On July 30, 1966, at Wembley Stadium, London, Sir Geoff Hurst – who was knighted in 1998 for his services to football – made history by becoming the first man to score a hat-trick in the FIFA World Cup final. His first goal, an unchallenged, glancing header from a Bobby Moore free-kick to tie the scores at 1-1 after 18 minutes, was the least famous, or infamous, of the trio.
His second, a shot from close range that beat West German goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski, hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down, over the goal line – at least according to ‘Russian’ (actually Azerbaijani) linesman, Tofiq Bahramov – has remained controversial ever since. In any event, Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst awarded the goal, after 11 minutes of injury time, giving England a 3-2 lead and setting the stage for the most memorable piece of commentary in World Cup history.
In the final minute of injury time, Bobby Moore again found Hurst, unmarked, just inside the German half. Ignoring a minor pitch invasion, Hurst dribbled into the penalty area and blasted a vicious – and, he later admitted, mis-hit – left-foot shot into the top left-hand corner of the German goal. Commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme delivered the immortal line, ‘…some people are on the pitch. They think it’s all over. [as the ball hit the back of the net] It is now!’
For the record, the other scorers in the 4-2 victory for England, after extra time, were, for England, midfielder Martin Peters and, for Germany, forward Helmut Haller and defender Wolfgang Weber. Haller gave Germany the lead after 12 minutes, Peters made the scoreline 2-1 to England after 78 minutes and Weber levelled the score at 2-2 in the final minute of normal time.