Geoff Hurst
Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he became the first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, as England recorded a 4–2 victory over West Germany at Wembley in 1966. With the death of Sir Bobby Charlton in October 2023, Hurst became the last living player from the team that won the 1966 final.
Hurst began his career with West Ham United, where he scored 242 goals in 500 first team appearances. There he won the FA Cup in 1964 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965. He was sold to Stoke City in 1972 for . After three seasons with Stoke, where he won the Watney Cup in 1973, he finished his Football League career with West Bromwich Albion in 1976. Hurst went to play football in Ireland and the United States, before returning to England to manage non-league Telford United. He also coached in the England set-up before a two-year stint as Chelsea manager from 1979 to 1981. He later coached Kuwait SC, before leaving the game to concentrate on his business commitments.
In total, Hurst scored 24 goals in 49 England appearances, and as well as success in the 1966 World Cup he also appeared at UEFA Euro 1968 and the 1970 FIFA World Cup. He also had a brief cricket career, making one first-class appearance for Essex in 1962, before concentrating on football.
Early life
Hurst was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England, on 8 December 1941. He had two younger siblings: Diane and Robert. His family moved to Chelmsford, Essex when he was six years old. His father, Charlie Hurst, was a professional footballer who played at centre-half for Bristol Rovers, Oldham Athletic and Rochdale. His mother, Evelyn Hopkins, was from a Gloucestershire family, with her mother's side originally from Germany. As a teenager he was obsessed with football, and was once fined £1 for disturbing the peace after persistently kicking a football into his neighbour's garden.Hurst played one first-class cricket match for Essex, against Lancashire at Aigburth in 1962, although it was not a successful outing: he made 0 not out in the first innings, and was bowled by Colin Hilton, again for 0, in the second. However, he appeared 23 times in the Essex Second XI between 1962 and 1964, usually as a wicket-keeper, before concentrating entirely on football.
Under his father's management of the club, Hurst played once for Halstead Town reserves at the age of "about 14".
Club career
West Ham United
Hurst's football career began when he was apprenticed to West Ham United at the age of 15. He played alongside Bobby Moore in the 1959 FA Youth Cup final team that lost to Blackburn Rovers, but both were also in the team that won the Southern Junior Floodlit Cup later that year. Manager Ted Fenton first selected him for a senior game in a Southern Floodlit Cup tie with Fulham in December 1958. He turned professional at the club four months later, and was paid £7 a week with a £20 signing-on fee. His first competitive appearance came in February 1960 when injuries forced Fenton's hand; Hurst put in an indifferent performance and the team lost 3–1. He made only two further appearances in the 1959–60 season, and realised that Bobby Moore was making better progress in the same position than he was. He played six times in the 1960–61 campaign and seriously considered turning his main focus to cricket. In April 1961 Ron Greenwood took over as manager, and drastically changed team training by putting a focus on footballing skill rather than physical fitness.Hurst missed the start of 1961–62 pre-season training due to his cricketing commitments, but went on to make 24 appearances at left-half, and scored his first goal for the club in a 4–2 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in December 1961. However, he again missed pre-season training the following summer and was dropped after proving to be unfit during the opening game of the 1962–63 season. In September of that season Greenwood tried playing Hurst as a striker, after deciding that the defensive side of his game was a weakness for the young midfielder. He formed a successful partnership with Johnny Byrne and went on to score 13 goals in 27 First Division games whilst Byrne scored nine in 30 games in the 1962–63 season. In the summer of 1963 he joined the club on their pre-season tour of New York, and greatly benefited from playing against top-quality players from clubs across the world in the International Soccer League, a friendly tournament.
Hurst and West Ham had a poor start to the 1963–64 season, and went on to finish in 14th place. However, it was in the FA Cup where the team impressed. A comfortable 3–0 home win over Second Division Charlton Athletic was followed by another 3–0 home win over East End rivals Leyton Orient – though only following a tough 1–1 draw at Brisbane Road. Greenwood named the same 11 players, including Hurst, in all the club's seven FA Cup fixtures as West Ham progressed to the final. Hurst scored one against Charlton and two against Orient, and claimed another goal in the fifth round as West Ham beat Second Division Swindon Town 3–1 at the County Ground. Burnley provided a stern test in the quarter-finals, but a 3–2 home win took West Ham into the semi-finals, where they faced Manchester United at Hillsborough. West Ham won 3–1, with Hurst scoring the final goal of the game after being set up by Bobby Moore. West Ham faced Second Division Preston North End at Wembley in the 1964 FA Cup Final, and had to come from behind twice to win the match 3–2. Hurst scored his side's second equaliser with a header that bounced under the crossbar and ended up just over the goal line.
The club's success won them a place in the European Cup Winners Cup for the 1964–65 season. They defeated Belgian side K.A.A. Gent in the First Round after an unconvincing 2–1 aggregate victory. Czechoslovak side AC Sparta Prague awaited in the second round, and West Ham progressed with a 3–2 aggregate victory despite the absence of Moore. Despite beating Swiss team FC Lausanne-Sport 6–4 on aggregate in the quarter-finals, Hurst had still not registered a goal in the competition as he was played in a withdrawn role behind Johnny Byrne so as to strengthen the midfield. In the semi-finals, West Ham defended a 2–1 home win over Spanish club Real Zaragoza with a 1–1 draw at La Romareda to claim a place in the 1965 European Cup Winners' Cup Final against TSV 1860 München at Wembley. West Ham won 2–0, Alan Sealey scoring both goals, to give the club their first European trophy.
Having scored 40 goals in 59 competitive games in the 1965–66 season and then gone on to make himself a household name by winning the World Cup with England, Hurst was the subject of a transfer offer by Manchester United manager Matt Busby – the offer was rejected by Greenwood. He was in the West Ham side which lost the League Cup final, 5–3 on aggregate to West Bromwich Albion.
In the 1966–67 season, West Ham demonstrated the inconsistency that would deny them a realistic prospect of winning a league championship under Greenwood. Hurst scored a hat-trick as they defeated full-strength title challengers Leeds United 7–0 in the League Cup, but they exited the FA Cup with a 3–1 defeat to Third Division side Swindon Town.
Hurst scored six goals in a First Division match against Sunderland at Upton Park on 19 October 1968, which West Ham won 8–0. However, he regretted admitting that he handled the ball in his first goal which led to the back page headlines focusing on the illegitimate goal rather than the rare feat of one player scoring six goals in one game.
In 1972, West Ham reached the semi-finals of the League Cup when they played Stoke City over two legs. In the home leg at Upton Park, they were awarded a penalty after Harry Redknapp was fouled in the box. Hurst took the penalty and struck a powerful shot into the top corner which was saved by Gordon Banks, who succeeded in deflecting the ball over the bar. Stoke won the tie in the subsequent replay and denied Hurst one more final appearance at Wembley.
Stoke City
Hurst was sold to Stoke City for a £80,000 fee in August 1972. He was struck down with pneumonia early in 1973 and went to South Africa to recover, playing on loan for Roy Bailey's Cape Town City. He missed just four games for Stoke and upon his return he helped the side to maintain their First Division status.In January 1974, "Potters" manager Tony Waddington asked Hurst to take in new signing Alan Hudson as a lodger so as to provide the talented but troubled midfielder with a stable home during his Stoke career. Hudson adapted well to life in the Hurst household and Stoke recorded a fifth place in the 1973–74 season – a career high for Hurst.
Hurst scored 11 goals in 41 games in the 1974–75 season and helped Stoke to finish in fifth place, just four points behind champions Derby County.
West Bromwich Albion
Hurst was sold to Johnny Giles's West Bromwich Albion in the summer of 1975 for a fee of £20,000. He played 12 times for the Baggies at the start of the 1975–76 season, scoring twice, before deciding to leave for America. Hurst later acknowledged that at the age of 34 he was too old to lead the line in the "Baggies" push for promotion out of the Second Division.Later career
Hurst signed for Cork Celtic in January 1976, and remained in Ireland for one month.He signed for the Seattle Sounders of the NASL in 1976. Hurst rapidly proved his worth, and became a valuable member of the Sounders team. He was the team's second-leading scorer, helping the Sounders make it to the play-offs for the first time in their brief history, with eight goals and four assists in 23 regular season games, and one goal in the play-offs.
International career
1966 World Cup
Hurst made his senior England debut against West Germany on 23 February 1966. He played well, and further performances against Scotland and Yugoslavia secured him a place in the squad for the 1966 FIFA World Cup. However, he put in mediocre performances in warm-up games against Finland and Denmark, and so Jimmy Greaves and Roger Hunt were instead picked for the final friendly game against Poland. Greaves and Hunt were picked for the three group games against Uruguay, Mexico and France, but in the latter game, Greaves suffered a deep gash to his leg which required stitches, and Hurst was called up to take his place in the quarter-final against Argentina.Argentina were talented but preferred a tougher approach to the game, which saw them reduced to ten men. The game was still tightly contested as it entered its final 15 minutes, before Martin Peters swung over a curling cross from the left flank and Hurst, anticipating his clubmate's action, got in front of his marker to glance a near post header past the Argentine keeper. England won 1–0 and were in the semi-finals.
Greaves was not fit for the game against Portugal so Hurst and Hunt continued up front, and England won 2–1 thanks to two goals by Bobby Charlton, the second of which was set up by Hurst. As the final against the Germans approached, the media learnt of Greaves' return to fitness and, while appreciating Hurst's contribution, started to call for the return of England's most prolific centre forward. Ramsey, however, would not be swayed and selected Hurst for the final.