October 12 - He Walked the Line | On This Football Day

IT was on this day in 1993 that the man who won England the world cup in 1966 popped his clogs.

Geoff Hurst? Bobby Moore? Sir Alf Ramsey? No, it was on this day that Tofik Bakhramov passed away.

Bakhramov is one of those great characters in history who had fame thrust upon him, for he was the ‘Russian Linesman’ who gave England their third and decisive goal in the 1966 final.

‘Russian linesman’ was something of a misnomer as he was actually from Azerbaijan, which was part of the Soviet Union at the time.

His playing career was cut short by injury, but rather than move into coaching Bakhramov decided to switch to the thankless job of refereeing.

If he had not been involved in the controversy surrounding Hurst’s goal, Bakhramov would have gone home being hated by the Swiss rather than the Germans, as in a first round game between Switzerland and Spain he was responsible for chalking off a Swiss goal leading to a 2-1 win for the Spanish and an early exit for the Swiss.

In an effort to eclipse this Bakhramov went on to be the key factor in probably the most debated and controversial decision ever made in the history of football.

In his memoirs Bakhramov said he believed the ball had bounced back from the net rather than the crossbar, meaning it had already crossed the line. Didn’t stop the Germans banging on about it though.

After he finished refereeing Bakhramov went on to be the general secretary of the Azerbaijan Football Association, and the national stadium in Baku is even named after him. Don’t get any ideas Poll, Wembley already has a name.

Rest in peace Tofik, perhaps if it wasn’t for you, our current footballers wouldn’t constantly cite the pressure of ‘1966 and all that’ as the reason they fail to win anything.

Although you have no doubt seen it countless times, here is the infamous goal again, and Bakhramov furiously nodding at referee Gottfried Dienst to indicate it was a goal.