I WAS UNFIT AND HAD A FAT ARSE… BUT I WAS IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

Less than an hour before we’re due to speak to Sir Geoff Hurst, an email arrives informing us that he’s having problems with his Zoom, and instead could we simply have our chat over the phone? We’ve all been there. Who over the last two years hasn’t screamed in frustration at some online video conferencing malfunction? So, maybe he’s just like all of us. Maybe, Sir Geoffis an everyman after all. Let’s face it, though: he’s not, is he? Sir Geoff Hurst is unique. In almost one hundred years of World Cup football, Hurst’s two feet and forehead remain the only part of any man’s anatomy to have conjured up a hat-trick in a final. The England icon turned 80 in December, but he remains sharp, warm and friendly – normal, even.

But there’s no escaping it: Hurst’s seismic feats on that July afternoon at Wembley in 1966 continue to give him exclusivity when it comes to world football’s greatest event. It’s a day that defined life as he knew it forever, and continues to define English football to this day. How’s that for a legacy?

HOWZAT, RON?

It’s hard to imagine plain old Geoff Hurst before July 1966 – the hardworking and talented, but much less lauded striker in Alf Ramsey’s squad.

But that’s exactly what he was. With only five international caps in his collection going into the tournament, and up against scoring stalwarts in Jimmy Greaves and Roger Hunt, there was no reason for a 24-year-old Hurst to feel any strain of expectation.

“That’s true,” he tells FFT. “There wasn’t any pressure because frankly, I didn’t even expect to play in the first place…”

Hurst was born into the game of football, but a world away from global gongs and the royal honours list. His father Charlie was a pro before him; a centre-half who plied his trade in the lower leagues at