World Cup 1966 - Alfie's Boys

David Jason was an engaging narrator for  "World Cup 1966: Alfie's Boys" (BBC2). Defender George Cohen, one of the world-beating team 50 years ago, remembers manager Alf Ramsey 'You couldn't tell if he was angry, happy, upset, emotional, miserable, whatever — he was just Alf, stone-face.' 

The programme concentrated on the history and lives of Alf and the team. There were only very short clips of some of the games, this was a documentary about a different age in football. There were terrific interviews with some of the players: Jimmy Greaves trying to hide his disappointment in not having been picked for the final (these days he would  have been brought on as a sub), Geoff Hurst talking about how Jimmy's record showed how he was the better striker. Ray Wilson spoke about the humility of players in those days. How the England hierarchy decided to split a total bonus of £22,000 on the basis of how many games were played and Bobby Moore insisting it was split equally between the squad.

Bobby's wife Tina was fascinating, how the wives were put in a different room at the end of finals' dinner. Roger Hunt, Martin Peters, Alan Ball, Nobby Stiles, Gordon Banks, the Charlton brothers, a beaming George Cohen and even one match Ian Callaghan were all interesting. 

There was one clip that took me back. It showed the three West ham players (Moore, Hurst and Peters) taking the pitch first at Upton Park on the first day of the 1966/7 season against Chelsea. Yes, I was there.