Crowning glory
KEVIN HALLS recalls the day when England won the World Cup – and caused chaos at home in Coventry
The day England won the World Cup
IWAS a young lad when Bobby Moore held aloft the Jules Rimet Trophy at Wembley that glorious day half a century ago. I can recall vividly sitting in our house in Coventry watching the game on the telly with my mum, Sybil, and dad, Reg, and with our dog, Candy, sat on the floor probably wondering what all the fuss was about?
I also can remember my sister, Jackie, coming down from her bedroom and asking what all the noise was about.
She disliked the beautiful game and when told it was our country’s biggest ever match, she just shrugged her shoulders and went back to her room to play her Beatles records.
So there we were sat on the settee, all set for the Three Lions to go head to head with our deadly rivals West Germany, with the living room decked out with flags and banners.
The excitement was at fever pitch when, finally, the game got underway. I was 12 years of age and football-mad, as was my dad.
My mum must have got caught up with the mania sweeping the country at that time, as she got well into it and was shouting every now and again:“Come on England, stick it in the net !”
Then the mood in the house became subdued when those pesky Germans scored in the 13th minute with a goal by Haller.
I’m sure our dog growled at the screen when the ball hit the back of the net, and I do recall my dad swearing and my mum telling him to calm down.
Me? I was crestfallen and nearly in tears but the house soon became joyous again when Geoff Hurst headed us level, and our mutt replaced his growls with loud barking.
The noise must have been loud as my pain-inthe-butt sister came down the stairs to see what all the racket was about – to witness me and my dad doing a jig, and my mum giving the dog a hug!
So we got to half-time level at 1-1 and I remember my dad saying,‘We are going to win and become world champions’.
I was full of excitement and went outside to have a kickabout while my mum made the tea, with my sister still in her room probably with hairbrush in her hand pretending to be a pop singer. How could she not be interested in our national team trying to become the best international team on the planet? So the second half kicked off and there wasn’t much between the sides until another West Ham player Martin Peters rammed home from closerange with 15 minutes to go to put us 2-1 up. That’s when the roof of our house nearly came off! The dog ran out into the garden in fright, my sister said we were all nuts and I saw my parents kissing for the first time. In other words, our home descended into bedlam – and surely my dad’s prediction was about to come true? Then disaster struck when they went and equalised a minute from the end, sending us back into the doldrums again. So it went into extra-time with the three of us sitting on the edge of the sofa with sweaty palms and fingernails being bitten. Then Hurst got the ball swivelled and blasted a shot onto the bar and down onto the line. Surely it was a goal, wasn’t it? The referee, after consulting the Russian linesman, indicated yes, it had crossed the line – and so cue more wild celebrations in our house and across the country. And to round off a truly wonderful but emotional day Hurst blasted home goal number four, and his treble, to the words of the great commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme: “They think it’s all over, it is now!” What a fantastic football match and a day I’ll never ever forget. It’s an occasion firmly etched in my memory which I can recall as if it happened a few years ago and not a half century. It would be great if our current team could emulate the squad of ’66 and who’s to say they can’t – anything is possible in football, isn’t it? So to quote that great football motivator, my late mother:“Come on England, stick it in the net!”