Hailing from Sheffield, Gordon Banks ascended to an undisputed national status when he became England’s first and only World Cup winning goalkeeper in 1966. 58 years later and Banks still retains this title, however some may argue that his place in football history was solidified even further by a different defining moment in his career – a wonder save he made to deny Pelé during a group stage match for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.
We are very lucky to have Banks’ England cap from this tournament on loan to us as part of The Players Foundation collection.
It may seem unlikely to us that the World Cup was not always as popular as it is now, but it is safe to say that when Sir Alf Ramsey’s England squad won for the first and only time in 1966, the tides had turned. The rise of television meant that England’s victory in the historical ’66 final played against West Germany on the 30th of July 1966 was watched by 400 million viewers globally.
By the time the 1970 tournament came around, coverage reached many more across the globe and these spectators would be watching the great contest unfold in colour – even better! England were tipped as the favourites to win, and the world tuned in to watch them defend their crown under Mexican skies of glorious sunshine.
The 1970 World Cup was the first to be held outside of Europe and South America, also being the first to be held in North America. There were changes on the pitch too, with substitutions being allowed for the first time. England were in a group with Romania, Czechoslovakia and Brazil and went into the competition feeling confident due to their status as the reigning world champions.
Banks himself went into the tournament as England’s undisputed number one with 59 caps to his name and had Peter Bonetti and Alex Stepney as his understudies. The team got off to a flying start, beating Romania 1-0 thanks to a singular Geoff Hurst goal, and whilst awaiting their next game where they would be playing Brazil, Banks was informed that he had been awarded an OBE. It seemed like Banks and his teammates had the world at their feet.
However, this soon changed when Banks and the rest of the squad struggled to acclimatise in Mexico, finding the heat and altitude in Guadalajara exceedingly difficult to cope with. These efforts at acclimatisation were not helped when captain Bobby Moore was arrested in Colombia, falsely accused of stealing a bracelet from a jewelry shop in Bogota. This is now known as the infamous ‘Bogota Bracelet’ incident, and whilst the charges were swiftly dropped, the squad received a hostile response during the rest of competition. The squad’s nerves were certainly more frayed by the time they came to face two-time former champions Brazil next in a group game dubbed as a meeting of the tournament’s two finest teams.
The meeting between England and Brazil on the 7th June 1970 ended in a victory for Brazil through Jairzinho’s second-half goal, but the game’s iconic moment came in the first half. Pelé powered a downward header into the net, even shouting “Gol!” as he sent it flying. Against the odds, Banks got across from his near post to the far post and scooped it over the bar with his right hand. Everyone on the pitch, whether Brazilian or English, was astonished – Pelé was in utter disbelief and captain Bobby Moore threw his hands in the air before applauding Banks.
Known for his modesty, Banks later described the save as “lucky” and mused that the public “won’t remember me for winning the World Cup. It will be for that save. That’s how big a thing it is. People just want to talk about that save.”
Whilst he is remembered as a World Cup winner and a vital member of the ’66 squad, Banks was right. The save became the defining moment of his career, and it is not hard to understand why the phrase ‘Safe as the Banks of England’ was coined about the beloved goalkeeper. Clearly there were no hard feelings between Pelé and Banks, as the Pelé referred to the save as the greatest he saw during his career and the two went on to become great friends. As recent as September of this year, the save topped Four Four Two’s list of the 10 greatest saves of all time.
Both Brazil and England won their final group games to progress to the quarter finals, but unfortunately England’s safety in the hands of Banks did not continue for long. The day before England played against West Germany in Leon, Banks was taken ill with what the locals called ‘Montezuma’s Revenge’, a severe stomach bug accompanied by intense fever, aching limbs and cramps. Banks passed an undemanding fitness test but soon relapsed, leaving Ramsey to rest him and draft in Chelsea keeper Peter Bonetti at the eleventh hour.
England’s number one was confined to his hotel room as Bonetti suffered through a nervous performance in which the English side conceded a two-goal lead to lose 3-2. To make matters even worse, Banks was watching the match on the television in his room but turned it off due to a delay in the broadcast. When he turned it off England were winning 2-0, and it was up to Bobby Moore to break the news of the defeat and England’s early exit from the tournament. And so, the English World Cup misery that we have become all too accustomed to today emerged.
Banks’ sudden illness led to conspiracy theories that he had been deliberately poisoned to get England knocked out of the tournament, made somewhat credible by the unpopularity of the squad among locals after the Bogota Bracelet incident and unfriendly comments made by Ramsey about Mexico’s hosting of the tournament. There was never any evidence that Banks was poisoned, and Banks himself refused to subscribe to this theory.
Banks played his 73rd and final game for England on the 27th of May 1972, in a 1-0 win over Scotland at Hampden Park. The great goalkeeper’s career was cut tragically short on Sunday 22nd of October that same year when he lost the sight in his right eye in a car crash as he drove home after treatment for a minor injury. During his 73 international games, Banks kept 35 clean sheets and lost just nine games. Along with his 1966 World Cup success and famous save in 1970, he was named as FIFA’s ‘Goalkeeper of the Year’ for six consecutive years between 1966 and 1971.
He died in 2019 at the age of 81 and will always be remembered as one of the greats of the game, more specifically as the goalkeeper who made the save by which all others are still measured.