Cold Open

It’s the evening of October 20th, 1965, at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

45-year-old Alf Ramsey prowls the side of the soccer field, squinting to avoid the rain that’s blowing into his eyes. As the manager of England’s national soccer team, Alf feels the pressure to win every game. The fans expect success—after all, England is where the sport originated. But Alf knows that history alone is not enough. Since he took charge of the national team more than two years ago, England has played 27 games but won only 15. And right now, they’re tied 2-2 with today’s opponents, Austria.

Alf barks instructions as an English player loses the ball to an opponent and as an Austrian counterattack begins, Alf worries that his defense is going to be overwhelmed.

But the attack comes to a sudden end when an English defender slides in hard on an Austrian player. The referee blows his whistle, calling a foul and awarding Austria a free kick in a dangerous position. Alf signals to his defenders to block the ball, but his players don’t notice his frantic gestures on the sideline - until it’s too late.

The Austrian player shoots, lifting the ball over the English goalkeeper’s head and into the back of the net. Austria is now ahead, 3-2.

England’s fans have seen enough. Some start leaving the stadium in disgust, and many of those remaining voice their frustrations.

Soon, the Wembley crowd unites in a chant of “You don’t know what you’re doing”—and Alf realizes their message is meant for him.

This match will end with England suffering an embarrassing 4-2 defeat. It’s only the third time in history that England has lost a game at home, and the following day’s newspapers will blame manager Alf Ramsey. Reporters will demand an immediate improvement—because in less than nine months, England will host the World Cup. It’ll be the first time the tournament has been held in the country that invented soccer, and it’ll give Alf a chance to silence his critics—but only if he can lead his team to victory in the tournament’s final on July 30th, 1966.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is July 30th, 1966: England Wins the World Cup.

Act One: The Theft

It’s March 20th, 1966 at a conference center in central London, five months after the England soccer team was humbled by Austria.

Security guard George Franklin ambles through the quiet hallways, whistling tunelessly to himself. It’s a Sunday and most of the conference center is closed to the public. But George and three of his colleagues are still here, keeping watch over the center and its most important and popular exhibit: the World Cup itself.

In England, soccer is almost a religion. It’s where the sport began, and excitement has been growing as final preparations are made for the first World Cup to be held in the country. In two months’ time, sixteen national teams from around the world will compete for a chance to win the most prestigious prize in soccer.

And for more than 30 years, the winner of the competition has been awarded the Jules Rimet trophy. It’s a gilded statuette of a winged figure representing Nike, the Ancient Greek goddess of victory. Now, with the World Cup just weeks away, the English soccer authorities have agreed to promote the upcoming competition by putting the trophy on display in central London.

George is one of four men tasked with guarding the trophy around the clock. But as he heads downstairs after a coffee break, he passes the exhibition hall and is surprised to find one of its doors is open. Confused, George wanders into the hall, and to his horror, he sees that the glass-fronted cabinet in the center of the room has been broken into. And the Jules Rimet trophy is gone.

This theft makes headlines around the world. As police in London scramble to find the perpetrators, an anonymous ransom demand is delivered to the English soccer authorities.

The thieves say they want $15,000 - the equivalent of around half a million dollars today. And they threaten to melt down the trophy if they don’t get it.

The ransom is not paid, though, and the criminals are quickly apprehended in a sting operation. But the Jules Rimet trophy itself remains missing - until an unlikely detective tracks it down.

A week after the theft, a dog named Pickles is walking with his owner when he uncovers a small parcel seemingly dumped under a hedge. The dog’s owner unwraps the bundle and immediately recognizes the fourteen-inch gold statuette inside. After the Jules Rimet trophy is returned to authorities, a replica is quickly made for public display, while the real thing goes under lock and key until the World Cup begins. For his part in the trophy’s rescue, Pickles is rewarded with a year’s supply of dog food, and he becomes an instant celebrity.

But there’s no disguising the embarrassment of the English tournament organizers. And it’s not just off the field that preparations for the World Cup are going wrong.

*

It’s May 1966, in London, England, around two months after the theft of the Jules Rimet trophy.

Sitting in his office, England manager Alf Ramsey taps a pen against his leg and stares into space. He’s trying to work out a solution to an unforeseen problem - one that threatens to derail everything he’s been building since he took on this job three years ago.

Alf works the England team hard. That doesn’t always make him popular with the players, but he’s sure his approach will get results when it matters. And right now, the pressure couldn’t be higher. English fans expect the national team to win every game they play and even Alf himself has confidently predicted that his team will win the upcoming World Cup.

But all his preparations for the tournament have just fallen apart. He’s built his team around England’s captain, Bobby Moore. As a defender, it’s Bobby’s job to break up the other team’s attacks and prevent them from scoring. Most defenders are more famous for their strength and bravery than their ability with the ball. But Bobby is an exception. His precise passes can turn a game in an instant, and he’s become crucial to how Alf sees England playing.

But not everyone has such a positive view of Bobby. When he’s not playing for the national team, Bobby plays for West Ham United, a team in the East End of London.

Ron Greenwood is West Ham’s manager, and he doesn’t like Bobby. He thinks Bobby hasn’t lived up to his potential and has shown more interest in partying than playing. In response, Bobby has allowed his contract to run out, meaning that he’s no longer a West Ham United player.

And that’s a problem for Alf Ramsey. Only professional soccer players attached to a club are allowed to play for the England national team. And now, with just a month to go until the World Cup begins, Alf has discovered that his all-important captain is no longer eligible for the national team.

Alf is usually a no-nonsense manager. But as he sits in his office and tries to think of a solution today, he realizes that he’ll have to call on his little-used diplomatic skills. He will need to get Bobby back into the England lineup—because if he doesn’t, the nation’s World Cup hopes will be over before the tournament has even begun.

Act Two: Preparation, Preparation

It’s early July in 1966, at the England national team training camp in south-west London, only a few days before the World Cup tournament begins.

25-year-old Bobby Moore runs laps on the training field with his England teammates, encouraging the players at the back of the group to keep going. Sweat runs down his back as he sprints to catch up with the frontrunners. Bobby and the rest of his teammates are used to playing soccer in the cold English winter. But the World Cup will take place at the height of summer. So, England manager Alf Ramsey has his team on a conditioning program to get the team used to playing in hot weather.

As the team captain for the past three years, Bobby has earned the respect of his teammates, both on and off the field. He’s helped his club West Ham United win two major trophies. He’s been named the best player in England. And he’s done this even while fighting off testicular cancer. After getting the all-clear from doctors, Bobby’s ambition now is to lead his country in the first World Cup held on English soil.

Bobby counts the heads of his teammates as they cross the track's finish line. Competition for a place in the line-up for the first game of the tournament is intense. But at the moment, Bobby knows he at least won’t be there. He doesn't have a current contract with a professional team. So, he’s not eligible to play for England. As the weeks have gone by and the World Cup has crept closer and closer, Bobby has grown frustrated that his manager Alf Ramsey isn’t doing more to resolve the situation.

After training today though, Bobby is called into a meeting with Alf. Waiting in the same room is the manager of West Ham United, Ron Greenwood. Over the next few hours, Alf acts as an intermediary as Bobby and Ron clear the air. Bobby explains his grievances with Ron’s management style, while Ron voices his frustration that Bobby isn’t as focused on the game as he should be.

After player and manager have each said their piece, Alf then asks them both to focus on the most important short-term issue: Bobby’s eligibility for the World Cup. It's in this moment that Bobby realizes that Alf has deliberately left solving the dispute to the last minute in order to create a sense of urgency and put pressure on both sides to come to a deal. The tactic works. At the meeting, Bobby agrees to sign a one-month contract extension with West Ham that will expire a day after the World Cup final. And this allows Bobby to play for England.

With a relief, Alf puts Bobby on the roster for the World Cup opener against Uruguay a few days later. But the pressure of the occasion seems to overwhelm the England players, the game ends in a disappointing tie. England does better in the next two games, though, beating Mexico and France to progress to the latter stages of the tournament.

But England no longer has the luxury of playing against inferior opposition. Next, they’re drawn against Argentina—and the game quickly descends into a bad-tempered affair, with hard tackles and cynical fouls. Then, after 30 minutes of tense play, the game explodes. The Argentine captain, Antonio Rattin, is ejected for arguing with the referee. But Rattin refuses to leave the field and the Argentine players crowd around the referee in protest. Only after nine minutes of chaos does Rattin finally give up his complaints and the game resumes.

The atmosphere in the stadium is close to incendiary. But England’s captain Bobby Moore keeps a cool head, encouraging his teammates to stick to the tactics that manager Alf Ramsey explained to them before the game. Eventually, England scores with twelve minutes to go and the game ends in victory for the host nation. But the arguments with the Argentinians continue after the final whistle. The England squad must face the angry taunts of Argentine players and officials who spit and shove them as they return to the locker rooms.

England will have an easier time in the semi-final. Despite facing Portugal, one of the tournament's favorites, they will win the game 2-1 and book themselves a place in the World Cup final. There will then be just one team standing between England and glory: West Germany. But defeating the Germans won’t be easy. They have already won the World Cup once before. And they’ll do everything they can to get their hands on the Jules Rimet trophy once again.

Act Three: They Think It’s All Over

It’s July 30th, 1966, at Wembley Stadium in London, four days after England beat Portugal to advance to the World Cup final.

Bobby Moore forces his tired legs into action as the West German players advance with the ball toward him.

Regulation time ended with the World Cup final tied 2-2. A draining extra thirty minutes has been added to the clock, and like most of his teammates, Bobby is only getting through by sheer willpower. He can barely move his legs to run, let alone kick the ball. But Bobby can tell the West German players are even more fatigued. They haven’t trained as hard or for as long as the England team—and that has already enabled Bobby’s teammate Geoff Hurst to score a goal that's put England ahead. Now, they've just minutes left to play, before becoming world champions.

The West German attacker kicks the ball ahead, but Bobby cuts him off and steals the ball. He then looks upfield. The crowd screams for him to just hit it out of play to eat up valuable seconds and run down the clock. But Bobby has no intention of wasting time.

Instead, he sees that his teammate Geoff Hurst is free. Bobby kicks the perfect pass for Geoff to run into. But as Geoff advances on the West German goal, Bobby notices that some England fans have run onto the field in celebration, thinking that the final whistle has already been blown. It hasn’t, and Bobby worries that the fan's interference might cost them the game. But the referee allows play to carry on and Geoff charges toward the West German goal. He blasts the ball into the top corner of the net, sealing the win for England.

Then, the referee blows the real final whistle and the stadium erupts. The English players rush across the field, hugging each other in celebration as the dejected West Germans quickly depart. A few minutes later, once he’s caught his breath, Bobby Moore leads his team up the steps to the royal box, where Queen Elizabeth II presents him with the Jules Rimet trophy.

It’s a famous victory that’s celebrated across England. But in years to come that triumph will only add to the weight of expectation on the English players and managers who follow in the footsteps of Bobby Moore and Alf Ramsey. England may be where the sport was invented. But success in the competitive world of international soccer has proved elusive for the English national team since 1966. There have been great players and talented managers, dramatic individual victories, and heartbreaking defeats. But no England team has yet matched the achievement of Alf Ramsey and Bobby Moore when they led England to triumph in the World Cup final on July 30th, 1966.

Outro

Next on History Daily. July 31st, 1910. Following a transatlantic manhunt, Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen is arrested in Canada for a murder he committed in London.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nicholls.

Edited by Scott Reeves.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.