As part of our ‘Leaders Live’ initiative to connect businesses and other organisations with national and international figures, The Leaders Council of Great Britain and Northern Ireland set up a Zoom video call between the Guys cancer team at Guys Hospital, London and World Cup winning legend, Sir Geoff Hurst.
Sir Geoff spoke about how important leadership and teamwork were for him over the course of his career and used that to draw a parallel between sports teams and medical teams.
He also took the time to praise ‘the magnificent work the NHS is doing at this difficult time,’ before going on to draw on some of the personal experiences he and his family have had dealing with the NHS, including when he dislocated his hip after an unfortunate run-in with his own dishwasher. He said that on every occasion, the NHS had been brilliant.
He fielded a number of questions from several members of the team and spoke at length about the challenges he faced as a player and what it was like to win a World Cup final. Returning to the issue of leadership, he explained how Bobby Moore was one of his great heroes and idols even though he was only a few years older than he was.
‘He was in the England long before me,’ Sir Geoff said, ‘and he set the example for how to conduct yourself as a player and as a person. I was fortunate enough to be the player who played the most matches alongside Bobby over the course of his career and that was a real honour for me.’
At one point in the conversation, Sir Geoff was asked about how he dealt with stress, particularly in the build up to the 1966 final.
He explained that he didn’t feel as much pressure as you might expect, given that the England team were able to operate in a bit of a bubble.
‘One thing I did feel very strongly as we were going onto the pitch,’ he said, ‘was it didn’t seem like there were one hundred thousand people, it felt like the whole of the country was in the stadium. And I did feel very strongly that we couldn’t afford to lose today.’
However, in a particularly touching moment, Sir Geoff went on to compare this with what it must be like working for the NHS, particularly at this moment in time.’
‘I wouldn’t compare what I went through playing in a World Cup final to what you are going through every day. My match was only two hours, I bet you wish you could have a two hour working day.
‘Honestly, I can’t fathom the amount of stress you are under. It’s impossible for people like me to comprehend. I really am in awe of you.’
