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This article
appeared in The Times Saturday newspaper in 2001
(sorry lost the actual date) ...
IT WAS. in the view
of Sunday Telegraph TV critic, Sean Day-Lewis, one of the
highlights of the weekend's viewing. Harry Catterick, the
Everton manager, was less generous. "Like something
out of a circus," he grumbled. The verdict that
mattered, however, was that of the schoolboys of Britain,
and they were in no doubt. By Monday lunchtime, every
playground in the land was full of excited youngsters
trying to emulate the Saturday night sorcery of Willie
Carr and Ernie Hunt.
Any resume of the highlights of football in the 1970s has
to include a rerun of the classic free-kick goal conjured
up by the Coventry City pair against Everton at Highfield
Road on October 3, 1970. It is as much a part of the
decade as loon pants and ud Zep.
October 3, 1970
.............................................
There were ten minutes to go and the Sky Blues, who were
leading the champions 2-1, were awarded a free kick in a
central position on the edge of the penalty area. While
the four-man defensive wall fidgeted nervously, Carr
stood over the ball, pincered it between his heels, and
flicked it up. As it fell Hunt, lurking behind him,
executed a perfect right-foot dipping volley over the
wall and into the top corner of Andy Rankin's goal.
The Everton defence stood open-mouthed; the crowd gasped,
then went wild.
momentarily unsure whether the stunt contravened the
laws,Tommy Dawes, the referee,
decided it did not and pointed to the centre spot. The
Match of the Day cameras captured it all - and ensured
its place in folklore - and the outrageous moment was
voted goal of the month and goal of the season.
With his swarthy looks and droopy moustache, Hunt looked
like a refugee from Zapata's Army, but for almost five
seasons the West Country man with the bandy legs
entertained the Coventry fans with his skills and
personality, always seeing the funny side of the game.
His memory of the moment that guaranteed him recognition
to a whole generation of fans is vivid.
"At half-time the manager, Noel Cantwell, wanted to
know why we hadn't attempted it in the first half when we
got a free kick in a good position," he said.
"I told him I wanted to wait until the kick was in
the dead centre. When the chance came in the second half
I was contemplating slipping it through Willie's legs for
Dave Clements to blast it but decided to give the donkey
kick a crack and gave the sign - the rest is
history."
His partner, the red-headed Carr, was also a hugely
popular figure at Highfield Road. A product of the club's
youth system' his stock-in-trade was his non-stop
running, allied to a superb passing ability. Now living
in Shropshire, he says a week never passes without
someone mentioning the goal.
The Everton match was not the first or last time that the
manoeuvre was attempted.
Hunt's mistimed effort in a pre-season friendly away to
Blackpool had almost hit the corner flag, but soon after
the youth team emulated Hunt and Carr's effort and, later
in the season, the Tottenham Hotspur crossbar was rattled
by another Hunt effort.
There was an unhappy postscript, however. The next
summer, while on holiday in Majorca, Hunt was approached
by a a fan brandishing the News of the World. "Your
free kick has been banned," he told him. The trick
was outlawed because it was deemed that the ball had not
travelled its full circumference either forwards or
backwards.
Life did not get much better for Coventry fans than in
the first weekend of October 1970.
Their victory over Everton, who had won their previous
six games, came the day after they had been drawn against
Bayern Munich in the Fairs Cup. The city was buzzing with
the expectation of seeing a team that boasted Franz
Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller and Sepp Maier. However ,
Coventry lost 6-1 in Munich and, despite winning the
second leg, went out of Europe. They are still waiting
for a second crack at Europe.
From Jim Brown's latest book, 'Coventry City - The Elite
Erp' is published by Desert Islam Books next month (16.99
pounds) www.desertislandbooks.com
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