The SCANDAL of World Cup 1966

Was the 1966 World Cup a Scandal?
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[mklohk]

I was 7 years old when i watched the game with my family. When the goal was given, my father threw a beer bottle at the TV which caused the CRT to implode, then he got off his chair, ripped the TV off the power point and threw it through the window, shouting this was rigged, exactly like the battle of Britain!. I will never forget it, it was awesome!

[rafarafina]

You forgot to add that England didn't allow Argentina to warm up pre-match, for obscure reasons. Also, they changed the venue of the semifinal with Portugal the night before. Portugal was in Liverpool where the match was due to be played, they had to travel by train that night, disrupting their rest.
It was obvious that the tournament was fixed! The famous expression from Maradona after his controversial goal in 1986, naming it the Hand of God, was a perfect fit as the world, not only Argentinians, saw that cheating moment as Karma, or divine intervention, against a country that had no respect towards anyone else.
Fast tracking to modern football, looking at how football academies in European and South American powerhouses work, it is hard to imagine England winning ever again.

[kilomike]

"The cheats that they are" -Allester Macallester

[cmarq]

Too many countries complained of cheating/injustice by England ( Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Italy) ... not a very exemplary tournament!

[ryanrodrigues]

England cheated Portugal of World Cup. 🇵🇹 1966 Portuguese team shall be always remembered.

[SY-tkeg]

It was fixed. Especially the way the refs allowed Pele to get a beating during his matches.

[viniciusmagnoni]

Well, I guess history took care of that Germany: 4 World Cup titles
England: 1 World Cup title

[StayBasedJesus]

And they complain about Maradona until today

[johnshaw]

It's so obvious that's not a goal, but no Englishman wants to admit that. All Geoff Hurst is interested in is his hatrick.

[zubinix]

The worst World Cup ever that robbed us of Pele’s magic.

[MrPaulc]

You are talking absolute bollocks. Three years late for a war and fifty-two years late for a World Cup Final.
1) It did not take place on a Saturday, but on a Sunday.
2) Germany did not exist in 1966: The nation that played against England was West Germany. Reunification did not take place until more than two decades later.
3) West Germany's 89th-minute equaliser was probably offside due to Schnelliger's positioning (level was offside in those days).
The bits I will concede: Rattin should have been booked as a warning to alert him that further transgression might be a sending off. Dissent is a cardable offence, though the yellow/red card system didn't start for a few more years.
Also, Hurst's goal wasn't fully over the line. In those days we did not have the technology we have now and officials only got one look. The view you showed was not available then, and the only view on TV was ambiguous because the goalkeeper was partly blocking the view. The first time I saw a better view was about a year later from the ground level behind the goal. That was the first time I realised that although part of the ball crossed the line, not all of it did - so no goal.
Was it a fix? No, but I acknowledge that the officials may have felt pressured on the day.
Are you a Scotsman by any chance?

[scottw.]

Their 3rd goal certainly never crossed the line. The footage was edited some years back to show that the ball did actually cross the line, so this is where a lot of confusion lies.
Some then say that England would've won 3-2 anyway, since Hurst went on to score again, however anyone with a functioning brain would realise that had their 3rd goal not stood (meaning the score remained 2-2), they would've got a corner, and the game would've played out completely differently. When their 3rd goal was allowed, West Germany HAD to then go for it, which then left them exposed at the back, leading to the 4th goal.

[O_Llalala]

i feel like if the world cup of 1966 was fair, portugal would won it, sadly it was robbed from us.

[NorthallertonMackem]

If this tournament was a fix as some think, why did the ref give a free kick in the final against England in a dangerous position in the very last minute of normal time, for what was a very soft challenge by Jack Charlton even by today's standards?ź🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[nelpizzel]

What about the fact that the semi final against 🇵🇹 was meant to be played in Liverpool, and on the day of the semi final the portugal squad had to travel to London from Liverpool.

[KeithWilliamMacHendry]

Well, all I know as a Scot is this, I was six years old at the time & we have never heard the end of these Morris dancin Germanic Saxon Englanders goin on about this. Lord I pray that these yahoos & trumpets never win anything again, we haven't heard the last of the 66 pish so I can only imagine how intolerable it would be if these bangers won again. Lord give me strength. 😆

[geraldwalsh]

I am an impartial i dont think it was fixed. England played well in the final and deserved to win it

[LyndonDykes]

They didn’t invent football🤣 Scotland invented modern football and ancient football can be tracked to china.

[DreanPetruza]

Many of the early world cups were mostly in charge of the host nation since FIFA was not the huge corporation it is now.
There were lots of dubious decisions. Argentina in 1978 was the only team in the whole cup that played its games after the other match of the same group had finished, while all the rest where played simultaneously. Italy 1938 was played during Mussolini's rule.
Around the 1986 world cup thanks to more modern media and more overseeing of FIFA, these kinds of rigs weren't so easy to do anymore.
The host elections are still most likely rigged and bribed, but it's not that easy anymore to favor a specific team with so much more cameras, slow motion, etc.

[ainflow]

History has just repeated itself in the semi-finals 2021