NEXT STOP FOR OUR FANS: EURO 2020... AND WEMBLEY When football does come home, as it did in ’66, it will be worth all the pain!
ENGLAND fans have had their pride restored at this World Cup.
But those old enough to have witnessed the Class of ’66 crowned World Champions at Wembley will testify their achievement remains the benchmark for all future Three Lions teams.
As an 18-year-old on that unforgettable Saturday afternoon of July 30,1966, despite being a Scot, I huddled with three Geordie pals and a crate of Newcastle Brown Ale around a monochrome 19in, telly to watch the most important game in England’s history.
A record British TV audience of 32.3million viewers tuned in to see England beat West Germany 4-2 after extra time.
The game was screened on both BBC and ITV. We fortunately plumped for the dulcet tones of the Beeb’s Kenneth Wolstenholme.
And were privileged to hear live, his iconic description of Geoff Hurst’s hat-trick goal: “Some people are on the pitch. They think it’s all over... it is now!”
Looking back, the only downside was watching the epic two-hour contest in black and white as colour programming didn’t arrive in the UK until 1967.
Before kickoff the pitch shadows indicated the stadium was bathed in sunshine. But England’s vivid red shirts, Wembley’s green sward and the golden Jules Rimet trophy simply came across as a murky mix of black, grey and white.
The first chance England fans had to see colour highlights from the famous victory didn’t arrive until the movie Goal! was shown in cinemas some time later. 1966 was a radically different competition from World Cup 2018.
It was simpler, smaller and, for England, successful on the pitch. But poorly organised off it.
There were no fan parks, no substitutes, no penalty shoot-outs, no VAR (just the 52 years too late to rule on whether Hurst’s controversial second goal fully crossed the line).
And, when players’ wives met up with their husbands post-match at their London hotel after weeks of separation, shamefully, they weren’t allowed to attend the victory banquet with the team and Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Male chauvinism still ruled at FA HQ.
Interestingly, unlike recent tournaments, most England supporters waved the Union Jack at Wembley rather than the St. George’s Cross.
Few overseas fans travelled here in numbers.
The city of Liverpool had 20,000 beds available, but only 800 were taken up – despite Goodison Park drawing the biggest gates outside of Wembley.
I managed on my modest £4-a-week wages to splash out slightly over a pound to buy two terracing tickets at Sunderland’s Roker Park and one at Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park – both grounds now long gone.
Ayresome provided a classic giant-killing act, Pak Doo-ik writing himself into the history books with minnows North Korea’s winner against Italy.
Another unforgettable moment for me was meeting the great Hungarian-born legend Ferenc Puskas at the Soviet Union-hungary quarterfinal at Roker Park.
After the Final, I took a bus to the Northumbrian town of Ashington to witness brothers Bobby and Jack Charlton receive a heroes’ welcome on their return home.
The celebrations that took place throughout England resembled a jubilant fusion of VE Day and the Coronation.
There was definitely never a better time to be an England fan.
The dream of younger fans who missed out on 1966 is that Gareth Southgate’s young charges can one day provide a winning sequel and spark another orgy of national celebration.
Euro 2020, with the final at Wembley, would be fitting.
It can’t come too soon!