Back Chat
They think it’s all over...
Well-known broadcaster and DAAT Patron, David FitzGerald, talks to footballing legend Geoff Hurst. Sir Geoff Hurst has been down in Devon as guest of honour at The Devon FA Awards and had to put up with me as a co-host. The Devon FA are an incredible team of dedicated people having to deal with a staggering number of players and teams. On a recent BBC Radio Devon interview, the senior football development officer, Dai Carpenter, surprised everyone in the studio when he casually mentioned that there are roughly 2,500 football teams in the county. Devon FA Chairman Bernard Leech later added to that by telling me there was something like 27,000 players! After the awards, which recognised some of the dedicated people who keep the beautiful game going, I managed to get hold of Sir Geoff to have a few words. Firstly he is no stranger to Devon. ‘I have been down to Devon on many occasions,’ said Sir Geoff. ‘My earliest recollections would have been 1965. My wife and I stayed in a caravan in North Devon, there was not much money about. Then we stayed in ‘66’, that would have been Woolacombe and then we came back a year later. I had a bit of money by then after the World Cup success and we stayed at the Woolacombe Bay Hotel. All I can remember was going round the souvenir shops because the weather was awful. Devon is great if you get the weather, we didn’t…every time!’ I reminded him that Allan Ball made Devon his home for a time, as did the legendry football commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme. Geoff agreed, ‘Indeed, I got to know Kenneth in later life and his commentary on that famous World Cup ending is still spoken about today. When I am introduced to young children and they look blank at the name Geoff Hurst, all someone has to mention is… ‘They think it’s all over…it is now…’ and they know who I am. Those few words have spanned the generations. It just fitted the day so well in 1966. He was a lovely man.’
Fitz
So what brings you to Devon? ‘I am here as a McDonalds Director of Football to meet some of the dedicated people who keep the game going. I travel all over the country to see the Football Association in action. We recognise and celebrate the efforts of the clubs, the leagues, the coaches and not just that, but the person who cuts the sandwiches, the person who puts up the goal posts or mows the pitch, they are all a vital part of the game.’ Looking back at 1966, why has England’s performance never been repeated? ‘It is very difficult to work out. There are a lot of factors. Maybe it was just the right time when the right group of people came together. We had a great manager and a great backbone to the team. Gordon Banks was a brilliant goalkeeper, probably the best ever. Booby Moore at the back, my West Ham colleague and Captain, he was special. Sir Bobby Charleton, no one has ever come close to his performance. He played 49 times for England and scored 100 goals. And remember we had a genius up front who never played in the final, Jimmy Greaves. I don’t think we, England, have ever replicated that kind of team. There is no one thing.’ I read somewhere that you were also a very good cricketer. ‘Yes…well I was. I enjoyed both sports as a teenager, to my detriment. I played both, but I needed to focus on just one. The choice was made for me when I joined West Ham and made the first team. My career took off and cricket was dropped.’ Sir Geoff, now 73, is still in fine form. He took to the stage at 7.00pm and was still signing autographs and posing for photographs at 10.00pm. He is a dedicated ambassador and paid his respects to the equally dedicated Devon FA team. o
“My earliest recollections would have been 1965. My wife and I stayed in a caravan in North Devon, there was not much money about”
Keryn Seal (far left) and Dan James (both players with the England and Great Britain blind football team) with Ricky Suliauskas and Sevy Baker - FA Young Volunteers of the Year and Sir Geoff Hurst.
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