FLASHBACK TO 1966 AND THAT FAMOUS ENGLAND THIRD GOAL - GERMAN STOPPER ADAMANT IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE STOOD

                                                    

It was NOT a goal insists the German goalkeeper

SAD to hear  this week of the death, aged 84, of Hans Tilkowski - the German ‘keeper in the 1966 World Cup Final.

If he had managed to prevent England’s third goal - perhaps by tipping the ball over the bar - football’s greatest ever controversy would have been averted.

Whenever fans asked him to sign a photograph of the incident, he always wrote - “kein Tor” (no goal).

How gracious of him to agree, years later, to unveil the statue in Baku, Azerbaijan, of the linesman, Tofiq Bahramov, who had persuaded the Swiss referee to award the goal.

Below is an extract from the book, The Russian Linesman:

In Gemany, the controversial Hurst goal has always been regarded as the most significant moment of the match, the one that turned it in the host nation’s favour.

The phrase “Wembley-Tor” subsequently entered the German vernacular to describe any injustice brought about by unreliable evidence.

For many, it left a legacy of regret and disappointment, tinged in some cases with bitterness.

To a man, West Germany’s players, indeed all their compatriots, were devastated to have lost to the match - especially as the fourth goal had also been controversial.

Later that night, the team members drowned their sorrows in a ballroom-cum-discotheque, the Empire in London’s Leicester Square, where they were unrecognised.

But, before that, their presence as distinguished guests had been required at the Royal Kensington Palace post-match banquet.

This was a well-intentioned initiative, but, in retrospect, a poor idea.

How could anyone at FIFA or whoever organised the event have expected that, after a match of such huge magnitude, there could be shared camaraderie between victors and vanquished?

Out of courtesy, the England players could scarcely have given full vent to their jubilation, but, despite the admirable efforts of skipper Uwe Seeler to jolly things along, it was far worse for the simmering Germans who had to listen to speeches in a language  which few could understand.

No wonder, they could not leave the event fast enough!

The following days, they flew home in a Lufthansa jet to be greeted by tens of thousands of cheering compatriots who lined the streets the length of 10 miles from Frankfurt Airport.

West Germany’s goalkeeper, Hans Tilkowski, described the atmosphere at the banquet as having been “bad”.

He had particular reason to feel aggrieved. He hinted his fingertips had touched the ball before it struck the crossbar - in effect, he had made a great save.

Photographs reveal him looking behind him as the ball landed. Regardless of what had happened to the ball on its downward trajectory to the line, he was adamant that the goal should not have been awarded.

Whenever asked to autograph photographs of the famous incident, the West Germany goalkeeper, Hans Tilkowski, has always made a point of adding the words: “Kein Tor!” In English: No goal!

Indeed, he made what happened a focus of his autobiography, featuring a photograph of the incident on its cover.

Occasionally, he subsequently received media offers of large sums of cash to “change his mind” and say he thought it was right that the goal had been awarded - but, to his credit, he has always refused to take the lucre.

There is a famous 2008 YouTube clip of English TV comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner meeting Tilkowski to interview him, only to be snubbed on the grounds that, in one of their earlier programmes, they had insisted that the goal was good.

“You lied,” was his brusque response to their request for a conversation.

The Russian Linesman is available as an ebook (£2) via Kindle/amazon