SIR GEOFF HURST was forced to go on the DOLE when he retired from playing football.
He might be the only person to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final but England’s 1966 hero was forced to sign-on to support his family.
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Footballers in the 1960s and 70s earned nowhere near the millions they get in the modern-day game.
And West Ham legend Hurst, 80, recalled: “It was an awkward time — out of work and with three kids at school.
“You’ve very little money and you have to start doing something else.
“I had applied for work at other clubs and had no responses or very little.
“What a lot of people did when out of work is go on the dole, and I signed on the dole.
“Whatever you had achieved in the game, on the salaries we were on — even as internationals — everybody had to go out and get a job. Simple as that.”
Hurst ended up managing Chelsea for two years until 1981 and worked for a spell in Kuwait.
Eventually he worked for a life insurance company for almost 20 years.
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Hurst is now a national treasure and — along with George Cohen, 83, and Bobby Charlton, 85 — is one of only three stars from England’s world champion side still alive.
He added: “Every time you look at a picture of the group now it is tinged with so much sadness.
“It’s such a sad thing that eight have gone.”
l Hurst: The First and Only airs on Sky Documentaries tonight at 7pm and will be available on streaming service NOW.
