Les recalls Rattin, Eusebio and that famous 1966 World Cup final at Wembley

A talented footballer himself, Les was working in London during the 1966 tournament and took the opportunity to watch football’s greatest competition in his home town. “I went to nine games at the World Cup, all the games in London,” he revealed. “There were six England games and three other games. I was at England’s three qualifying games against Uruguay, France and Mexico, and then they got through that and met Argentina in the last 16. Rattin the captain got sent off in that game. Then there were the semi-finals against Portugal and Eusebio was playing, and then the final against Germany.” The games have gone down in English folklore and the 4-2 victory over West Germany in the final is still an iconic moment in England’s sporting history, but Les reckons the home nation’s two games preceding the final were the most memorable for him. “I think the semi-final and the last 16 matches were really good games,” he recalled. “In the final Germany started off like a train. I got my tickets from a neighbour who was a German, and I was in the German section. We didn’t know Germany was going to get to the final, did we? They were all good fun though. They knew I wasn’t German but it was no problem. I was behind the goal when Geoff Hurst scored the fourth goal. The atmosphere was great and it was a great time. Only one side of the ground was seated and that was the dear side. For the qualifying games I paid 7 & 6 in old money, and the final cost a 10 bob note for the cheap side. They were good days.” Les started his playing career in Fermanagh as an inside forward but his career was temporarily halted when he broke his leg playing in the Broadmeadow against Corinthians in 1954. Two years later he made the move to England, and he signed for amateur side Lewisham United, where he played for 11 years. When he wasn’t playing on a Saturday he used to attend a variety of top flight games in the capital, but it was his closest side Charlton that he followed closely. “I used to go to a lot of games in London when I wasn’t playing myself,” he said. “I was living in Blackheath which is just beside Charlton and we walked down to the game and the first game we saw was against Man United. Bobby Charlton made his debut in that match, and they beat Charlton 4-2. That was before the Munich crash. I can remember the day that happened well. I was an electrician and our engineer on site was a real Manchester United supporter and he came into the portacabin where we were having our tea and he was crying. We thought maybe something had happened his family, but he had heard on the radio that Man United crashed and most of the players were killed. He was crying his eyes out. All the English fellas were football mad in those days. Mind you there wasn’t much else to do!” At the time of the 1966 World Cup Les was working in the docks, and his job meant he was one of the first people in the country to get his hands on a replica of the World Cup mascot. “They were little teddy bears called ‘World Cup Willy’ with the Union Jack on them and you could hang them in your car,” he recalled. “We were in the docks and there was a big hamper and the boys were looking at it, and they jimmied one and there were a couple of thousand of them in it!” After 34 years in England Les returned home to Enniskillen in 1990 and he celebrated his 85th birthday on Tuesday. He spent the day with family and friends, but had to be home in time to see Germany’s annihilation of Brazil. Les is as keen a watcher of football now as he was when he was playing, but he reckons the changes over the years have not all been for the better. “They play with their arms a lot now and we never did that when we were playing football,” he said. “There were no substitutes in my day either. If you got injured you stayed on and they put you up at centre forward, even if you couldn’t move. You had to have a broken leg before you could come off. They lie down now for the least wee thing. Some of the matches in the World Cup have been disappointing. There have been too many fouls. In one game there was 54 fouls or something. They keep stopping the games for no reason and breaking the momentum up, which we wouldn’t have liked in our day.” Les is a familiar face around the local football grounds and follows the fortunes of Enniskillen Rangers and Enniskillen Town as well as Ballinamallard. On Sunday he will be watching another World Cup Final, this time in front of the television, and once again the Germans will be in the final. “Every week there are loads of matches, and the wife has to go to the other television when the football is on,” he admitted. “I said Argentina at the start, but Germany are looking good, again. They are hard to beat and they seem to be getting better.”