51.
Alan Ball, the youngest member of the team, died on April 25, 2007. He was only 61. His father had also died young, in a car crash at age 57. John Connelly died on October 25, 2012, apparently of heart failure. He was 74. Ron Springett died on September 12, 2015, also apparently of heart failure. He was 80. Gerry Byrne died on November 28, 2015, of complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 77.
In addition to Byrne's battle with Alzheimer's, 4 other members of that team had experienced dementia by the time of the 50th Anniversary in 2016. Wilson, Stiles and Peters had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's; and Jack Charlton says, "I haven't got a memory now. I forget things easily." He is no longer allowed to drive, or to go fishing alone. His brother Bobby, the most beloved of living English footballers at the time, would also be diagnosed with dementia.
Alan Ball, the youngest member of the team, died on April 25, 2007. He was only 61. His father had also died young, in a car crash at age 57. John Connelly died on October 25, 2012, apparently of heart failure. He was 74. Ron Springett died on September 12, 2015, also apparently of heart failure. He was 80. Gerry Byrne died on November 28, 2015, of complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 77.
In addition to Byrne's battle with Alzheimer's, 4 other members of that team had experienced dementia by the time of the 50th Anniversary in 2016. Wilson, Stiles and Peters had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's; and Jack Charlton says, "I haven't got a memory now. I forget things easily." He is no longer allowed to drive, or to go fishing alone. His brother Bobby, the most beloved of living English footballers at the time, would also be diagnosed with dementia.
Stiles also battled cancer, as did Banks and Greaves. Greaves, the Football League's all-time leading goalscorer, had strokes, which left him wheelchair-bound.
Their numbers do not include Jeff Astle, perhaps the English footballer best known for having had football-related dementia. He starred as a forward for West Midlands club West Bromwich Albion, and played for England in the 1970 World Cup. He died in 2002. Nor do they include Gerd Müller, the German star who did not make that World Cup, but would eliminate England from the 1970 edition and win it in 1974, and was diagnosed in 2015, and died in 2021.
Pat Wilson, Ray's wife, said, "There are people he played with at Huddersfield and Everton with Alzheimer's. They are all over. They have talked about heading the leather ball causing it." The balls of that era were heavier than they are today, and, being made of leather, got heavier still when wet.
The surviving players had a golf outing every year, for as long as they could. John Stiles, Nobby's son, said, "It's a real shame he can't go to the get-together anymore, because he loved going. He loved the camaraderie they had. That is what made them so special. But, unfortunately, like so many who played in that era and headed those heavy balls, my father has now got dementia. Many other players have some sort of degenerative brain disease."
When an event like winning a world championship happens, they say the participants and the spectators "will never forget." Sadly, we now know that this is not necessarily true.
In 2018, Jimmy Armfield died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma on January 22; and Ray Wilson died of Alzheimer's disease on May 15.
In 2019, Gordon Banks died of cancer on February 12, and Martin Peters died of Alzheimer's disease on December 21.
In 2020, Peter Bonetti died on April 12, of what was only listed as "a long illness"; Norman Hunter died from COVID-19 on April 17; Jack Charlton died of lymphoma on July 10, also having dealt with dementia; and Nobby Stiles died on October 30, from the combined effects of cancer and dementia.
In 2021, Jimmy Greaves died of cancer on September 19; Roger Hunt died on September 27, of what was only listed as "a prolonged illness"; and Ron Flowers died on November 12, of an undisclosed cause.
So, as of July 11, 2022, the following 6 players are still alive: George Cohen, Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst, Terry Paine, Ian Callaghan and George Eastham. And Charlton has now been diagnosed with dementia, too.
So, as of July 11, 2022, the following 6 players are still alive: George Cohen, Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst, Terry Paine, Ian Callaghan and George Eastham. And Charlton has now been diagnosed with dementia, too.
UPDATE: George Cohen died on December 23, 2022. Bobby Charlton died on October 21, 2023. George Eastham died on December 20, 2024. That leaves Hurst, Paine and Callaghan, and only Hurst among those who played in the Final.
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July 30, 1966 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox, 6-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Gary Peters pitched a 3-hit shutout. Mel Stottlemyre only pitched 4 innings, Jim Bouton wasn't much better in his 3, and the Dooley Womack pitched a scoreless 8th inning. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-3. Roger Maris was injured and did not play.
* The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-3 at Shea Stadium. Ernie Banks hit a home run.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 8-2 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969.) Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI.
* The Atlanta Braves swept a doubleheader from the San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975.) They won the opener, 6-5. Denis Menke singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Willie Mays hit a home run, and then got the nightcap off. The Braves won that, 15-2. Gene Oliver hit 3 home runs. Over the 2 games, Hank Aaron went 4-for-7 with a walk and 2 RBIs.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Willie Stargell went 0-for-4, and Roberto Clemente did not play.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 5-1 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 1-for-4.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-0 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Dave Boswell allowed only 3 baserunners: A single to Russ Snyder, a walk to Luis Aparicio, and he hit Davey Johnson with a pitch. Neither Brooks Robinson nor Frank Robinson reached base. Harmon Killebrew and Earl Battey homered for the Twins.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-1 at the new Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Lou Brock went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and a stolen base.
* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Al Kaline went 1-for-4.
* The California Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at Anaheim Stadium. (It was renamed Edision International Field in 1997, and Angel Stadium of Anaheim in 2004.)
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