Who ensured we didn’t claim Bobby was a thief
the reputation of Colombian football”. Two policemen had to watch him.
“We couldn’t ask the police who were trying to prosecute him, so I turned again to the DAS whose commander, General Luis Etilio Leyva, I knew well. He told me to meet him at the military hospital at 9pm. However, by the time we got there, the general had flitted. We took Moore back to the Embassy.”
The situation was desperate – without an armed guard, Moore would have had to go to prison. Luckily, Morris had Leyva’s home phone number, and after a sleepy 1am phone call, he agreed to “send a couple of chaps”.
By chance, the British press remained in the dark, further aiding Morris’s attempts “to keep the situation calm”.
“Some of the greatest sports writers of all time, like Hugh Mcilvanney and Brian Glanville, were there. But they’d gone to the famous Salt Cathedral 20 miles away then back to the airport and only when the team arrived did they discover Moore was missing.
“Lord Harewood accompanied the team to Mexico, leaving the chairman and secretary of the FA to handle the situation. They kept Prime Minister Harold Wilson in touch, knowing he’d called an election with a probable strong England performance in the World Cup in mind. The new ambassador – an old Colombia hand who loved a crisis – and I were instructed to lobby the Colombian Foreign Ministry persistently.”
Moore took part in a re-enactment. Padilla’s accusations were undermined when she claimed he had put the bracelet in the left pocket of the official England blazer. “It was pointed out it didn’t have a left pocket,” says Morris.
Suddenly, the crisis was over. Without warning, and “against all their legalistic principles” the authorities announced
Moore could go on to Mexico if he was prepared to come back. “He never had to,” says Morris. “But the case ran on and on. It went on until 1972 and wasn’t declared closed until 1975.”
Fifty years on, what impresses Morris is how Moore withstood the pressure. “He was a cool character and didn’t panic. He performed in the way he did on the field. Moore wasn’t very fast but he had a football brain and nerves of steel. He rose to the occasion.”
Many theories have since arisen. “The most spectacular is Brazil arranged it because they saw England as their strongest opponent. Another is the shop owner saw the possibility of framing Moore and calculated England would pay thousands to stop his arrest, or that Padilla hadn’t noticed an earlier theft and pinned it on Moore. Yet another is Moore took the rap for a teammate: the ‘third man’. I don’t believe Moore could have done it. It would have been an extraordinary risk – he’d have to have been a kleptomaniac.
“He and his wife Tina were the first Posh and Becks. There was not the slightest sign from the England camp it could possibly have happened and should be ‘dealt with’ in a discreet way.
“The most probable explanation is a scam on the part of the shop although when I became Ambassador to Colombia in 1990, their lawyer told me there was a ‘deep mystery’, which would seem to rule out both his clients and Moore.”
For Morris, the 50th anniversary is the time to put the affair to bed.
“To the country, Wembley 1966 was Moore’s finest hour. But to me, the way he behaved in Bogatá was even finer. He kept calm and carried on in an incredibly difficult situation and went on to play one his best games against Brazil.
“That is what we should celebrate.”