England nostalgic as historic Wembley says goodbye with German

The tributes to what is now frankly a decaying hulk in an otherwise unremarkable North London suburb have shown that while the ferro-concrete towers may be crumbling, the English public’s love of nostalgia is as strong as ever. Wembley was built as part of the British Empire Exhibition of 1923 and to have suggested then that the stadium would have outlasted the nation’s imperial rule would have been laughable.

The Empire Stadium, as it was officially known, cost 750,000 pounds to build, an astronomical figure for the time.

Its first match, the 1923 FA Cup final, was arguably its most famous. Thousands upon thousands eager to cheer on Bolton and West Ham, as well as see the new stadium, broke in without going through the turnstiles.

Despite all the expanses of purpose built terracing there was simply no room for all of them and a vast overflow spilt on to the pitch itself causing a 40 minute delay.

Astonishingly, given modern methods of crowd control, spectators were cleared off the pitch by a solitary policeman on a white horse. Bolton beat West Ham 2-0 but the horse was the star.

The official attendance was put at 126,047 but contemporary reports suggested more than 200,000 were present. From then on matches at Wembley wisely became all-ticket affairs.

Other sports also took their turn. The cost of building Wembley had driven its developer to financial ruin so the money from greyhound racing, speedway, and rugby league’s Challenge Cup final was welcome.

Another familiar sound, if not sight, was the high-pitched screaming of enthusiastic schoolgirls cheering on the England women’s hockey team in their annual international.

Even more deafening was the sound of rock concerts notably the Live Aid event of 1985 that raised money for Ethiopian famine relief.Wembley was also at the heart of the 1948 Olympics and on its athletics track Fanny Blankers-Koen, the Flying Dutchwoman won her clutch of gold medals.

However, football was still Wembley’s core business and 1953 alone saw two vintage contests.That year’s FA Cup final between Bolton and Blackpool was Sir Stanley Matthews’ third and, some reckoned, last chance to win a precious winner’s medal.

However, at 3-1 down that was looking unlikely. Then the legendary England winger, the wizard of the dribble, produced some of the finest moments of his career to provide the crosses that took Blackpool to a 4-3 victory.

Stan Mortensen scored a hat-trick for Blackpool but the match was hailed the Matthews final and has remained so ever since. An even more impressive footballing display came in November. England had never lost to non-British opposition at Wembley but that record fell in spectacular style when Hungary, inspired by brilliant striker Ferenc Puskas, inflicted a then record 6-3 defeat.

Among the England side that received this tactical masterclass was Alf Ramsey. Thirteen years later he was England’s manager when they won the World Cup at Wembley in a 4-2 victory over West Germany. A German equaliser seconds from the end took the game into extra-time. “You’ve won the World Cup once, go and do it again,” Ramsey told his exhausted players.

They did, although Sir Geoff Hurst’s second goal, England’s third, which came off the underside of the crossbar remains controversial to this day.What was not in doubt was Hurst’s third that flew into the top corner to seal England’s win. No player before or since has scored a hat-trick in a World Cup final.

This was English football’s greatest day, hence the decision to play Germany in Wembley’s last game. England will once again wear their change strip of red, the Germans their traditional white.

Currently, neither England nor Germany are what they once were in world football and nor is Wembley. For the moment though that doesn’t matter. As German coach Rudi Voller said: “This is not just about three points. This is a classic the last game in this legendary stadium.”