Where were you – or where might your parents or grandparents have been - in the summer of 1966? To paraphrase an old song, today marks 49 years of hurt. A year from now, the anniversary of England winning the World Cup will hit the half century, and a book has been commissioned by Philosophy Football to reflect upon that era in football.
The book, 1966 And Not All That, will feature contributions from David Goldblatt, Simon Kuper, Simon Inglis, Marcela Mora y Araujo along with writers from Germany, Portugal, France, Uruguay and elsewhere exploring the significance of 1966 to their football culture since.
The idea of my chapter is to bring together memories of people who experienced the 1966 World Cup, forming a sort of oral history of snapshots in time, in collaboration with GuardianWitness. Do you remember watching any of that World Cup either in person or on TV? What kind of impression did it leave? Did you make do with radio broadcasts or cut out clippings from the newspapers? Who were you with?
Did you take a bike ride in Liverpool to the Portugal training camp? Did you see the North Koreans in Middlesbrough? What was it like having the West Germans in town in Birmingham? Did you know Pickles the dog, or ever meet Tofiq Bahramov, the Azerbaijani linesman? Were you overseas following the 1966 World Cup from abroad?
If you – or your older family members – have any stories to share or just want to articulate what it felt like to witness the 1966 World Cup from near or far, please leave your thoughts and photos here, or send an email to Amy Lawrence.
