A nation mourned last week when the news broke that one of our heroes of ’66, George Cohen, had passed away.
Playing every match of England’s sole World Cup triumph, football fans across the country came together to grieve, but tears were shed further afield, too.
António Simões’ first encounter with George was in the closest of quarters. At the age of 22, he was given a start at left-wing for Portugal in the 1966 World Cup Semi-Final, meaning he was to be marked by the pacey, tough-tackling Cohen.
“I was a little intimidated,” António told the official Fulham website. “I was a very young kid and thinking, ‘well, I’m going to have a problem here.’ He was honest in the game, he was trying to do his job. Exactly what I was trying to do as well.
“We had a good relationship in the game because at the end we walked to meet and change shirts. It was tough, it was difficult, but it was honest, our confrontation.
“I wanted to have this memory of that game from the man I’d tried to beat. I wanted to have that jersey. I looked at him, and he sent me a message that he wanted to as well.”
It was good battle down that flank and it led to a special relationship between the pair, one born of mutual respect.
“I met him in a very special mission,” António explained. “That 90 minutes was not supposed to be fun. We had to be tough, I had to beat him. We did everything we had to do, our job.
“After that, I wouldn’t say I had a friend, but a very close person as a human being. When the game is over, the player is not there anymore, but the person is.
“My memories are of course related to the game, but what stayed after became more important – the person, the relationship.
“You eliminate whatever happened in the game and just focus on the relationship, and that’s exactly what happened with me and George.
“He was the man. He was Cohen the player, but what stayed between us was António and George. Not Cohen, not Simões. The game is part of history, but other things stay between us.”
The shirt worn by the man who he had fought so hard against was a treasured possession of António’s, but after being invited over to the UK at the turn of the century for a fundraiser, he decided it was time to return it to its original owner.
“I was invited to a dinner at Benfica House in London in 2000, 2001, to raise money to help George and the problem with cancer he had at that time,” António recalled.
“At that dinner we had very funny moments, very important moments, very touching moments.
“I had found out that he sold my jersey to raise money. I decided at that dinner to give him back his jersey that he changed with me, to raise some money to help George.
“I surprised him and I surprised his wife by giving him back the white England jersey, the one he was wearing in that game, with the red number two on the back.
“He was very, very touched at that moment. He was a very funny guy with a lot of humour and he told me, ‘António, I kicked you so bad in that game, and you still give back the jersey!’
“But his wife could not resist at that moment, and she cried, I remember very well. It was a very, very special moment that I'm never going to forget.
“I was very proud to have the jersey with me but when I decided to go to London, I thought why don't I give it back to George? I can help him.
“I found out he’d had those problems and had been through everything. He even sold his World Champion medal. He was fighting against cancer and I decided I had to do it.
“I didn't do it because it's a nice attitude or because people would say that I'm a good man. No, I don't care about that. What I cared about was to help him, to have instruments that can help him against the cancer.
“You don’t do good things for other people to make good comments about you. You do it because you know the person, and I knew he was a very good man. I talked to Fulham people and everybody's saying the same – good player, good person.
“When we know someone in your life not just as a good player, but as a good man, if you have a chance to do something, you have to do it. That was the way I felt.”
This is a constant theme throughout our conversation with António, who had reached out to the Club asking how he could pay tribute to George.
“Football is something that is very important and special today,” he explained. “I’ve had the experience to meet a lot of good players in my life, with qualities as human beings who helped me learn, as a young guy, how I should be in this world. And I’m very pleased with that.
“I want to give my condolences to George’s family, my sadness, at losing a friend. Every time I lose somebody, it’s a piece of me that is gone too.
“I’m sure that his family are going to miss a very special man. And I’m with them. My feeling is very strong towards George. The way the family feels, it’s the same way I do.
“Every time I lose a friend, it’s very sad. I want to tell them that we are together at this very sad moment.”
