Heâs the only man to have scored a hat trick in a World Cup final â and for England too! That was over half a century ago â but itâs not all over for Sir Geoff Hurst
Words Adrian Day
The football legend has had to talk about those 120 minutes for the last 50 odd years but that hasnât diminished his love of the game and he speaks like the 24-year old he was back in 1966.
Today, we are talking about his new goal â to launch his âSpirit of 66â range of gin and whisky, with a proportion of the proceeds supporting Alzheimer and dementia charities.
âIâm keen on supporting them because Iâve been heavily involved the past few years with dementia and the Alzheimerâs Society as some of my World Cup colleagues have passed away with it and, more recently, Bobby Charlton has been diagnosed with it,â he says.
Geoff says the Spirit of 66 name is apt. âThere hasnât been anything like that since, and the word spirit â in terms of the spirit of the team â that was instrumental in its success.â
âThe camaraderie and spirit of the individual players was essential. It wasnât just about the quality of the footballers â but strong characters with great spirit and determination. That was essential to our success.â A good message for these times perhaps?
âYes, weâve all got to work together and get through this,â he agrees.
The two spirits look set to be real collectorsâ items as just 1,966 bottles of each have been produced, with each label being personally signed by him. Geoff says: âItâs the kind of whisky that can be stored and can be an investment. And thatâs something thatâs interesting for whisky collectors.â
The signing of around 4,000 labels was a bit of a task and led to other considerations: âIâve got to look reasonably well â thereâs that bloody picture of me scoring that winning goal on the front of those bottles so they are going to be hugely disappointed if they see me and say, âgood God, heâs cracked upâ,â he laughs.
âThe labels were all on a roll so my wife was holding the roll and as I signed them, I undid the roll and they spilled all across my living room.â
Collectable they might well be. As Geoff says about Englandâs World Cup win: âThereâs not a bigger story in English sport. Itâs easily the biggest event television wise â still today, itâs beaten all the royal weddings. âI think over 30 million watched it in â66 and thatâs incredible when you consider that in those medieval times a lot of people didnât have televisions.

Those were certainly different times and footballers were less cosseted than todayâs stars but Geoff has fond memories of Mayfair from back in the day.
âI'D BEEN TO DANNY LA RUE'S CLUB IN HANOVER SQUARE ABOUT SIX MONTHS EARLIER – IT STUCK IN MY MINDâ
âSo I decided weâve got a do something. Iâd always have a drink after the game on Saturday night in London â take the wife out and have a couple of drinks and a nice meal.â
âIâd been to Danny La Rueâs club in Hanover Square about six months earlier â it stuck in my mind. It was quite a nice club and Ronnie Corbett used to do a turn there â God rest him. And thereâs me stupidly thinking â ringing at such late notice we wouldnât get in! I mean, who  wouldnât want five or six World Cup-winning players and thereâs me thinking we might not get in.â

Anyway, I booked it and we went straight from this boring banquet â me, John Connolly, Nobby Styles and Alan Ball. Iâve got a great picture of that. We are sitting down there at the club with our wives â that was brilliant.â
The âSpirit of 66â London Dry Gin, £59.99 and the âSpirit of 66â Single Malt Whisky, ÂŁ99.99, can be purchased online via spiritof1966.co.uk
âProbably the best goal would be my first goal in the final. We were 1-0 down and getting back into the game was very important. That goal was created on the West Ham training ground between Bobby Moore and myself. We had a great coach in Ron Greenwood who always said, âif you have a free kick â if somethingâs on just take it. Donât wait to set it upâ. It was such an important goal.
âArguably, the best goal in terms of people remembering it was the final goal, which is such an iconic picture. It was unbelievable. I mean who captured that? Itâs absolutely amazing. Because youâve got the score in the background. Itâs the last kick of the game going into the net â youâve got the ball only a couple of yards from my foot, Iâm off the ground. That is why itâs such an iconic picture and such a great thing to have on the front of the gin and the whisky.â
So who does he rate as the best striker in the game at the moment? âIâd say Aguero. I think people donât realise how good he has been. Over the past few years, Iâd pick him definitely.â
Perhaps, unsurprisingly, the player Geoff believes is the best he has seen in his long experience of the game is Pele. âIâve played against him and Iâd always pick him as my best player,â he says. âThere have been some great ones â Maradona more recently, of course. He was fantastic but, if I had to pick one, Iâd always pick Pele.â
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