Referees have never been held in highest esteem - a perception unlikely to be altered when these two cartoons go under the hammer next Wednesday (December 13, 2023) at an auction to be conducted by Bonhams of London. The pre-sale guide price for the one, above, by Ronald Searle (1920-2011), is £600-800, while that for the one, below, by Norman Thelwell (1923-2004) is £400-600.   ..read more

You decide! All eyes on Tofiq Bahramov in the most controversial moment in World Cup history IT is the 10th minute of the first period of extra time in the 1966 World Cup final.   A pass from Alan Ball falls slightly behind Geoff Hurst who checks, takes a couple of half-paces, then swivels and fires past the diving West Germany goalkeeper, Hans Tilkowski. The ball hits the underside of the bar and, spinning ferociously, fizzes down towards the goalline.  Cue: a controversy which has raged ever since. Goal or no goal?  "Achtung! Achtung!"  West Germany TV com ..read more

                                                      Let's get stuck in, lads! This oil-on-canvas by Alexander Carse (1770 -1843) is believed to be one of the oldest depictions of a football match. The setting is probably imaginary but derived from the East Lothian or Berwickshire towns and villages the artist knew in his youth. The painting sold for £40,000 at an auction  staged by Bonhams on August 23, 2006.   ..read more

                                     This article was published last Saturday in The Sun newspaper ahead of the auction on November 16 of wartime memorabilia (Lot 104)  relating to former bomber pilot Kenneth Wolstenholme, BBC TV commentator for the 1966 World Cup Final. More details of the sale, for which online bidding is now open, at  https://www.grahambuddauctions.co.uk ..read more

                                                                                      Inflation? World Cup one penny coin will fetch more than £2,000! (photo: Graham Budd Auctions) THE one-penny coin spun before the start of the 1966 World Cup Final at Wembley is up for grabs in an online auction currently underway. It was evidently acquired from Swiss referee Gottfried Di ..read more

                                                     It was NOT a goal insists the German goalkeeper SAD to hear  this week of the death, aged 84, of Hans Tilkowski - the German ‘keeper in the 1966 World Cup Final. If he had managed to prevent England’s third goal - perhaps by tipping the ball over the bar - football’s greatest ever controversy would have been averted. Whenever fans asked him to sign a photograph of the incident, he always wrot ..read more

Mark Bright - capable of dishing it out GIVEN the opportunity to pen their memoirs, many ex- footballers see it as a chance to settle old scores. But Mark Bright, who, on the field was never less than fearless and. competitive, takes a different tack In his autobiography, Mark Bright - My Story from Foster Care to Footballer, he is unfailingly generous in how he describes those he has encountered both inside and outside the game - older brother Phil, foster parents, school teachers, players, managers, pretty well everyone. Where he does find faults - for instance, with his Gambia ..read more

Flashback to The Sun front page of July 4, 1998. The incident - in the England-Argentina World Cup match in France -  that (according to the tabloid)  incurred Her Majesty's wrath was a late Sol Campbell effort that was ruled out by the Danish referee, Kim Nielsen,  who judged that Argentine's goalkeeper, Roa, had been impeded  by Alan Shearer. The score stayed 2-2 at full time, and Argentina won the penalty shoot-out 4-3. The match was also memorable for a Michael Owen wonder goal and the sending off of David Beckham ..read more

                                         WHAT I can't stand is when you try and talk to a ref and he's just dismissive, almost like a rude schoolmaster. . . "  So says former Manchester United and England footballer Michael Carrick in his autobiography, Between The Lines.  He continues: "I don't pay much attention to refs usually - they're doing their job. "Generally I'm  going up to them because something's happened.  "If the balls gone out of play, and it's  ..read more

                                                              MICHAEL Oliver is the Referee of The Year, says columnist Keith Hackett, himself a former outstanding official,  in today's edition of The Daily Telegraph. Still only 33, the Northumberland official has constantly impressed&n ..read more