Paul Hayward: The World Cup (1966)

As the English football team prepare for one of the most important games in their recent history at the Qatar World Cup, one of the nation’s finest sports writers takes us back to the year Gareth Southgate’s players are trying to emulate: 1966.

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England’s performance in the first World Cups was underwhelming. For a nation that prided themselves on having invented the game, on successive occasions in the 1950s and early 1960s the English players were left to watch as West Germany and Brazil lifted the trophy.

1966 brought a chance to change all this. With the tournament being played at home, with a disciplined managed in Alf Ramsey and a fine crop of players including the Charlton brothers, as the summer progressed the supporters’ hopes rose. Here was the opportunity to realise Ramsey's bold prediction from 1963 that England were going to win.

Paul Hayward, who for many years was the Chief Sports Writer at the Daily Telegraph, takes us back to that fabled summer in English sporting history. In doing so he describes what football meant to the English, and how the English had forged a national identity around their beloved sport.

Paul Hayward is the author of England Football: The Biography

Show notes

Scene One: Early summer 1966. England training camp at Hendon.

Scene Two: 30 June 1966. The cusp of the World Cup final.

Scene Three: July. Ashington, Northumberland. Jack and Bobby Charlton return to their home town after the historic victory.

Memento: A vinyl pressing of Revolver signed by The Beatles

People/Social

Presenter: Artemis Irvine

Guest: Paul Hayward

Production: Maria Nolan

Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours

Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan

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