Finally solving a decades-old sport mystery
1966: Who Stole the World Cup? Channel 4, 10pm
IT is one of the most iconic images in British sporting history, when the late Queen presented England captain Bobby Moore with the gleaming Jules Rimet Trophy at the old Wembley Stadium in July 1966.
However, as people who know their football folklore will tell you, it almost never happened.
Ahead of the 2022 World Cup which kicks off in Qatar this weekend, this documentary, narrated by Alan Ford (Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch), looks at one of the most audacious and surprising stories in the tournament’s history – one that took place entirely away from the pitch.
The tale, which involves spivs and wide boys from south London, the Flying Squad, and a dog named Pickles, is worthy of any classic British crime flick.
It begins in January 1966, when the Football Association receives the silvergilt trophy ahead of the scheduled World Cup in the July.
While it was usually kept in their headquarters at Lancaster Gate, Stanley Gibbons’ Stampex company received permission to place the trophy in their exhibition, on condition that it would be under guard at all times.
However, on Sunday, March 20, guards noticed that someone had forced open the display case and stolen the trophy.
With the FA, the government and the police in danger of becoming an international laughing stock, Scotland Yard took control of the case.
The story went public the next day, before FA Chairman Joe Mears received an anonymous phone call.
A parcel was eventually delivered to his home containing the removable lining from the top of the trophy and a ransom note demanding £15,000 in £1 and £5 notes.
Despite warnings from the thieves that they would melt the trophy down, Mears met DI Charles Buggy from the Flying Squad and gave him the package.
What followed was a game of cat and mouse, with the police instructing Mears to create a false ransom payment out of bundles of paper and arrange a switch.
After a somewhat failed undercover operation, the blackmailer, who was going by the name of “Jackson” was identified as petty thief and used car dealer Edward Betchley.
A few days later, on March 27, David Corbett and his dog Pickles were walking in Beulah Hill, south east London, when Pickles began to sniff at a parcel lying under a hedge.
When Corbett opened the package, he recognised the trophy and handed it in at Gipsy Hill police station.
Police announced the recovery of the World Cup the next morning, and Pickles became a celebrity, appearing on TV and in movies, while Corbett attended the players’ celebration dinner after the World Cup final.
Meanwhile, Betchley was convicted of demanding money with menaces with intent to steal and banged up.
But that wasn’t the end of the story. In 2018, investigative journalist Tom Pettifor identified the Jules Rimet Trophy thief as Sidney Cugullere, a criminal known by many as Mr Crafty, who loved to boast that he was “the first Englishman to lift the World Cup”.
The 1966 tournament is, so far, is the only time the Three Lions have got their hands on the famous trophy.
Fans will be hoping that changes soon, but in the meantime, this film is a reminder of how the nation’s greatest footballing achievement was almost overshadowed by an audacious theft.