December 4, 1935: Swastikas Over White Hart Lane

The Swastika flag can be made out,

in the upper-right corner of the photo.

December 4, 1935: The national soccer teams of England and Germany play each other at White Hart Lane in Tottenham, Middlesex, a northern suburb of London. The match is surrounded by controversy.

That had not been the case the 1st time the teams played each other. On May 10, 1930, at the Poststadion in Berlin, with Germany governed by the Weimar Republic, there were no incidents, and the game ended in a draw, 3-3.

But in 1933, the Nazi Party took power in Germany. Their oppression of the nation's Jews, for blaming them for Germany's defeat in World War I, caught the attention of the world. And so, when a 2nd football match between the countries was set for England, many people worried about what Germans, traveling to watch their team play, might do to English people they perceived as Jewish.

To make matters worse, the chosen venue for the match was White Hart Lane, in Tottenham. Until a 1963 Act of Parliament redrew the boundaries of England's Counties, Tottenham was part of Middlesex. Effective January 1, 1965, it would be a part of London, as would parts of Kent and Surrey, while Middlesex was eliminated entirely.

Fans of Tottenham Hotspur, or "Spurs," the team playing home games at The Lane, have always claimed that "North London is ours." It's never been true: Arsenal, 4.7 miles away, and officially within London since 1913 (even though White Hart Lane never moved following its opening in 1899), have always been the more successful team.

Why did the choice of venue make things worse? Because Tottenham has long been thought of as a Jewish area of London, and "Spurs" a "Jewish club." It's not true: Their local area does not have a noticeably larger percentage of Jewish residents than most of London.

Nevertheless, their fans have accepted this identity, flying Israeli flags, and even using an anti-Semitic slur (which I won't use here) for the name of their hooligan firm. Fans of other London teams, including (regrettably) Arsenal, East End team West Ham United, and West London team Chelsea have also used slurs and anti-Semitic tropes against them.

It had been rumored that 8,000 Germans were traveling to London for the match, and trouble was feared. In fact, none of the Germans among the crowd of 54,164 is known to have caused any trouble. Still, the photographs showing the Nazi Swastika flag flying over White Hart Lane, as well as the English Cross of St. George and the British Union Jack, was jarring.

Germany wore white shirts. England, wearing blue, fielded this lineup:

* Goalkeeper, Henry Gibbs, of Birmingham City.

* Right back, George Male of Arsenal.

* Left back and team Captain, Eddie Hapgood of Arsenal.

* Right half, Jack Crayston of Arsenal.

* Centre half, Jack Barker of Derby County.

* Left half, John Bray of Manchester City.

* Outside right, Stanley Matthews of Stoke City.

* Inside right, Horatio "Raich" Carter of Sunderland.

* Centre forward, George Camsell of Middlesbrough.

* Inside left, Ray Westwood of Bolton Wanderers. And...

* Outside left, Cliff Bastin of Arsenal.

If 4 Arsenal players in the starting lineup seems excessive, let the record show that Arsenal had won the last 3 Football League titles, and that the 1934 match against Italy known as "The Battle of Highbury," at Arsenal's stadium, had 7 Arsenal players.

As The Times of London reported, the game was not much of a contest. I have left the account as written, with no changes of spelling or grammar:

England beat Germany at White Hart Lane yesterday by three goals to none. The football was naither as interesting to watch nor as perfect in technique as it might have been, but the afternoon was a great success for at least two reasons. First, the game was played throughout in the friendliest of spirit ; and, secondly, after a morning of heavy and persistent rain, the sun came out, and both the players and the spectators had far better conditions than they could have expected three or four hours before the kick-off.

Germany were fortunate in that the margin against them was not bigger, and it would be flattery to pretend otherwise...

England's one goal came when Camsell was given a pass which sent him racing through in the inside-left position, and his shot, taken from an extremely acute angle, could not be stopped...

First a movement down the left wing begun by Hapgood ended with Bastin centreing across for Camsell to head into the net, and then some splendid football by Bastin, who had worked into the centre, led up to Camsell, who had run over to the left, to return the ball to Bastin, who never looked like making a mistake with his shot.

So that was 2 goals for Camsell, and 1 for Bastin, whose 178 goals for Arsenal would be a club record until 1997, and are still 3rd all-time behind the 228 of Thierry Henry and the 185 of Ian Wright.

The Observer, which had warned of German violence, had to admit: "So chivalrous in heart and so fair in tackling were the English and German teams who played at Tottenham in mid-week that even the oldest of veterans failed to recall an international engagement played with such good manners by everybody."

The teams would play just once more before World War II broke out, at the Olympiastadion in Berlin in 1938. The German players saluted the Nazi flag. The English players did as well, in a gesture of solidarity, except for Stan Cullis of Wolverhampton Wanderers, later to manage that team to glory.

*

December 4, 1935 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And while the NHL season was underway, no games were scheduled. So the England-Germany football match produced the only score on this historic day.

November 30, 1872: The 1st International Football Match

Artist's depiction. England in white, Scotland in blue.

November 30, 1872: For the 1st time, soccer teams representing the best players in their respective countries play each other.

As comedian Jason Sudeikis asked, when introducing the character of Ted Lasso, an American football coach who'd gotten a job coaching an English "football" (soccer) team, "How many countries are there in this country?" By "this country," he meant the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The answer is four: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland -- with the Republic of Ireland, since 1921, being its own nation, not in the United Kingdom.

Charles Alcock, a soccer and cricket star of the era, had organized the 1st FA Cup in England the preceding year, and had also organized matches between teams representing the football associations of both his native England and Scotland. But these were matches between English players and Scottish players for teams based in and around London, and were not what would now be recognized as "full internationals."

Charles Alcock

So Alcock proposed a match between the truly best players from each country. It was set for November 30, 1872, at Hamilton Crescent, the home ground of the West of Scotland Cricket Club, in Glasgow.

The England team wore white caps, white shirts, white shorts, and blue socks:

* Goalkeeper: Robert Barker, of Wouldham, Kent, and Watford-based club Hertfordshire Rangers.

* Fullback: Harwood Greenhalgh, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and Notts County.

* Halfback: Reginald Welch, of Kensington, West London, and London team Wanderers. He was the only one of these players to have also played in the 1st FA Cup Final, won by Wanderers 8 months earlier.

* Forward: Frederick Maddison, of Westminster, London, and Oxford University.

* Forward: William Maynard, of London, and 1st Surrey Rifles F.C.

* Forward: John Brockbank, of Whitehaven, Cumberland, and Cambridge University.

* Forward: Charles Clegg, of Sheffield, Yorkshire, and Sheffield Wednesday.

* Forward: Arnold Kirke Smith, also of Sheffield, and Oxford University.

* Forward and Captain: Cuthbert Ottaway, of Dover, Kent, and Oxford University. He was named Captain because Alcock was injured and unable to play. But Alcock did select every player on the England squad.

* Forward: Charles Chenery, of Lambourne, Berkshire, and the original Crystal Palace F.C. of South London (not the current team of that name).

* Forward: Charles Morice, of London, and Harrow Chequers.

Ottaway died of tuberculosis in 1878, only 27 years old. He remains the only Englishman to represent a university in 5 different sports. Welch lived until 1939.

The Scotland team wore red cowls, navy blue shirts (which would become traditional for them), white shorts, and socks of navy and white stripes, and was represented by the top Scottish club team of the time, Queen's Park of Glasgow.

Scotland captain Robert Gardner, an organizer in Scottish sports on the same level that Alcock was for England, attempted to gain the services of the top two Scottish players from the London area, who had both played in the 1872 FA Cup Final: Arthur Kinnaird of Wanderers and Henry Renny-Tailyour of Royal Engineers. As it turned out, both men were unavailable. Here's the team that Gardner did select, starting with himself:

* Goalkeeper: Robert Gardner, of Glasgow. He was described years later as the best goalkeeper in the world, although, given that England and Scotland were pretty much the only countries then playing the sport, that doesn't say much.

* Fullback: William Ker, of the Scottish capital of Edinburgh.

* Fullback: Joseph Taylor, of Glasgow.

* Halfback: James Thomson, of Annan, Dumfries.

* Halfback: James Smith, of Aberdeen.

* Forward: Robert Smith, of Aberdeen.

* Forward: Robert Leckie, of Killearn, Stirlingshire.

* Forward: Alex Rhind, of Aberdeen.

* Forward: Billy MacKinnon, of Glasgow, described as "a brilliant dribbling artist," perhaps the first player to use the overhead, or what became known as the "bicycle," kick.

* Forward: Jerry Weir, of Glasgow.

* Forward: David Wotherspoon, of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.

Robert Gardner

James Smith died in 1876, only 32, from what's listed only as "a long illness," although he was listed as having played for South London team South Norwood in that calendar year. Weir died in 1887, of typhoid fever. Gardner also died in 1887, just short of turning 40. Leckie also died in 1887, just after turning 40. Taylor died in 1888, only 37. I cannot find a cause of death for any of them. MacKinnon was the last survivor of the game, living until 1942.

The referee was William Keay, a Scot. Given the tenor of the times, when athletes were supposed to conduct themselves as "sporting" and "gentlemen," I surmise that he must have already had a reputation for fairness that led to him being acceptable to Captain Ottaway as well as to Captain Gardner.

The game was attended by 4,000 people, and the same price of admission was charged as for the FA Cup Final: One shilling. In 2022 British money, that's about £24.10. In U.S. money, about $31.70. A more than reasonable price for such historic events.

The match was scheduled to kick off at 2:00. A delay meant that it got underway at 2:20. The field, or pitch, was a bit muddy, having been pelted with the infamous Scottish rain for 3 days.

The Scotsman, a national newspaper still in business today, wrote, "During the first half of the game the English team did not work so well together, but in the second half they left nothing to be desired in this respect." The Scots had a goal disallowed, because the umpire decided that the ball did not clear the tape that was used to represent a crossbar.

At halftime, as was traditional at the time, the teams rotated their goalkeeping duties. England put Maynard in goal, and moved Barker to Maynard's place on the forward line. Gardner was moved into Robert Smith's place, and Smith moved into goal.

England never had a serious attempt on goal. Scotland had one more, late in the game, when Leckie launched a shot that landed on top of the tape. Final score: England 0, Scotland 0.

The Aberdeen Journal wrote, "It was allowed to be the best game ever seen in Scotland." A sports-themed magazine titled The Field wrote, "The match was in every sense a signal success as the play was throughout as spirited and as pleasant as can possibly be imagined."

Really? All this from a game that ended scoreless? Well, deep into the 20th Century, Gianni Brera, considered Italy's greatest sportswriter, wrote that the ideal soccer game would end 0-0. Even today, "purists" -- the kind of people who, if they are baseball fans, prefer "pitchers' duels" to "slugfests" -- would agree.

A return match was played on March 8, 1873, at the Kennington Oval in South London. This time, there was scoring, and lots of it. William Kenyon-Slaney of England set the tone by scoring in only the 2nd minute, and England beat Scotland, 4-2.

Scotland gained their 1st win over England in 1874. They achieved celebrated wins over England in 1928, at Wembley Stadium in London, giving their side the name "The Wembley Wizards"; and in 1967, when a team led by Manchester United's Denis Law beat essentially the same England team that had won the World Cup the year before, winning the British Home Championship and becoming "Wembley Wizards II."

These 2 countries have played each other more often than any other. As of November 30, 2022, England have won 48 matches, to Scotland's 41, with 26 draws. However, a long decline of Scottish football means that Scotland have not beaten England in the sport since 1999 (though that win was at Wembley), and only that once since 1985.

UPDATE: The teams played again on September 12, 2023, at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland's national stadium. England won, 3-1, raising their lead in the series to 49-41.

*

November 30, 1872 was a Saturday. In North American sports, baseball season was over, basketball hadn't yet been invented, hockey barely was, and while there was college football as Americans understood that term, the season had already ended. So there were no other scores on this historic day.

But there was a notable person born on this day: John McCrae, the Canadian physician and poet who commemorated the dead of World War I in his 1915 poem "In Flanders Fields," and would join them in 1918.

November 25, 1953: The Magnificent Magyars Stun England

Ferenc Puskás

November 25, 1953: Hungary defeat England, 6-3 at Wembley Stadium in West London, becoming the 1st team from outside the British Isles to defeat England on English soil.

Known as "the Golden Team," "the Magnificent Magyars" and "the Magical Magyars," from 1950 to 1956, they used an early form of what the Netherlands would later call "Total Football" to put up a record of 58 wins, 10 draws, and only 1 loss.

Manager Gusztáv Sebes built the team around forwards Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis and Nándor Hidegkuti; midfielders Zoltán Czibor and József Bozsik, and goalkeeper Gyula Grosics. Hidegkuti played his "club football" for MTK Hungária (now MTK Budapest), while the rest played for Budapest Honvéd.

There was no European Championship tournament for them to compete in until 1960. But they won the Gold Medal at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. In 1953, they won the Central European International Cup, competing against Austria, Czechoslovakia, Italy and Switzerland.

They won this game in front of 105,000 stunned spectators at London's Wembley Stadium. England were captained by right half Billy Wright of Wolverhampton Wanderers; and also included the pair of Stanley Matthews (a.k.a. the Wizard of Dribble) and Stan Mortensen, who had led Blackpool F.C. to the FA Cup earlier in the year; and right back Alf Ramsey and outside left George Robb, who had led Middlesex team Tottenham Hotspur to the 1951 Football League title.

Hungary had shown England what modern football looked like. Ramsey took notes, and eventually managed Ipswich Town to the English Football League title, and became the England manager who won the World Cup.

"Eventually" would not, however, come soon. A rematch in Budapest the next year was even less of a contest, a 7-1 loss that is still the heaviest that England's national team have ever faced. Puskás, known as the Galloping Major for his service in the Hungarian Army, was now considered the best player in the world.

He would lead them to the Final of the 1954 World Cup, but would play hurt in that game, and West Germany gave them their 1 and only defeat in that stretch, which was ended by the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. The national team was out of the country at the time, and many did not return home for many years. Puskás starred for Spanish team Real Madrid, while Kocsis and Czibor starred for Real's arch-rivals, FC Barcelona.

Times changed. Democracy returned to Hungary in 1989, and the national stadium in Budapest was named for Puskás in 2002. He died in 2006, and the old stadium was demolished in 2017, replaced in 2019 by the Puskás Aréna.

*

November 25, 1953 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 96-84 at the Boston Garden.

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Syracuse Nationals, 66-58 at the Baltimore Coliseum. The Bullets folded a year later, and were eventually replaced in 1963, by the team that moved to the D.C. area in 1973, and are now known as the Washington Wizards. Also in 1963, the Nats moved, becoming the Philadelphia 76ers.

* And the Milwaukee Hawks beat the Fort Wayne Pistons, 64-58 at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena. The Hawks moved to St. Louis in 1958 and Atlanta in 1968; the Pistons, to Detroit in 1957.

There was 1 game in the NHL: The New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 5-3 at Madison Square Garden.

November 14, 1934: The Battle of Highbury

Left to right: Italy Captain Attilio Ferraris,

referee Otto Olsson, England Captain Eddie Hapgood

November 14, 1934: The most-hyped soccer game ever to that point is played. And, while the competition lived up to the hype, everything else was horrible.

In 1928, a dispute with the governing body of world soccer, the Fédération internationale de Football Association (FIFA), England left their jurisdiction. The other "home nations" of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland -- Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland -- followed suit. (To this day, I don't know why they compete as a single united kingdom in the Olympics Games, but, for every other event, the home nations each have their own separate teams.)

This made the home nations ineligible to play in FIFA's signature tournament, the World Cup, which began in 1930, with Uruguay winning on home soil. The 1934 tournament would be the 1st held in Europe, in Italy, then ruled by fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. With a team dominated by players from Juventus FC of Turin and FC Internazionale Milano of Milan, Italy won it.

But England, which "invented football" (at the least, it did so in an organized way), still thought it had the best team in the world. So they challenged Italy in a game to decide "the real world championship." Italy accepted. The game would be in England, so Mussolini couldn't use his authority to cheat. But he did offer an incentive: If they won, each player would receive a new Alfa Romeo car and a cash prize which, converted into 2022 U.S. money, was about $7,000, a pretty good figure during the Great Depression..

Italy manager Vittorio Pozzo sent out this lineup (with neither side wearing uniform numbers):

* Goalkeeper: Carlo Ceresoli of Inter. This was a change from the World Cup, where his keeper, and his Captain, was Gianpiero Combi of Juventus.

* Right Back: Eraldo Monzeglio of Bologna FC.

* Left Back: Luigi Allemandi of Inter.

* Right Half: Attilio Ferraris of SS Lazio of Rome, Italy's Captain for this game.

* Center Half: Luis Monti of Juventus.

* Left Half: Luigi Bertolini of Juventus.

* Outside Right: Enrique Guaita of AS Roma of Rome.

* Inside Right: Pietro Serantoni of Juventus.

* Center Forward: Giuseppe Meazza of Inter. He had been the inside right in the World Cup, but was moved to center forward for this game, replacing Angelo Schiavio of Bologna. The Milan stadium used by both Inter and AC Milan, known worldwide as the San Siro for its neighborhood, is officially named for Meazza, as he was the greatest Italian player of his generation.

* Inside Left: Giovanni Ferrari of Juventus.

* Outside Left: Raimundo Orsi of Juventus.

At the time, England did not have a "manager" as we now understand that term. Essentially, the team Captain was the head coach. Rather, a board of directors selected the starting eleven:

* Goalkeeper: Frank Moss of Arsenal FC. Arsenal, of North London, were the dominant team in England in the 1930s, winning 5 Football League titles and 2 FA Cups.

* Right Back: George Male of Arsenal.

* Left Back: Eddie Hapgood of Arsenal. So respected by his peers was Hapgood that he was named Captain of his country before he was named Captain of his club: Arsenal's Captain at the time was the great Scottish forward Alex James.

* Right Half: Cliff Britton of Everton FC, based in Liverpool.

* Center Half: Jack Barker of Derby County FC, in the East Midlands.

* Left Half: Wilf Copping of Arsenal. A purely defensive player, he never scored a goal for Arsenal. But he was the most feared player in the league. Not that he was dirty: Not once was he ever booked for a foul. (This was before Mike Riley, a known Arsenal hater, was in charge of English referees.)

* Outside Right: Stanley Matthews of Stoke City FC. At 19, he was the youngest player on the team. He would eventually become the grand old man of English football, playing for Stoke in Division One at age 50. In between tenures at Stoke, he would play for Lancashire side Blackpool FC. Playing his career for struggling teams, "The Wizard of Dribble" only won 1 trophy in his career, the 1953 FA Cup. In that game, his teammate Stan Mortensen became the 1st, and remains the only, player to score 3 goals in an FA Cup Final. And yet, the game is still called "The Matthews Final," such was his dominance of the game.

* Inside Right: Ray Bowden of Arsenal.

* Center Forward: Ted Drake of Arsenal. Recently acquired from Hampshire team Southampton FC, he became the top scorer in the country. The following year, he would tie the League record by scoring 7 goals against Birmingham team Aston Villa.

* Inside Left: Cliff Bastin of Arsenal. Normally an outside left, he would score 178 goals for "The Gunners," a team record that would last until surpassed by Ian Wright in 1997. He finished with 185, which was surpassed by Thierry Henry with 228.

* Outside Left: Eric Brook of Manchester City FC.

Seven players from Arsenal. It remains the only time 1 team has had 7 players in the England starting XI. So the match was set for Arsenal's home, Arsenal Stadium, known for its neighborhood as "Highbury." Although having little experience at the international level, these players were battle-tested in the toughest league in the world.

The referee was Otto Olsson, of Sweden. The crowd was given as 56,044 people. England wore white shirts and navy blue shorts, while Italy wore sky blue shirts and white shorts.

But when the game began at 3:00 on that Wednesday afternoon -- 10:00 in the morning, U.S. Eastern Time -- it was pouring rain, and the rain continued throughout the game. And the Italians were dirty from the outset. In only the 1st minute of the game, Drake had a one-on-one with Ceresoli, who crashed into him. Olsson awarded a penalty, but it was taken by Brook, who missed it.

Just a minute later, Monti tackled Drake, and broke his own foot in the process. A minute later, Brook headed in a cross from Matthews, and it was one-nil to England. Shortly thereafter, Hapgood took an elbow to the face, breaking his nose. In the 10th minute, Brook fired a free kick that Matthews said was "like a thunderbolt." It was 2-0 England. Just 2 minutes later, Drake made it 3-0. It looked like a wipeout.

By the 15-minute mark, both Monti and Hapgood had to leave the pitch. Both sides were down to 10 men. Pozzo changed tactics, and the Italian defense got tighter. And dirtier: Drake was punched, Brook's arm was broken, and Bowden got his ankle hurt. Olsson booked none of these offenses.

The Italians kept their tactics up in the 2nd half, and the tide of the game turned. Meazza scored twice within 4 minutes on either side of the hour mark. He fought hard for an equalizer, denied by saves from Moss and once hitting the post. When Olsson blew his whistle for full-time, it was still England 3, Italy 2.

England claimed to be the true world champions, their "gentlemen" having defeated the World Cup winners at their dirtiest, in a match that Matthews, whose length and greatness of career can be compared to American baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan and Canadian hockey player Gordie Howe, called it the most violent match in which he had ever played.

But Italy received its players as heroes. Recognizing that they had played under completely unfavorable conditions, they were hailed as "The Lions of Highbury." Mussolini, not bound by his promise because of the defeat, followed through anyway, giving the players the cash prizes and the cars.

Ceresoli lived until 1995, making him the last surviving Italian player from this game. Matthews was the game's last survivor, living until February 23, 2000.

Italy would repeat as World Cup winners in 1938. World War II canceled the World Cup of 1942, and the inability to set up qualifying matches because the European phase of the war didn't come until 1945 forced the cancellation of the 1946 edition. FIFA and the British home nations settled their differences, and England entered the 1950 World Cup, but failed until hosting the tournament in 1966. That remains the only international tournament that England have ever won. Italy have won the World Cup again in 1982 and 2006; and the UEFA European Championships of 1968 and 2020.

*

November 14, 1934 was a Wednesday. Baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And no games were scheduled for the NHL. So there were no other scores on this historic day.

October 26, 1938: England vs. The Rest of Europe & Hockey Comes to TV

Tommy Lawton

October 26, 1938: The Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury after its North London neighborhood, hosts a match between the England national team and a team representing "The Rest of Europe." The game commemorates, on the actual anniversary day, the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the Football Association. A crowd of 40,185, including King George VI, sees England win 3-0. It was the 2nd full England match to be shown live on British television.

The England team consisted of Arsenal's left back Eddie Hapgood (Captain) and left half Wilf Copping, Chelsea's goalkeeper Vic Woodley, Tottenham's right back Bert Sproston and inside right Willie Hall, Huddersfield's right half Ken Willingham, Wolverhampton Wanderers' centre half (and future title-winning manager) Stan Cullis, Stoke City's outside right Stanley Matthews, Everton's centre forward Tommy Lawton and outside left Walter Boyes, and West Ham United's inside left Len Goulden. Hall, Lawton and Goulden scored.

The Rest of Europe team included 5 players from recent World Cup winners Italy, 2 Germans, a Frenchman, a Belgian, a Hungarian, and a Norwegian. Only 1 of the 5 Italians was on the forward line, so even then, Italy was a defense-first footballing nation. It was Silvio Piola, considered too young for their 1934 World Cup winners, but starred on the 1938 version while playing his club soccer for Lazio in Rome. The Belgian, Ray Braine, was his country's 1st professional footballer, when he signed for Sparta Prague -- not in his own country, which had yet to allow professionalism, but in Czechoslovakia -- in 1930.

Ray Braine

The last survivor of each team was Cullis, who lived until 2001; and Pietro Rava of Italy and Juventus, who lived until 2006.

Also on this day, for the 1st time, an ice hockey match is televised. Oddly, this does not occur in Canada, or in America, or in any of the European nations that we now associate with the game, such as Russia or Sweden. It is in England, on the BBC, between Harringay Racers of North London and Streatham Redskins of South London. The broadcaster, at least, was a Canadian: Winnipeg-born Stuart MacPherson.

I don't have a record of the result, although Harringay finished ahead of Streatham in the English National League in the 1938-39 season. Harringay won it the preceding season, 1937-38, and Streatham had won it in 1934-35. Harringay folded in 1957, and have since been replaced by a new team using the name. Streatham are still in business.

In 1940, New York station W2XBS (forerunner of WNBC-Channel 4) would become the 1st TV station to broadcast an NHL game, a 6-2 New York Rangers win over the Montreal Canadiens at the old Madison Square Garden. Just 3 days after that, they would broadcast the 1st televised basketball game, also at the old Garden. That station had already done, all in New York City in 1939, the 1st TV broadcasts of baseball, at Ebbets Field; college football, at Columbia University's Baker Field; and the NFL, at the Polo Grounds.

In 1952, CBC would bring Hockey Night In Canada from radio to TV, and it quickly became, and remains, Canada's favourite (that's how it's "spelt" up there) TV show. But the U.S. -- ABC/ESPN, NBC and Fox have all tried -- has never really gotten hockey broadcasts right. "Glow puck," anyone?

*

October 26, 1938 was a Wednesday. Baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And the NHL season wouldn't start for another 8 days. So there were no other scores on this historic day.

October 23, 1963: England v. The Rest of the World

October 23, 1963: To celebrate its 100th Anniversary -- the actual Centennial was October 26, 3 days later -- the Football Association hosts a match at the old Wembley Stadium in London: "England vs. The Rest of the World." This was the 1st time a team of worldwide all-stars had played a single team, anywhere. (The FA had celebrated its 75th Anniversary in 1938 with an "England vs. The Rest of Europe" match at Wembley.)

Here are the lineups, with the player's club at the time. For England, managed by Alf Ramsey:

1, goalkeeper, Gordon Banks, Leicester City

2, right back, Jimmy Armfield, Blackpool, serving as Captain

3, left back, Ray Wilson, Huddersfield Town

4, right half, Gordon Milne, Liverpool

5, centre half, Maurice Norman of Tottenham Hotspur

6, centre half, Bobby Moore, West Ham United

7, outside right, Terry Paine, Southampton

8, inside right, Jimmy Greaves, Tottenham Hotspur

9, centre forward, Bobby Smith, Tottenham Hotspur

10, inside left, George Eastham, Arsenal

11, outside left, Bobby Charlton, of Manchester United.

Substitutes: 12, goalkeeper Tony Waiters of Blackpool; 13, fullback Ken Shellito of Chelsea; 14, midfielder Ron Flowers of Wolverhampton Wanderers; 15, left half Tony Kay of Everton; and 16, centre half Joe Baker of Arsenal, who was born in England, and thus had to play for England under the rules of the time, even though his parents were Scottish, and he'd lived most of his life in Scotland.

For "The Rest of the World," managed by Fernando Riera of Benfica, of Lisbon, Portugal:

1, goalkeeper, Lev Yashin, Soviet Union and Dynamo Moscow

2, right back, Djalma Santos, Brazil and Palmeiras

3, left back, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, West Germany and Italian team Mantova

4, right half, Svatopluk Pluskal, Czechoslovakia and Dukla Prague

5, centre half, Ján Popluhár, Czechoslovakia and Rudá Hvezda Brno (Red Star Bruno)

6, left half, Josef Masopust, Czechoslovakia and Dukla Prague

7, outside right, Raymond Kopa, France and Stade de Reims

8, inside right, Denis Law, Scotland and Manchester United

9, centre forward, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentina and Real Madrid, who served as Captain

10, inside left, Eusébio, Portugal and Benfica

11, outside left, Francisco Gento, Spain and Real Madrid.

Substitutes: 1, goalkeeper Milutin Šoškić of Yugoslavia and Partizan Belgrade; 2, right back Luis Eyzaguirre of Chile and Universidad de Chile; 6, left back Jim Baxter of Scotland and Glasgow Rangers; 9, centre forward Uwe Seeler of West Germany and Hamburger SV; and 10, midfielder Ferenc Puskás of Hungary and Real Madrid.

So, 3 from South America, 1 from Africa (Eusébio was from Mozambique, still a colony of Portugal until 1975), none from Asia, none from North America (certainly, no Americans), 6 from Eastern Europe, 5 from Western Europe, and 2 from the British Isles but not England (Law and Baxter, both Scots).

Riera had managed his homeland of Chile, including Eyzaguirre, to 3rd place on home soil in the 1962 World Cup. Yashin had helped the Soviet Union win the 1st-ever European Championship in 1960. Santos was the only member of the Brazil team that won the 1958 and 1962 World Cups to participate: For whatever reason, Pelé of Santos, who turned 23 that day, did not. Pluskal, Popluhár and Masopust were members of the Czech team that reached the Final of the 1962 World Cup, losing to Brazil. That was the closest any Warsaw Pact nation ever came to winning the World Cup.

The Captains before the match: Armfield (left) and Di Stéfano

The England attack, led by Greaves, had several good chances to score, but Yashin kept denying them. In the 2nd half, Riera replaced Yashin with Šoškić. Big mistake: Greaves assisted Paine, who scored in the 66th minute. Law, already terrorizing England for Man U in a forward pairing with Charlton (they were the holders of the FA Cup), equalized in the 82nd minute. It looked like a draw (as a friendly, there was no plan for extra time), but in the 90th and last minute, Greaves scored to make it 2-1 England.

Greaves, who had helped Tottenham win the 1962 FA Cup and the 1963 European Cup Winners' Cup (but had been with Chelsea when "Spurs" won the 1961 League title and FA Cup, "The Double"), was hailed as the best attacker in the world. Yashin was hailed as the best goalkeeper, and was soon honored with the Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball) as World Player of the Year. He remains the only goalkeeper ever to receive it.

This win gave Alf Ramsey and his players the realization that they could actually win the 1966 World Cup, which would be played on home soil. Banks, Wilson, Moore and Charlton would start for England in the Final. Armfield, Greaves, Eastham and Flowers would also be selected for that winning England team. Kay would not be a member of that team, banned from the game for his participation in the 1964 British football betting scandal.

*

October 23, 1963 was a Wednesday. The baseball season was over. American football was in midweek. And no NHL games were scheduled. But there were 3 NBA games played that day:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Baltimore Bullets, 115-106 at the Baltimore Civic Center. Walt Bellamy, later to be a Knick, scored 41 for the Bullets, who are now the Washington Wizards. The Civic Center is now named the CFG Bank Arena.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons, 124-116 at Cobo Hall in Detroit. The arena is now named the TCF Center. Jerry West scored 31.

* And the San Francisco Warriors beat the St. Louis Hawks, 99-95. Wilt Chamberlain scored 22 points, but that did not lead the game: Bob Pettit scored 24 in defeat.

October 20, 1945: Wales Shock England In a "Victory International"

October 20, 1945: It was a good idea for the England national football (soccer) team to play a series of "Victory International" matches against the national teams of Great Britain's other "Home Nations" following World War II. But it might not have been a good idea to play the match they played on this day.

They had begun on September 15, a month after V-J Day, beating Ireland -- a combined Republic and Northern Ireland team -- 1-0 at Windsor Park in Belfast, on a goal by Stan Mortensen. But, on this day, they played Wales at The Hawthorns, in West Bromwich, outside Birmingham, home ground of West Bromwich Albion, and lost 1-0, in front of 54,611.

This is the greatest victory that Wales has ever had over their far more storied neighbors, and would have remained their greatest victory ever so had they not done well in the 1958 World Cup and Euro 2016. The goal was scored by Aubrey Powell, a forward who played most of his career for Yorkshire team Leeds United, and turned out to be the last survivor of this Wales team, living until 2009.

England would go on to play 5 more Victory Internationals in 1946. On January 19, they beat Belgium 2-0 at the old Wembley Stadium in London. On April 13, they were stunned 1-0 by Scotland at Hampden Park in Glasgow. On May 11, they beat Switzerland 4-1 at Wembley. On May 19, they lost to France 2-1 at the Stade Colombes in Paris. (That's the main stadium from the 1924 Olympics, and it still stands.)

And on August 24, they played Scotland to a 2-2 draw at Maine Road in Manchester, then the home of both big clubs in Manchester, as Manchester City had invited Manchester United to "groundshare" while Old Trafford was repaired following the Nazis bombing it. Other stadiums, including Arsenal's Highbury in North London, had sustained Luftwaffe damage, but none nearly as bad as Old Trafford.

The last survivor of the England players from these Victory Internationals was Bert Williams, who went on to star as goalkeeper for the great Wolverhampton Wanderers teams of the 1950s, and lived until 2014.

*

October 20, 1945 was a Saturday. Baseball season was over. The NFL played the next day. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And the NHL season wouldn't start for another 4 days. But there were a lot of college football games, and here were some of the bigger ones:

* Number 1 Army beat the Melville PT Boat crew, 55-13 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York. At the end of the season, the polls patriotically named Army the National Champions.

* Number 2 Navy beat Georgia Tech, 20-6 at Municipal Stadium, in Baltimore, which they frequently used for games too large for Thompson Stadium on their campus in nearby Annapolis, Maryland. From 1950 to 1954, Municipal Stadium was reconstructed and turned into Memorial Stadium. Navy took a 7-0-1 record into their season finale with Army, but lost.

* Number 3 Notre Dame beat the University of Pittsburgh, 39-9 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Fighting Irish would lose their perfect record 2 weeks later in a tie with Navy in Cleveland, lose their unbeaten status the next week against Army at Yankee Stadium, and end the season with a loss to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station on their ground in Chicago.

* Number 4 Ohio State lost to Number 9 Purdue, 35-13 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Ohio State's only other loss would be in their season finale against Michigan. Purdue would fall from the ranks of the unbeaten a week after this, against Northwestern.

* Number 5 Minnesota beat Northwestern, 30-7 at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. The Golden Gophers were 4-0. But they lost their last 5 games, though it should be noted that the next 3 were all against ranked teams.

* Number 6 Alabama beat Tennessee, 25-7 at Legion Field in Birmingham. 'Bama finished undefeated, won the Southeastern Conference title, and beat USC in the Rose Bowl. But they only finished Number 2 in the final polls.

* Number 8 Indiana beat Iowa, 52-20 at Iowa Stadium (later Kinnick Stadium) in Iowa City. The Hoosiers finished 9-0-1, and won what remains their only outright Big Ten Conference title. But they were not invited to a bowl game, and finished the season ranked Number 4.

* Number 10 Texas beat Arkansas, 34-7 at the old Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. Texas' only loss came the next week, 7-6 to Rice. They went on to win the Southwest Conference title, and beat Missouri in the Cotton Bowl.

* Number 12 Georgia were upset by Louisiana State, 32-0 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. The Bulldogs would lose the next week, too, 28-14 to Alabama in Birmingham. Those would be their only losses that season.

* Number 14 USC beat the College of the Pacific, 52-0 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Southern Cal would win the Pacific Coast Conference title, but lose to Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

* Number 15 Oklahoma A&M, between back-to-back National Championships by their basketball team, beat Utah, 46-6 at Ute Stadium in Salt Lake City. A&M would beat St. Mary's, of California's East Bay, in the Sugar Bowl, finish ranked Number 5, and change their name to Oklahoma State in 1958.

* Number 19 Holy Cross beat Brown, 25-0 at Brown Stadium in Providence, Rhode Island. Holy Cross went to the Orange Bowl, but lost it to the University of Miami, who were idle on October 20.

* In New York City, Number 17 Columbia beat Colgate, 31-7 at Baker Field in Manhattan. The Lions went 8-1, their only loss to Penn at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* New York University beat their arch-rivals, City College of New York. It was NYU 47, CCNY 0 at Ohio Field, NYU's home field, in The Bronx.

* Fordham University suspended its program for the 1943, '44 and '45 seasons, restarting in 1946.

* Among New Jersey teams, Princeton beat Cornell, 14-6 at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, New York.

* And Rutgers beat Rhode Island State, 39-7 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway.

October 7, 2000: The Old Wembley Finale

October 7, 2000: The last event is held in the 77-year history of the original Wembley Stadium in London. The England national soccer team loses to Germany, 1-0. The last goal in the stadium is scored by Dietmar Hamann, who was, at the least, playing for an English club at the time, Liverpool.

Paul Scholes of Manchester United and England (left)

and Marco Bode of Werder Bremen and Germany

Liverpool had been the club at which Kevin Keegan rose to stardom. He had also played in Germany, for Hamburger SV, before returning home, and starring for Southampton and Newcastle United. He had managed several teams, including nearly taking Newcastle to the 1996 Premier League title. So after Glenn Hoddle was properly fired as England manager, Keegan, known as Mighty Mouse for being short but talented, was named manager.

But after this match, the media cornered him in the bathroom of the dressing room, and he resigned. And so, Wembley's history as the home of English football ended with "Keegan quits in the toilet." (In England, "the toilet" is the entire rest room, not just the bowl.) Although Keegan has had a few managing jobs since, he has never again managed any national side.

One more note: 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.

It was demolished in 2002, and delays meant that the new Wembley Stadium did not open until 2007.

*

October 7, 2000 was a Saturday. This was also the day the TV show Queen of Swords premiered. I have a separate entry for that event.

It was also the day of Game 3 of the National League Division Series. Benny Agbayani's 13th inning home run ends the longest LDS game ever played to that point, 5 hours and 22 minutes. The dramatic round-tripper by the Mets outfielder, who (like a previous Met, Sid Fernandez) wears Number 50 because he's from Hawaii, the 50th State, gives the Mets a 3-2 victory, and a 2-games-to-1 series advantage over the San Francisco Giants.

In the other NLDS, the St. Louis Cardinals do the Mets a huge favor, completing a 3-game sweep over the team in the Mets' heads, the Atlanta Braves. The Cards win, 7-1 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.

In the American League Division Series, the Oakland Athletics beat the New York Yankees, 11-1 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the Network Associates Coliseum) in Game 4. This ties the series up. But the Yankees win the series the next day. The other ALDS was wrapped up the day before, with the Seattle Mariners sweeping the Chicago White Sox.

On the same day, the Columbus Blue Jackets bring the NHL back to Ohio after 22 years, and give the State capital its 1st-ever major league team, unless you count Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew, or the Columbus Bullies who won the only titles of the 1940-41 American Football League.

Their 1st game is at home against the Chicago Blackhawks, who win, 5-3 at Nationwide Arena, still the Jackets' home. Their 1st goal is scored by Bruce Gardiner. I have a separate entry for this game.

It is also the night of the 1st game for another expansion team, the Minnesota Wild. They open on the road, at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix, and lose to the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-1.

Elsewhere in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 2-1 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-1 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes play to a tie, 3-3 at the Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena (now the Lenovo Center).

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Dallas Stars, 3-1 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, Ontario.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat their arch-rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, 2-0 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Nashville Predators, 3-1 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-3 at the HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* And the Colorado Rockies and the Edmonton Oilers play to a tie, 1-1 at the Skyreach Centre, as the Northlands Coliseum was then known, in Edmonton.

And there was college football on the day, including the following games:

* Number 1 Florida State were upset by Number 7 Miami, 27-24 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The Hurricanes won the Big East Conference title. Florida State still won the Atlantic Coast Conference title.

* Number 2 Nebraska beat Iowa State, 49-27 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

* Number 3 Virginia Tech beat Temple, 35-13 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.

* Number 4 Kansas State beat their arch-rivals, Kansas, 52-13 at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas.

* Number 5 Clemson beat North Carolina State, 34-27 at Clemson Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.

* Number 6 Michigan lost to Purdue, 32-31 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue won the Big 10 Conference title.

* Number 8 Ohio State beat Number 24 Wisconsin, 23-7 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.

* Number 10 Oklahoma beat Number 11 Texas, 63-14 in the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The Sooners went on to win beat Kansas State for the Big 12 Conference title, and Florida State in the Orange Bowl, and won the National Championship.

* Number 12 Florida beat Louisiana State, 41-9 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida. The Gators went on to beat Auburn for the Southeastern Conference title, but lost the Sugar Bowl to Miami.

* Number 13 Washington beat Number 23 Oregon State, 33-30 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. Washington won the Pacific-10 Conference title, and beat Purdue in the Rose Bowl.

* Number 15 Auburn were upset by Number 20 Mississippi State, 17-10 at Scott Field in Starkville, Mississippi.

* Number 18 Southern California were upset by Arizona, 31-15 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* Number 19 Georgia beat Number 21 Tennessee, 21-10 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. Tennessee still ended up going to the Cotton Bowl, but lost it to Kansas State.

* Number 25 Notre Dame beat Stanford, 20-14 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame went to the Fiesta Bowl, but lost to Oregon State.

* Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) beat arch-rival Nevada, 38-7 at Sam Boyd Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Whitney, Nevada.

* In a battle between service academies, Air Force beat Navy, 27-13 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

* Army lost to New Mexico State, 42-23 at Aggie Memorial Stadium in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

July 30, 1966: England Win the World Cup

Captain Bobby Moore raises the Jules Rimet Trophy,

while his teammates raise him

July 30, 1966: England win the World Cup, beating West Germany 4-2 after extra time, on home soil, at the original Wembley Stadium in London.

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

There was a minute of stoppage time, but the Germans could do nothing with it. England had won, 4-2. Captain Moore led the England players up the famous Wembley steps, and received the World Cup trophy from his head of state, Queen Elizabeth II.

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.

*

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.

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.

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.

An article for ESPN.com, published after the 2026 World Cup, ranking all 23 tournaments, rated this one 2nd, behind 1982. 

*

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.)