Oh what a day it was for John Bull 41 years ago this afternoon when England won its first and only World Cup championship with a 4-2 overtime victory over West Germany. The match was all square at the end of 90 minutes and so went on into extra time, where a controversy occurred that is perhaps only equalled in World Cup lore by the Hand of God fiasco. Eleven minutes into overtime England’s Geoff Hurst brilliantly handled an Alan Ball cross in the German penalty area and turned with a laser shot that went over the German keeper, hit the crossbar and ricocheted downwards, bouncing (depending on your perspective) either on the goalline or beyond it into the goal before bouncing back out again. Referee Gottfried Dienst quickly conferred with linesman Tofik Bakhramov and the shot was ruled a goal, the deciding goal as it turned out (England would score again with less than a minute remaining after Germany moved all their defenders forward).

Debate has never really flagged about this episode. The video is below, so you can see for yourself – it’s a tough call. The linesman’s bizarre, immediate certainty that it was indeed a goal is worth some scrutiny without a doubt. Keep in mind that the entire ball must be over the goalline for it to count. It’s a head-scratcher. As if the whole England/Germany thing wasn’t a bit loaded before the bloody shot.