Geoff Hurst was one of the really great legends of our club and is widely remembered around the football World for his hat trick in the 1966 World Cup final. A feat still not matched to this day. He made his debut for the Hammers in December 1958 in a Southern Floodlit Cup ( later the League Cup) and went on to play 501 games scoring 249 goals – that’s close enough to a goal every two games! In his early seasons he played as a wing half until manager Ron Greenwood decided to give Geoff a go up front. It was against Liverpool in 1962 and two days before the game Ron had summoned Geoff to his office. Geoff’s performance had been awful in the reserves on the weekend and he was expecting the worst. However, Ron told Geoff of his tactical plan and that he would take the blame, not Geoff, if the positional change did not work. The rest is history.
Geoff Hurst was big and strong. He had a terrific shot with both feet and was superb in the air. His other strength was the ability to hold the ball up and bring the wingers into the game, who in turn would cross balls to the near post, another tactic Greenwood was employing with success. I remember my first game at Upton Park against Burnley in 1967. Geoff unleashed a shot from around 35 yards and a Burnley defender turned his back on the ball before it hit him square in the middle of his back. Many minutes later and after many sniffs of the smelling salts, the defender was helped from the field. In another of my “remembering” series a few months ago I recalled his six goal haul against Sunderland in an 8-0 demolition in 1968. And then of course there was a matter of the World Cup in 1966 with his famous hat trick in the final securing England’s historic victory. Geoff played 49 times for England and again his goal ratio was close to his club scoring record with 24 goals. His achievements were to later secure an MBE in 1975 and a Knighthood in 1998. He may have been a knight that day in ‘98 but to the Upton Park faithful in the mid to late sixties he was the “King of football”, as the chant went.
He enjoyed three successive years of Wembley victories. The 1964 FA cup final win against Preston where Geoff scored a goal, the ECWC final win against 1860 Munich that followed, and then the World Cup win in 1966. In the four seasons between 1965 to ‘69, he scored 137 goals in 200 games for West Ham. Some of his favourite places he played at included the Maracana in Rio, Wembley, Hampden Park and the Azteca in Mexico City. His worst memory was at the Field Mill Ground at Mansfield. A shock 3-0 FA Cup defeat there in 1969 against the 3rd Division side was one night that Geoff remembers as one of his worst in football. In Geoff’s memoires he analyses that by the number of Mansfield supporters that have since told him they were there that night, there must have been 150,000 at Mansfield to witness the Cup shock. This despite the attendance that night mustering around 21,000. For me, the man was the best centre forward of his time. You knew what you got with Geoff Hurst – the label was on the packet with all the ingredients fully explained.
When Geoff turned professional in 1959, his sign on fee was twenty quid. Thirteen years later he played his final game for West Ham against Liverpool on the 15th April 1972. He went on to play three seasons for Stoke City before having brief spells at Cape Town City, West Brom, Cork City and Seattle Sounders. After playing he managed Telford United before moving to Chelsea and then Kuwait SC. In his early years he was a good cricketer having played once for Essex and 23 times for the second eleven Essex side. At the end of the day he will be most remembered by non Hammers for being on the end of those famous words by the one and only Kenneth Wolstenholme, commentating on the World Cup Final in 1966. “Some people are on the pitch….they think it is all over….it is now” Enjoy a trip down memory lane……….