Premium Ticket - Gordon Banks 40th Anniversary Show with Sir Geoff Hurst - 7th June 2010

Premium ticket includes:

- Ticket for the show
- Banks vs Pele book signed by Gordon Banks (RRP £20)

About the show

40 years to the day of the great Pele save we celebrate with a very special show with football legends Gordon Banks & Sir Geoff Hurst at the Victoria Hall, Stoke-on-Trent on Monday, 7th June 2010.

This is the only time you will get to see this show as it is the one and only date announced specially to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the great save.

About Gordon Banks

Gordon Banks was one of the finest players of his generation and to this day he remains one of the greatest ever goalkeepers the game of football has ever produced.

He began a career that was to span three decades with his local colliery side in Sheffield and made his professional debut with Chesterfield in the 1950s. He went on to make over 300 appearances for Leicester City and also played more than 200 senior games with Stoke.

It was however with England that he forged his worldwide reputation. First capped by Sir Alf Ramsey against Scotland at Wembley in 1963, Banks quickly established himself as first choice for his country.

He was one of the first names on Ramsey's team sheet by the time of the 1966 World Cup finals and he kept three successive clean sheets as England completed the group phase unbeaten. He was finally beaten by a Eusebio penalty in the 2-1 semi-final victory over Portugal and although he conceded two in the famous final against West Germany, it mattered little as England were crowned world champions.

Banks was still England's number one at the 1970 World Cup and although the side's defence of their crown was ultimately unsuccessful, he reaffirmed his status as a goalkeeping legend with his famous save from Pele's header in the group phase clash with the Brazilians in Mexico.

Jairzinho delivered an inviting cross from the right wing which bypassed the English centre halves, Pele rose majestically in the air and Banks seemed destined to be beaten as he scampered despairingly across his goal in Guadalajara. Pele's header was perfect - firm and downwards - but Banks somehow managed to tip the ball over the crossbar. Pele, and the crowd, were simply stunned.

Banks played his final game for England in 1972 after 73 caps but his professional career was ended prematurely after he lost sight in his right eye following a car crash the same year. He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

About Sir Geoff Hurst

Sir Geoff Hurst enjoyed a 17-year professional career with West Ham, Stoke City and West Bromich Albion but the England striker will forever be remembered for his iconic hat-trick against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley.

Born in Ashton-under-Lyne in 1941, Hurst made his England debut in February 1966 and he was included in Sir Alf Ramsey's 22-strong World Cup squad as a back-up to first-choice strikers Jimmy Greaves and Roger Hunt.

Injury to Greaves in England's final group game against France handed the West Ham forward his chance in the quarter-finals and Hurst seized his opportunity with aplomb, his glancing header against Argentina ensuring England's progress to the last four of the competition.

A 2-1 victory over Portugal in the semi-final saw England through and although Greaves had returned to full fitness, Hurst kept his place and he was 120 minutes away from footballing immortality.

West Germany took the lead in the final but Hurst headed England level from Bobby Moore's free kick after 18 minutes. Ramsey's side went 2-1 up courtesy of Martin Peters, but the West Germans equalised late on and the game went into extra time.

Hurst's second was nothing if not controversial. His right-footed shot rattled the cross bar, bounced down and was cleared by the German defence. England claimed the goal, the referee consulted his linesman and to Wembley's delight, the goal was awarded. Four decades later the debate still rages on whether the ball had crossed the line.

He completed his hat-trick in the 120th minute. West Germany surged forward in search of the equaliser but Moore's clearance caught them cold and Hurst settled the contest with a fierce left-footed drive that remains arguably the most iconic moment in the history of the English game.

England were crowned world champions and Hurst remains the only player to have scored a hat-trick in a World Cup final.

The West Ham striker went on to play in the 1970 World Cup finals but it is his part in England's 1966 triumph for which he is lionised. He was knighted in 1998 and six years later inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame.