By James B. Revell
In the photograph, his great-grandson holds up the precious match-day referee’s shirt, unwashed since 1966. Even six-year-old Bakhran knows its significance.
A statue in Azerbaijan commemorates the former footballer, coach, and referee, and the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium is named in his honour.
As a linesman in the World Cup Final, he raised his flag to signify that the ball had crossed the goal-line: millions of watching England fans celebrated.
West German players claimed to have seen chalk dust, indicating that the ball had not crossed the line. Tofiq’s family, however, affirm that throughout his life, he was sure he’d been right.
Nice work James. I’m not quite old enough to remember this famous WC incident, but I’ve heard tale told of it. I like the multi-generational aspect of your story. Nice timing, too, with the Euro tournament in full swing!
Thanks for your comment, Archibald. I was 15 at the time. I don’t think it’s overstating it to say that it was a definitive moment in British sporting and cultural history.
Really great piece of writing but isn’t it supposed to be fiction? This sounds like fact to me, although I know virtual nothing about football (ruffians game watched by ruffians [sic] ), except that England won something more than fifty years ago and haven’t done much since.
I believe that the quote you are thinking of is “Football is a gentleman’s game played by ruffians; rugby is a ruffian’s game played by gentlemen” or something along those lines. I was lucky enough to be at the game; this story brought back some special memories.
“football is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans, and Rugby is a hooligans’ game played by gentlemen”? Some sources attribute the quote to Britain’s war-time Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. However, nothing documented has ever been found to support that.
Reluctant as I am to comment further, for fear of detracting from the excellent writing of James B Revell, I must point out that mine was a deliberate misquote.
Got it from your (sic)….yes, I agree the writing was excellent!
With due respect to the author and his simple, flowing style of writing it appears to be at best a crisp anecdote much less a piece of fiction…
Thank you to all readers who took the trouble to comment on this story. I can see that it would be all too easy to rake up references to the British class system. Suffice to say that I enjoyed playing Rugby (League and Union) and Association Football (Soccer) throughout my life, and still play Walking Football today. I would refer anyone interested to Gavin Mortimer’s article about this subject in ‘The Spectator’ magazine ofJuly 7th 2018.
Lovely. Liked the segue from the ‘historic’ to the ‘familial’, which grounded the piece beautifully.
Thank you for your comment, Jon. I had to look up the word ‘segue’ but I am pleased that you felt it was appropriate.