England Flashback: The Gordon Banks Save & The Bobby Moore Tackle

Weird that a game we lost 1-0 produced two of the most fondly remembered moments in England history. But such is life as an England fan.

It was the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, and holders England faced soon-to-be-champions Brazil, in a group game in Guadalajara. Brazil won the game 1-0 with a great goal by Jairzinho (set up by Pelé) but England fans remember it for two moments of defensive excellence:

Gordon Banks’ save from Pelé’s header, and Bobby Moore’s legendary tackle on Jairzinho.

Video of The Gordon Banks Save was pretty easy to come by:

I’ll let the two men themselves describe it, as quoted on the FA’s website in 2005:

Gordon Banks:

“When I saw Jairzinho arc around, I knew the cross was coming.

“I moved off my line and as I turned my head I saw Pelé. He met the ball with the meat of his head. Textbook stuff. I heard him shout, ‘Golo!’ I found myself at a 40-degree angle with my right hand stretching out towards the post, my eyes trained on the ball.

“I knew if I made contact, I’d have to get it up in the air. The ball hit the deck two yards in front of me. I made contact with one finger and rolled my hand, using the third and fourth fingers as leverage.

“I landed crumpled against the netting and my first reaction was to look at Pelé. He’d ground to a halt. I knew all I needed to know.”

Pelé:

“He came from nowhere.

“I headed it perfectly towards one corner of the net while Banks was at the other corner.

“I was already shouting GOOOL!!! when Banks, like a salmon leaping up a falls, threw himself in the air and managed to tip the ball so it slid over the crossbar. It was an impossible play.

And apparently, this little exchange took place after the save:

Pelé: “I thought that was a goal.”
Banks: “You and me both.”
Bobby Moore: “You’re getting old, Banksy. You used to hold on to them.”
Banks (to himself): “Like hell I did.”

Hard to say whether it’s really the greatest save of all time. There were plenty before and there’ve been plenty since. But – in England at least – this one’s still the most talked about.

The Bobby Moore Tackle maybe doesn’t get discussed quite as often, and isn’t as easy to find on YouTube. And I think some people (myself included for a while there) mistakenly believe it to be Pelé on the receiving end. It wasn’t, it was Jairzinho. But that actually makes it more impressive, as Jairzinho was more of a dribbler.

You have no idea how long it took to find this on YouTube. For a while it seemed that the only footage available was as part of the Baddiel & Skinner/Lightning Seeds “Three Lions” video, but having it inter-spliced with a recreation featuring a slightly tubby Baddiel as Jairzinho(!) sort of ruined it. For me at least.

Finally I found this footage of the complete game split into ten parts. Go to about the 5:20 mark to see the whole thing in real time:

Basically Moore waits and waits as Jairzinho dribbles into the area, and then times his block tackle to perfection (it’s not quite a slide tackle, because it’s too perfect, too deliberate to be called that) and then calmly distributes the ball afterward, as if he hasn’t just made the finest tackle in all of history.

And if you keep watching, you’ll see that it could and should have led to England equalizing. If only Jeff Astle had hit the target, footage of that tackle would be a lot easier to find in 2009.