Alf's Boys

Football
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There is an old saying, “Nostalgia isnt what is used to be.” Well for some of us of a certain age, a trip down memory lane last night certainly was. 50 years ago next month England did what only Sir Alf Ramsey thought they would do and won the World Cup. It was fascinating to hear the stories of those who were bit part players along with the main stars. Ian Callahan, Jimmy Armfield and Norman Hunter were squad players but go to tell their stories. Sir Geoff Hurst washed his car and cut his lawn the day after. Jack Charlton woke up in somoenes garden the next morning. Jimmy Greaves clearly never got over the disappointment of not playing in the final although he says he had bigger knocks (and given that he was the best finisher we had at the time you can understand why). His England career pretty much ended there. He went on holiday that night as he didnt want to be in the way! I loved the story told by Hurst and Bally about how Bally was screaming for the ball when Hurst scored the fourth and still had a go at him years later for not squaring the ball - although he did conceed that it was a good goal! Sir Bobby Charlton was clearly upset that Ramsey asked him to man marl Beckenbaur and strangely The Kaiser was also told to man mark Charlton, so both of them had little part in the game. Bobby Moore’s wife told the tale of John Connelly (another squad player) who nipped out to find his wife for a quicky as he hadnt had much contact with her for 7 weeks only to be told that she wasnt going to mess up her hair and make up for the evening winners bash, so no! Moorwes wife remembered him kissing the Jules Rimet trophy more passionately than he kissed her! She also told how he was battling testitular cancer but still become the England captain despite his problems. There were stories about Nobby Stiles’ teeth, how Ramsey didnt let any of the players feel that their positions were safe, how Moore earned £8 a week and his wife earned £11 when they first met. A completely different world and as Jimmy Greaves said, it was a time when the game was played by real men. I still have a tear in my eye writing this now. And although we didnt get to hear from Terry Paine, he did pop up in several of the clips. I remember him playing against Mexico and he had a good game, but once Ramsey decided to do away with wingers and use overlapping full backs, that was his lot. I was 12 years old at the time, what a great time to be alive. I only just released that my eldest daughter was born on the 30 anniversary of that great day, 30th July 1966.

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Should have added that the squad was given the princely sum of £22,000 for winning the final (less than the Germans got for losing it) and were told that the money should be divided up based on how many apperances each player had made if the competition. The senior players got together and decided that wasnt fair and decided to divi up the money equally so they all got £1000 each.

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I’m off to see the final at Harbour Lights on the anniversary.

So no spoilers!

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The other anecdote I meant to share was the the press went road to Sir Alf’s house the day after to get some more quotes only to be told that he wouldnt be speaking to them as it was his day off!

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I have heard that for the re-run they have introduced goal line technology… Enjoy!

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Great stuff. A different world.

David Bull’s biography of Terry Paine has quite a bit about the development of the ‘wingless wonders’ style. Ramsey had it in place for a year - mentioned in the film - but didn’t unveil it until the quarter final, using conventional wingers - including Paine - in the group games.

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I was working part time in an eletrical shop in Lymington at the time. We were watching the game on a 17" TV and believe it or not there were actually people not watching the game but shopping and expecting to be served…fuck off!

I remember the whole tournament well, exciting times…I was having driving lessons during June and July but always got home in time for the start of the games.

Brasil got dumped out in the first round…Pele was assassinated in their first game…the Hungary/Brasil game was brilliant (on YouTube somewhere) and well worth watching the highlights. The North Korea/Italy game will always live in the memory…look for that one on YouTube too.

Expectations for England were high in those days…always good to watch the great attacking players we had at the time and a solid defense. I loved watching England in those days.

BTW Football was in black and white in those days…if you see any colour footage it’s simply been digitally enhanced in recent years.

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Did any one see the film that folowed called “Goal?” That was in colour. To this day that shade of red is my favourite on a football shirt.

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