1966 AND ALL THAT
A FAR CRY FROM TODAY, GT LOOKS AT HOW ENGLAND HOSTED THE WORLD CUP
Six years before the two
nations met in the 1966
World Cup Final, England had an equally
tense encounter with
West Germany at the
FIFA Congress held in
Rome. At stake was the
right to stage the 1966
tournament, and despite an impressive presentation from West
Germany,
England's
more homespun bid
won the day by 34
votes to 27. Unlike the
majority of subsequent
World Cups, no new
stadiums were built in
1966, nor were any
deemed
necessary.
Indeed, the bellicose
views of football administrators such as Leslie
Olive, the Manchester
United secretary, were
shared by many. Reacting to adverse comments about the standard of comfort at English football grounds, he
maintained that the
overall standard of
grounds would be far
better than in any previous competition. 'Whilst other countries might have built one super
stadium for the final match', he commented, 'many of the group games have been played
at grounds which compare unfavourably to those in England.'
Tempting though it is to make comparisons between 2014 and 1966, it should be remembered that the World Cup in 1966 was not the all-embracing global event that it is today.
In fact, England had sat out the first three World Cups, and public interest prior to the 1966
tournament was muted, with little notion that 'football was coming home.' While the Brazilian government felt duty bound to spend $14 billion on staging the 2014 World Cup, in
1966 the UK government was minded to keep its hands in its pockets. It was only at the
eleventh hour, with expenses mounting, that Minister for Sport and former football referee,
Denis Howell, was able to persuade the government to provide £500,000 towards the
costs incurred by the various parties.
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