West Ham United - The Classic Cup Finals DVD Reviews

Director	West Ham United
Genres	Sport

Most helpful members' reviews (2) of West Ham United - The Classic Cup Finals
View all
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

We love you Waste Ham, we do...

I would not normally be attracted to renting a football match on DVD, especially if I already knew the result. However, it seems to me that there has never been a better time to revisit the 1964 FA Cup final, the Hammers' then opponents being none other than the recently vanquished Preston North End. And I hope it will not be giving too much away to say that the way West Ham are twice forced to come back from behind will resonate with fans all too familiar with the way the current team play football.

This match was quite interesting at an anthropological level too. Shots of the crowd reveal it to be almost exclusively tie-wearing white males. The odd impassioned cry like 'Keep it coming!' can be heard in the background to the commentary (although that might actually be Ron Greenwood being motivational, without recourse to the modern tendency amongst managers to be profane), as can a rousing chorus of 'Bubbles' which the 'h' in 'hiding' very clearly pronounced when discussing the elusiveness of good fortune (something that would never happen nowadays at Upton Park). Yes. One cannot fail but conclude that England was a nicer place to live in when Harold Macmillan was on the throne, William Hartnell was in the TARDIS and the deterrent of Capital Punishment was still firmly in place?

And as for the football? Well, its all good competitive stuff, with plenty of old-fashioned throw ins and passes back to the goalkeeper to marvel at, barely an offside trap sprung and scarcely an opposing player tackled in what could be deemed ill-tempered way. The most exciting incident is when PNE's goalkeeper takes a knock, requiring what Kenneth Wolstenholme calls 'a bit of the old embrocation', although to my eye it looked like a fairly elderly trainer with his hand down the lad's shorts, furiously rubbing at his right buttock (such innocent times). A 17 year-old Howard Kendall is Preston's star player, and sports a lovely quiff the like of which he has not possessed in my living memory. Indeed, Mr Wolstenholme cannot stop raving about this child prodigy until the soon-to-be-immortal Geoff Hurst ups his game and thus distracts this most sagacious of commentator's attention! And Bobby Moore? That he did not receive a knighthood is a national disgrace, being the epitome of how all footballers should conduct themselves on the pitch. His grace and sportsmanship provides a salutary lesson for all those moneyed yobs in the modern game. Such a shame to see him wearing a Fulham shirt in the other match contained on this disc?

I'll concede that you'd have to support the Hammers to get maximum pleasure from this DVD, but it's exciting enough to be worth a nostalgic look back at the football of yesteryear if you have nothing finer to do?
- - Vengeful Hedgehog from London, England
  - Posted 17 Jun 2005 17:32
Classic footie!

I know it sounds a bit corny and clichéd, but football ain't what it used to be... OK I'm a lifelong Hammers fan and biased as hell, but watching these games from 25-30 years ago does highlight how football has changed since then, and not for better IMHO. Eleven home-grown players in a team, no rolling around in mock agony and no petulant frenzies. OK the 70s bred a lot of nastiness with the rise of hooliganism, but these matches give glimpse of something we've lost in the game. Come on you Irons!
- - A customer from England
  - Posted 22 Mar 2006 10:45
Most recent members' review of West Ham United - The Classic Cup Finals
View all
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

We love you Waste Ham, we do...

I would not normally be attracted to renting a football match on DVD, especially if I already knew the result. However, it seems to me that there has never been a better time to revisit the 1964 FA Cup final, the Hammers' then opponents being none other than the recently vanquished Preston North End. And I hope it will not be giving too much away to say that the way West Ham are twice forced to come back from behind will resonate with fans all too familiar with the way the current team play football.

This match was quite interesting at an anthropological level too. Shots of the crowd reveal it to be almost exclusively tie-wearing white males. The odd impassioned cry like 'Keep it coming!' can be heard in the background to the commentary (although that might actually be Ron Greenwood being motivational, without recourse to the modern tendency amongst managers to be profane), as can a rousing chorus of 'Bubbles' which the 'h' in 'hiding' very clearly pronounced when discussing the elusiveness of good fortune (something that would never happen nowadays at Upton Park). Yes. One cannot fail but conclude that England was a nicer place to live in when Harold Macmillan was on the throne, William Hartnell was in the TARDIS and the deterrent of Capital Punishment was still firmly in place?

And as for the football? Well, its all good competitive stuff, with plenty of old-fashioned throw ins and passes back to the goalkeeper to marvel at, barely an offside trap sprung and scarcely an opposing player tackled in what could be deemed ill-tempered way. The most exciting incident is when PNE's goalkeeper takes a knock, requiring what Kenneth Wolstenholme calls 'a bit of the old embrocation', although to my eye it looked like a fairly elderly trainer with his hand down the lad's shorts, furiously rubbing at his right buttock (such innocent times). A 17 year-old Howard Kendall is Preston's star player, and sports a lovely quiff the like of which he has not possessed in my living memory. Indeed, Mr Wolstenholme cannot stop raving about this child prodigy until the soon-to-be-immortal Geoff Hurst ups his game and thus distracts this most sagacious of commentator's attention! And Bobby Moore? That he did not receive a knighthood is a national disgrace, being the epitome of how all footballers should conduct themselves on the pitch. His grace and sportsmanship provides a salutary lesson for all those moneyed yobs in the modern game. Such a shame to see him wearing a Fulham shirt in the other match contained on this disc?

I'll concede that you'd have to support the Hammers to get maximum pleasure from this DVD, but it's exciting enough to be worth a nostalgic look back at the football of yesteryear if you have nothing finer to do?
- - Vengeful Hedgehog from London, England
  - Posted 17 Jun 2005 17:32

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

We love you Waste Ham, we do...

I would not normally be attracted to renting a football match on DVD, especially if I already knew the result. However, it seems to me that there has never been a better time to revisit the 1964 FA Cup final, the Hammers' then opponents being none other than the recently vanquished Preston North End. And I hope it will not be giving too much away to say that the way West Ham are twice forced to come back from behind will resonate with fans all too familiar with the way the current team play football.

This match was quite interesting at an anthropological level too. Shots of the crowd reveal it to be almost exclusively tie-wearing white males. The odd impassioned cry like 'Keep it coming!' can be heard in the background to the commentary (although that might actually be Ron Greenwood being motivational, without recourse to the modern tendency amongst managers to be profane), as can a rousing chorus of 'Bubbles' which the 'h' in 'hiding' very clearly pronounced when discussing the elusiveness of good fortune (something that would never happen nowadays at Upton Park). Yes. One cannot fail but conclude that England was a nicer place to live in when Harold Macmillan was on the throne, William Hartnell was in the TARDIS and the deterrent of Capital Punishment was still firmly in place?

And as for the football? Well, its all good competitive stuff, with plenty of old-fashioned throw ins and passes back to the goalkeeper to marvel at, barely an offside trap sprung and scarcely an opposing player tackled in what could be deemed ill-tempered way. The most exciting incident is when PNE's goalkeeper takes a knock, requiring what Kenneth Wolstenholme calls 'a bit of the old embrocation', although to my eye it looked like a fairly elderly trainer with his hand down the lad's shorts, furiously rubbing at his right buttock (such innocent times). A 17 year-old Howard Kendall is Preston's star player, and sports a lovely quiff the like of which he has not possessed in my living memory. Indeed, Mr Wolstenholme cannot stop raving about this child prodigy until the soon-to-be-immortal Geoff Hurst ups his game and thus distracts this most sagacious of commentator's attention! And Bobby Moore? That he did not receive a knighthood is a national disgrace, being the epitome of how all footballers should conduct themselves on the pitch. His grace and sportsmanship provides a salutary lesson for all those moneyed yobs in the modern game. Such a shame to see him wearing a Fulham shirt in the other match contained on this disc?

I'll concede that you'd have to support the Hammers to get maximum pleasure from this DVD, but it's exciting enough to be worth a nostalgic look back at the football of yesteryear if you have nothing finer to do?
- - Vengeful Hedgehog from London, England
  - Posted 17 Jun 2005 17:32
Classic footie!

I know it sounds a bit corny and clichéd, but football ain't what it used to be... OK I'm a lifelong Hammers fan and biased as hell, but watching these games from 25-30 years ago does highlight how football has changed since then, and not for better IMHO. Eleven home-grown players in a team, no rolling around in mock agony and no petulant frenzies. OK the 70s bred a lot of nastiness with the rise of hooliganism, but these matches give glimpse of something we've lost in the game. Come on you Irons!
- - A customer from England
  - Posted 22 Mar 2006 10:45