It was 50 years ago today ....

Remember it well, I was one of the lucky ones who was there! The only way I could guarantee a Final ticket was to            
purchase a season ticket, so I booked my annual holidays and off I went. I missed some of the early games as the competition lasted longer than my allowed fortnight.After the extra time I had to hot foot it to Kings Cross to catch
the evening train back home,as I was on 4-12 shift on the Sunday !

It is difficult for people to appreciate quite what this day meant to the country. Whether we "deserved" it or whether it was good for our football in the long runl is totally irrelevant.

You have to remember that only 50 years before the 30th July 1966 thousands of men were in the middle of the Battle Of The Somme. Only 21 years before 1966, World War Two had still not finished. It is very hard for me to explain to younger people why the day mattered so much to us. It was after all just a game of football. But it represented so much more to us all, even people who normally had no interest in the game. We revelled in every moment.

I think as much as anything it was that we had come to really know those players as the tournament went along. We felt for them when things went wrong and we delighted when they went right. They sort of were us out there on that field, striving to do the best they could and proving that the old place had something to offer.

The players were inspirational in every way across the generations. To us lads they were something to aspire to. To our parents and grandparents they were the new generation that they had been through two world wars and decades of deprivation to create.

As a 9 year old, I watched this game on the telly 100% and it's now when you know how lucky you were to have witnessed this. England should have won a few more titles but they haven't.

I can remember missing the opening group game against Uruguay (0-0) because I was playing football in the street, but I saw the rest of the group games against France and Mexico. The game against Argentina in the quarters - bit of a blur - can't remember Rattin getting sent off - but Bobby Charlton against Portugal - what a man!

As for Geoff Hurst - the crowd - they're on the pitch - they think it's all over  -    IT IS NOW

I cried when England won the world cup

The announcer said that Doctor Who would be.late

I watched the Final at the back of a crowded café in a small town in Germany  - we were on a bus trip of youth clubs to the Rhine valley, staying at various youth hostels, and the bus pulled up 10 minutes before kick-off and we all dispersed to whatever cafes or bars we could find that were showing the game (on small screen TVs).

There were 5 or 6 of us (including my father and some of the other organisers of the trip) squeezed into the last seats with about 30 locals in front of us, who took our cheers for the England goals in good spirit - even at the end of the game.

It was somewhat eerie though as we exuberant youths got back on the bus in the otherwise deserted town centre square, celebrating with innocent (and naiive) national pride.

We replayed the Final a couple of days later at one of the Youth Hostels in an ad hoc friendly against a team of local German lads (I think we lost!)

I was 18 and living at home I would have watched the game with  my dad sadly he was working,

So I watched the game by myself,

After we had won I went out into the street to celebrate,

BUT

Nobody else came out.

Quoted from grimsby pete

I was 18 and living at home I would have watched the game with  my dad sadly he was working,

So I watched the game by myself,

After we had won I went out into the street to celebrate,

BUT

Nobody else came out.

You should have come up our end Pete,    quite a few out there round the Old Clee Club and the Spiders.

I've seen so many replays and films of that final since
it's difficult to remember that we, like most of the nation,
watched it in black and white. With England having  to play
in red shirts they appeared to be in grey.

The particular highlight of the tournament for me was,
sitting in my office one morning a few days earlier I got
a phone call from a pal."Do you want to go to the match
tonight?" were his first excited words .Someone had
three tickets for that evening's semi-final at Wembley
against Portugal and at the last minute decided they didn't
want to go.

Eight hours later we had parked on a pub car park, had a
few beers and after a five minute walk were in a near 100,000
crowd cheering England through to the final.

Carried away in the atmosphere we decided to go and celebrate
down the West End after agreeing to share the driving home.

Just after 6am the next morning I dropped my two mates off
on Weelsby Road. Neither had opened their eyes since we set
off from Covent Garden.

Thank goodness there was no breathalyser those days and, yes,
I was fifty years younger.

Quoted from grimsby pete

I was 18 and living at home I would have watched the game with  my dad sadly he was working,

So I watched the game by myself,

After we had won I went out into the street to celebrate,

BUT

Nobody else came out.

And that's what comes of growing up in Hamburg Pete.  

My memories of 66 are a bit sketchy

What I do recall is our old black & white TV being on the blink

I watched the first game against Uruguay at next doors all excited as most little kids were at the time

Of course it ended up being a boring disappointing 0-0 but after that England won every game and by hook or by crook I managed to get to see them all, euphoria building game by game

In between times of course the old Jules Rimet trophy went missing causing a near panic as to what would happen to the winners of the competition only to have a national hero in Pickles save the day

Come the day of the final my dad managed to get us a telly - second hand but it was better than the one that kept failing and that Saturday afternoon will never leave me

Top of the world we were and as a young boy who'd found football only a couple of years earlier this was the best ever feeling

I think RRFC above hit the nail on the head.....there was a connection between the public and the lads who had pulled on the shirts to represent our country

We were with them all the way and they repaid us with the trophy. Every single one of them public heroes....they were just at one with us; lads who had stepped up and enjoyed the privilege and who wore the shirt with pride

I don't think we'll ever see the day again when we are all in it together which is something that must have motivated the team

Nowadays there is such a gulf between players and fans and in my opinion that doesn't help in any way. Time will tell but it's unlikely that the modern mercenaries have it in them to go all the way with the nation's expectations weighing too heavily on them

Still for those of us who were lucky enough to experience the event 50 years ago we should be thankful. We witnessed something that the current generation are unlikely to see. One moment in time that we still recall and look back on fondly even half a century later