England

My favourite game: Bobby Moore displays his brilliance against Brazil | Tony Paley

21-May-2020 12:27:26 | Guardian

England’s captain went into the 1970 World Cup under a cloud but he was imperious against the eventual winners

Our school’s football team coach was sure he knew why Bobby Moore was targeted in the infamous, and still unsolved, Bogotá bracelet incident that dominated England’s preparations for the 1970 World Cup. “They wanted the captain – it was the best chance of disrupting the team,” he told us. “Others were in that shop but Moore was the one fingered.”

Half a century ago this week a Colombian shop assistant accused Moore of theft, and Mr Aspinall taught us that football matches could be lost off the pitch too, in our minds. Four days after the England entourage walked into the gift shop near to the team hotel foyer where they were based for their warm-up matches, Moore was under arrest. It was a worldwide sensation and for an impressionable nine-year-old, on my teacher’s prompting, the seemingly upstanding England captain became the focus of my attention.