Back in March I started a mini-series marking the 50th anniversary of West Ham United’s greatest-ever achievement – winning the 1965 European Cup Winners’ Cup. Following previous pieces recalling both legs of the quarter-final against Lausanne and the semi-final matches against Real Zaragoza, the 19th May is the anniversary of the Hammers’ Wembley triumph in the Final.
The Londoners faced TSV 1860 Munich of West Germany, twenty years after German bombs had devastated the East End during World War II. The quality of the opposition West Ham faced that night is best highlighted by the fact that the year after, in 1966, The Sixtiers won the only Bundesliga title of their history. Peter Grosser and Hans Rebele epitomised the offensive style for which this side was famous. Yugoslavian goalkeeper Petar Radenkovic was the first foreign star of the Bundesliga, while players like Otto Luttrop and Hans Reich performed defensive roles in a highly entertaining side managed by Max Merkel. Alfred ‘Fredi’ Heiss, Wilfried Kohlars and Hans Kuppers also managed to capture the attention of a wider audience.
97,974 supporters filled Wembley and Hungarian referee Istvan Zsolt, who officiated at the 1954, 1958 and 1966 World Cups and the 1952, 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics, got the game underway at 7.30pm with millions around Europe watching on television.
It was clear from the off that part of manager Ron Greenwood’s tactics for the evening was to pull winger Johnny Sissons off his touchline and, with him, Manfred Wagner, the Germans’ right-back. Wagner, incidentally, sadly passed away on the 10th February this year at the age of 76. West Ham exploited the space created by Sissons’ movement inside to manufacture a series of chances but, frustratingly, none were taken in the opening 45 minutes. Ronnie Boyce and Brian Dear combined to create an opportunity for Sissons in the 12th minute but the left-winger shot wide. Bobby Moore’s low cross was then scrambled clear as the German rearguard became increasingly desperate.
The Germans, wearing all-white, also created openings with captain and star centre-forward Rudi Brunnenmeier a constant threat with his pace and shooting power. He created an opening for inside-right Hans Kuppers but the shot lacked power and Jim Standen was untroubled. Brunnenmeier, a former top scorer of the Bundesliga, increasingly had problems in later life due to alcohol abuse which eventually impoverished him. Odd jobs helped him to get by but eventually, on 18th April 2003, he died from alcohol-related issues at the age of 62. His funeral took place under great public attention.
In the 18th minute, both Dear and Alan Sealey failed to turn home Sissons’ low cross from two yards out. Goalkeeper Radenkovic saved efforts as the half continued but generally opted to parry rather than hold the shots that were fired at him.
Despite the best efforts of the young West Ham side, the teams went into the half-time interval goalless. Sissons’ early second-half strike came back off the foot of the far post and Standen had to be at his best to keep out Brunnenmeier, Kuppers and Grosser in a five-minute frenzy from the Bavarians.
Then, on 69 minutes, the breakthrough arrived. Ronnie Boyce’s pass found Sealey breaking into the penalty area and his thunderbolt of a shot beat Radenkovic and hit the back of the net. West Ham sensed the chance to put the game to bed – Moore’s free-kick caught the Germans cold and the ball broke kindly for that man Sealey to net his second goal in the space of just two minutes.
Sealey’s top-flight career was virtually ended within a year; he was playing cricket with team-mates during a rest in pre-season training and broke his leg falling over a wooden bench. Sealey died suddenly at his home in Collier Row, Romford in February 1996 from a heart attack, aged just 53, just over five years before the same condition would claim the life of his nephew and fellow former Hammer, Les, at aged 43.
One national newspaper wrote in their match report: “West Ham showed to all Europe that elegant and imaginative football can also be successful. In an age where defences dominate and dull the game, they have perhaps done more for it in one night than anyone has done all season”. A quote which echoes with added significance as 21st-century West Ham fans yearn for similar entertainment.
Bobby Moore climbed the Wembley steps to the Royal Box for the second successive year to collect the European Cup Winners’ Cup trophy to follow the FA Cup of 1964. Fourteen months later, in a red shirt with three lions adorning it, he would make the same climb to receive the Jules Rimet World Cup trophy having again defeated German opposition on the hallowed turf of Wembley. The Hammers’ supporters serenaded their heroes with raucous renditions of ‘Bubbles’ and ‘Ee-aye-addio, we’ve won the Cup’.
After the match, Moore declared: “We played much better tonight than when we won the FA Cup. I was only worried that we couldn’t score but, after those two goals, we felt so great we could have played them all over again”. Two-goal hero Sealey modestly stated: “I’ve got to thank Ronnie Boyce’s pass for the first one. I knew I just had to beat their goalkeeper, who was so fantastic. The second was the result of a planned free-kick”.
The last word, though, goes to the mastermind behind the whole success. Hammers’ manager Ron Greenwood, while sipping tea in the dressing-room after the game, insisted: “This was our greatest game – a tremendous advertisement for football”.
West Ham United: Jim Standen, Joe Kirkup, Ken Brown, Bobby Moore, Jack Burkett, Alan Sealey, Martin Peters, Ronnie Boyce, Johnny Sissons, Geoff Hurst, Brian Dear.
TSV 1860 Munich: Petar Radenkovic, Manfred Wagner, Hans Reich, Wilfried Kohlars, Stevan Bena, Otto Luttrop, Alfred Heiss, Hans Kuppers, Rudi Brunnenmeier, Peter Grosser, Hans Rebele.