My meeting with Sir Bobby Charlton, ‘the artist of 1966’ – 10/25/2023 – The World Is a Ball

Robert “Bobby” Charlton, who had suffered from dementia since 2020, died on Saturday (21), aged 86.

The English newspaper “The Independent” classified him as the best footballer the country had, thus titling his death: “Sir Bobby Charlton: England’s greatest player of all time and the artist of 1966”.

The year alludes to the year in which the English, playing at home, won their only World Cup, with the highlights being attacking midfielder Bobby Charlton, another Bobby, Moore (captain and defender), and striker Geoff Hurst.

Bobby Charlton, who would later become Sir (knight), receiving the title of nobility from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to his country, would still compete in the next World Cup, the 1970 World Cup, when the English Team fell in the quarter-finals before Brazil Skin.

The death of Bobby Charlton (who in 1958, at the age of 20, had survived a plane crash that killed eight Manchester United players) brought back to me the memory of the meeting I had with him, which was very memorable for me, which took place in 2010, in Manchester. .

A dinner with a very brief conversation, which I reported in a 2015 text, under the title “The night in which a bald gentleman put Pelé in 2nd place”, and which I republish in part, below, in honor of this star who, who you know, you can meet the King of Football on the other side.

“The year was 2010. The month, September. The day, I’m not sure: 17 or 18.

The country was England. The city, Manchester. The venue, The Lowry.

There was a dinner in the noble halls of the five-star hotel.

The organizer was Manchester United, which announced to journalists and guests the sponsorship deal with a Chilean wine producing company. Or was the event organizer the same company, in order to publicize its sponsorship of the Red Devils? I don’t remember. It doesn’t matter.

At that moment, what mattered was that, at the same large round table where I sat, less than two meters away, sat a bald and elegantly dressed gentleman: Sir Bobby Charlton, one of the legends of English football and United. , a club he defended from 1954 to 1973.

Charlton was world champion with England in 1966 and faced Brazil in the 1970 World Cup, in Mexico, when the three-time world champion team won 1-0, with a goal from Jairzinho.

I wanted to speak to Charlton. Hear some stories from him about his career.

Let him remember what the 1966 World Cup was like – the only one in which the inventors of the rules of football, but not football, triumphed (and with a goal in which the ball did not enter the final against Germany).

Talk about the duel with the Brazilian team in Guadalajara, 45 years ago. And about the failures of Brazil and England in the 2010 World Cup, in South Africa.

But he was far away, at such a distance that it was impossible to talk. There were three people on my right, between me and Charlton, and another three on my left. If I’m not mistaken, they all understand wine, not football.

And the same protocol that placed me, possibly by coincidence, at the table with Charlton prevented me from changing places with the others and getting closer to him.

Wine. Prohibited. More wine. Main course. More wine. Dessert. A brief exchange of words with the individual on my right, an even briefer one with the one on my left.

A long hour passed before dinner was finished. The guests got up to leave, it was already late, and I thought: a question. Let it be just one, but let it be done.

Charlton passed by me, was talking to someone, and I politely interrupted and introduced myself. “Luís Curro, from the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo. From Brazil.”

He cordially paid attention to me, and I ended up questioning something I considered obvious: “Who do you consider to be the best football player in history?”

I added, sort of answering for him: “Pelé?”

Charlton, then 72 years old, looked at me for a moment, smiled and replied calmly: “Boy, did you see Di Stéfano play?”

I was speechless, and that bald, elegantly dressed gentleman returned to paying attention to his interlocutor, walking towards the exit door of the room.”

Alfredo di Stéfano (1926-2014), elected by Bobby Charlton as the best in football, was born in Argentina and played for, in addition to his country’s national team, Colombia and Spain.

He is one of the greatest idols in the history of Real Madrid, the club he played for from 1953 to 1964.

He never played in a World Cup match.