Category: Summer of Sixty Six

Summer of Sixty Six – Part Seventeen

We’d won the World Cup

But they wanted it back!

So the games that we played

Would last all day.

There’d be big kids

And small kids

At different times

But the games that we played

Would never end.

And maybe we won

Or maybe we lost

I can’t really

Tell you and that’s

Because

We’d each keep the score

There’d be more than one

We each had our own

And believed we’d won.

Three figure scores

Would be the norm.

With jumpers for goal posts

Or maybe a tree

We’d fight to defend

That victory.

They couldn’t speak English

We couldn’t speak Deutsch

The game did the talking

And that was enough.

It didn’t get nasty

It didn’t get rough

But agreeing on rules

Was sometimes tough.

We still thought

And with scores to settle

The Germans were out

To test our mettle.

So I played for my country

And in a small way

I feel like part

Of that history.

Not quite through yet. Where will this end?

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Summer of Sixty Six – Part Sixteen

We’d won the World Cup

But they wanted it back!

So the games that we played

Would last all day.

There’d be big kids

And small kids

At different times

But the games that we played

Would never end.

And maybe we won

Or maybe we lost

I can’t really

Tell you and that’s

Because

We’d each keep the score

There’d be more than one

We each had our own

And believed we’d won.

Three figure scores

Would be the norm.

With jumpers for goal posts

Or maybe a tree

We’d fight to defend

That victory.

They couldn’t speak English

We couldn’t speak Deutsch

The game did the talking

And that was enough.

It didn’t get nasty

It didn’t get rough

But agreeing on rules

Was sometimes tough.

We still thought a shoulder barge

Quite okay

And didn’t leave goalies

To have their own way.

‘Englander fussball’

Is what we would say.

They’d say ‘Deutschlander football’

And tug on your shirt.

We played against Germans

From miles around.

Aggrieved by that goal

And with scores to settle

The Germans were out

To test our mettle.

So I played for my country

And in a small way

I feel like part

Of that history.

Not quite through yet. Where will this end?

Summer of Sixty Six- Part Sixteen

 

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There’s one minute left

The English ahead

The Desperate Germans

Threw all that they had

Their one last chance

To level the score.

Moore from the back

Spots Hurst is free

He picks him out

With a perfect pass.

Some spectators 

Excited 

Have come on the pitch.

Hurst blasts the ball

As hard as he can.

And to everyone’s joy

It’s into the net.

The commentary’s famous

Won’t be forgotten,

“And here comes Hurst,

Some people are on the pitch

They think it’s all over

It is now! It’s four!

So Hurst is our hero

He has three

And England’s 

Is the victory.

But If you think it’s all over

It isn’t yet!

For England’s heroes

The game was won.

But for the kids of Wickrath

It had just begun!

Summer of Sixty Six – Part Fifteen

 

E0800ABE-56FF-443B-93AC-970402993BBA.jpegSo now we are playing extra time

Anything can happen

We’re all on edge.

Charlton comes close

And hits the post.

And then the goal 

We still remember

The one the Germans

Can’t forget.

Hurst’s shot comes down

Off the bar

It strikes the ground 

But the question is

Where ?!!

Did the ball

Ever cross the line?

Every Englishman’s sure

Every German says no

Will we ever really know?

The referee he wasn’t sure

But the Russian linesman

He said yes!

And to German grief

The goal was awarded.

The debate goes on

It has never ended

They’re still debating 

That goal today.

You couldn’t move

For seeing pictures

Seen from all angles

To try and show

It didn’t go over and wasn’t

A goal.

But who can dispute

What the history books say?

3-2 to the English

With time to play.

So mounting hysteria

English joy

But let’s move on

To the final act.

Summer of Sixty Six – Part Fourteen

2-2 all equal

So what that means now

Is 30 more minutes

 Left to go.

Who will be champions?

Soon we’ll know.

The Germans were flopped out 

All on the ground

But Alf insisted our lads 

Should stand.

Pointing at the German team,

“They’re finished”, he said, 

“Flat on their backs”.

And then he said, 

the immortal words

You’ve won it once , 

Go out there now

And win it again.

Some of you know

What happened next!

Summer of Sixty Six – Part Twelve

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Now the excitement is mounting

Who can deny

But the signs are quite subtle

And not as you’d think.

 

Merchandising’s not yet born

There’s no cars bearing English flags

Or for that matter German

But TV and papers are full of the game.

 

It’s in the shops

On everyone’s lips.

There’s World Cup Willie cups and bits

But barely a sign of replica kits

And only ever worn by kids.

 

Flags came out but mostly at matches

And the flag of choice is the Union Jack

With barely a sign of red on white;

St. George’s Cross, the cross of hurt.

 

The day is soon here

The game begun

The TV gathers

Everyone.

 

We watch with neighbours from down the hall;

Ugo his dad and his

German mother.

Tension mounts with the familiar chant:

Clap, clap

Clap, clap, clap

Clap, clap, clap, clap

England!

 

The Germans score first

Through Helmut Haller

It’s the first time England

Have been behind.

 

But on 19 minutes

We’re right back in it

Moore with a cross

A header from Hurst

And it’s one apiece.

 

We’ve waited so long

The time goes quickly

But half time comes

With no more goals.

 

One one, all even.

The first half over

We don’t know yet

What’s still to come.

Summer of Sixty Six – Part Eleven

Time to forget the ‘argie bargie’

And move on to a match

That was far more worthy.

90,000 held in thrall

As England take on Portugal

England’s defence is sorely tested

But still that defence has not been bested.

Half an hour in

We mount an attack

And truth to tell

It starts from the back.

Wilson passes it forward to Hunt

A shot from him

Is stopped by the keeper

But Charlton’s there

To knock it back in.

The crowd noise swells

With waves of emotion

And ten minutes to go

We rise as one nation.

A shot from Peters

Gets charged down

But it’s Charlton again

Who hammers it home.

Three minutes later

And the other Charlton

Responds to a moment

Of sheer desperation.

As a header from Torres

Makes for the net

Big Jackie Charlton

Puts it out with his hand.

So Eusabio scored

With a penalty blast

And England’s defence

Is breached at last.

But the match was over

The game had been won

Time to bring

The Germans on!

Thanks for sticking with this. Building to our climax now…. And our cameo role in the saga.

Summer of Sixty Six – Part Ten

Next up for England was Portugal

And that phenomenal striker: Eusebio.

He was the winner of the golden boot

Nine goals through all the tournament.

He scored two goals against Brazil

Four  against Korea

Coming back from three nil down

To win the game 5-3.

So this was the team

That we would play next

What could we expect?

Who do you think will

End on top?

He just keeps scoring

Can we make him stop?

Summer of Sixty Six – Part Nine

Elsewhere in the tournament

The Germans went through

4-0 they won their game

But quite a to do.

Uruguay finished with only nine men

Two down the tunnel

So all over then.

There’s mounting excitement

Round Wickrath by then

But the rivalry’s unspoken.

You must understand

As we build to that match

That we lived side by side

But wouldn’t mix much.

Before we go further

I ought to explain

That we travelled a lot

Each place felt the same.

Every place a cLike our Aldershot home

Rheindahlen,

where we went to school was big as it got,

Joint Headquarters for Allied Troops.

We’d bus there from Wickrath

Most every day

But only meet one German

As we went on our way.

We’d wait till everyone

Was on the bus

Then someone we’d say,

‘Alles Farah’

And he’d drive us away.

So we hardly saw Germans

And spoke to them less.

There’s a story about this

That still makes me cross

Of how at school

When they gave us a ‘choice’

They made me learn Latin

No German at all.

So what German I learned

I picked up here and there

Or got out of comics

And stories of war.

So think back to our leisure

When we’re kicking a ball

It’d just all us English

No Germans at all.

Summer of Sixty Six – Part Seven

Another diversion – forgive me please!

I want to talk about Jimmy Greaves.

Now Jimmy was the man

We learned to rely on

To score England goals

But here’s the diversion

For Greaves had been ill

He’d had hepatitis

Missed most of the season

And couldn’t oblige us.

As the World Cup begins

He was back on the scene

But three games had gone

And no goals for the team.

The whole England team had

Only scored four

And now Greaves was injured

And couldn’t play on

So who would be the chosen one?