1966 WORLD CUP BALL

Just before the Euro 96 football tournament there was an intense search to try and find the actual matchball used in the 1966 World Cup Final in which Geoff Hurst famously scored a hat-trick.
After much investigation it emerged that the ball had been taken after the game by German midfield star Helmut Haller.
There was then a period of negotiations between rival tabloid newspapers before the ball was bought for £100,000 by the Daily Mirror. Haller flew in to Stansted and stayed at Down Hall Hotel. For security reasons the ball came on a separate flight!
Plans were made to re-create the famous moment when Hurst's shot came back down off the crossbar and a goal awarded by the 'Russian linesman'. Looking for a pitch with total privacy the Mirror chose Calves Meadow, Hatfield Heath.
At 11.15am on Sunday April 29th 1996 two limousines sped through Cox Ley and dropped off Geoff Hurst and the West German goal-keeper Hans Tilkowski. They both changed in the home dressing room and then went onto the pitch to use the actual 1966 ball to recreate the goal for the Daily Mirror. Hurst was so poor he kept missing the goal and the shot took 30 minutes for the photographer to get the picture he needed.
As they left Hurst remarked: "lovely pitch", Tilkowski: "great pitch thank you very much" and Hurst's taxi driver: "that pitch looks like a f***ing ankle breaker if you ask me." !!