1960 blazer worn by the last Great Britain men's football team to participate at the Games
By Philip Barker
Already, over a week has passed since Italy beat England on penalties in the dramatic European Championship final at Wembley Stadium in London.
The attendance was supposed to be 60,000 but after the storming of the gates by hooligans, the true figure may never be known.
What is more easily verifiable is that 50 years ago this summer, only 3,000 hardy souls were at Wembley to witness the end of an era when Great Britain’s men embarked on their final Olympic qualification campaign as amateurs.
Great Britain had not qualified for the final stages of the Olympic football tournament since the Rome Games of 1960 when they set out on the first round of qualification for Munich 1972.
They were managed by Charles Hughes, a member of the coaching staff at the Football Association in London. Hughes had been in charge of the amateur team since 1964.
Charlie used to push us so hard that if you pulled out of a tackle in training he would not have picked you. Training was so hard,” said Hendon’s Peter Deadman, a squad member for both matches.
Great Britain’s team were drawn from the Isthmian, Athenian and Northern Leagues, all strictly amateur.
One such was John Delaney centre half at Wycombe Wanderers, then one of the finest amateur teams in the country.
He recalled “We were amateurs up against seasoned professionals.”
The first leg was to be played at Wembley in March 1971.
“The choice of ground would lead to a bigger attendance and a better display by the British team,” said Alan O’Dell of the Football Association.
But only days before the match, fewer than 300 tickets had been sold. Eventually, 3,000 turned up, but even so the crowd looked lost on the vast terraces.
“Ticket sales have been disappointingly small “said press reports of the time.
Their opponents Bulgaria included a number of players who had taken part in the 1970 Mexico World Cup.
“When we played at Wembley, the Bulgarians expected to be playing in front of 100,000” said Delaney. They guessed something was up when they came out in front of a few thousand.”
The pity was that Great Britain played superbly to win 1-0 with a goal from Joe Adams of Slough Town.
If there was little attention for the first leg, the second was virtually ignored at home.
This was perhaps not surprising. An instruction booklet issued by FA Secretary Denis Follows to players included the order “Players are forbidden to comment upon the match in television or radio programmes or in press reports after the game.”
The team gathered at the Windsor Hotel in Lancaster Gate, close to Hyde Park in London before flying out to Sofia.
“Shirt, shorts and stockings will be provided by the committee. Players are requested to bring with them athletic slips, shin guards and football boots which must be properly studded. All players are advised to take with them soap and towels for personal use.”
When they arrived at the Grand Hotel in Sofia “all members of the party are invited to attend the home of Her Majesty’s ambassador Donald Logan CMG for drinks during the evening.”
The match was the following day.
The only British supporters in a 78,000 crowd were staff from the embassy.
Delaney walked out for the match
“I will never forget there was a sign above the goal which said ‘GOODBYE SWEET DREAMS’.” The Bulgarians were soon into a four-goal lead and eventually won 5-0. Britain were under pressure throughout and Delaney recalled a conversation with fellow defender and Wycombe club mate Ted Powell. “We got the ball over the half way line and he said that we should push up. I said: ‘You go, they will be back in a minute’.”
Bulgaria did not make it to the Games either. They lost in the next round and the gold medal eventually went to Poland who included a number of Olympic stars in their full side and eliminated both England and Wales in the qualifying group for the 1974 FIFA World Cup.
Though Delaney and his team mates never represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games themselves, his pride at pulling on the jersey is clear.
“It must have cost me hundreds of pounds but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. “It is something they cannot take away from you,” he said.
It proved to be the last amateur Great Britain team because the Football Association soon abolished the distinction between professionals and amateurs which effectively disqualified Great Britain from taking part until the regulations were changed.
Even then, the uneasiness of the home associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland over footballing autonomy has meant that a men’s team has only since competed at London 2012.
At those Games it was the women who kicked off the entire Games in Cardiff with victory over New Zealand. Happily it has also proved possible to send a team to Tokyo.
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