The famous class of 1966, led by Bobby Moore What does the year 1966 mean to you? To most British people, football fans or not, 1966 is the year that we constantly hear about every World Cup. The “spirit of ’66”, the year that England did it, actually won the World Cup. So with less than a month before World Cup 2014 kicks off, its time to investigate this famous tournament. England had treated the World Cup with great piety ever since its beginnings in 1930 . They initially refused to get involved, considering themselves world champions since they invented and codified the sport. This led to matches like the Battle of Highbury where they wished to assert their supremacy against nations who were dominating such as Italy. The FA decided to get involved with FIFA in the first post-war competition, Brazil 1950. Historian Matthew Taylor, sees this as significant for boosting the international profile of the British game as previously it had been seen as self-obsessed and introve