My favourite football moment came about when Maradona publicly admitted to using his hand to score against England in the 1986 World Cup.

Though time has done nothing to heal our wounds, it shows honesty does exist in our game and I believe, has now helped us to finally put this instance to rest.
Barney Hamilton

I've been a Manchester United supporter for over 40 years and my golden moment could almost be the first day that I saw the genius, George Best, weave his magic on the pitch.

However my golden moment has to be The FA Cup Semi Final of the 1999 Treble Season when Ryan Giggs weaved George Best kind of magic, producing one of the most memorable goals of all time.

To take the ball from where he did, past so many Arsenal defenders and then fire the ball in the roof of the net from an angle that had David Seaman at sixes and sevens, was the work of a genius.

I know that Ryan Giggs rates Maradona as his favourite player, I think Maradona would have been congratulating himself a thousand times if he had scored that goal.
Phil Downs
Chair of NADS (National Association of Disabled Supporters)
www.nads.org.uk


My favourite football moment is from an FA Cup tie between Walton and Margate, played at the former's Stompond Lane ground in 1995.

Walton had one of those huge centre-halves whose foreheads are made of concrete, virtually unbeatable in the air but a bit cumbersome on the ground. With a minute to go his side were 2-1 down and on their way out of 'The Cup'.
In desperation he joined in the attack and almost immediately the ball sat up nicely in front of him about 25 yards out from Margate's goal. As he slowly brought his right boot back, I was half-expecting the ball to go completely out of the ground. But it sped into the top corner of the goal like a mortar shell.

After a second or two of stunned silence, the scorer realised what he had done and totally 'lost it'. He went on a mazy, high-stepping run that took him all over the pitch. The whole time he was jabbing his right forefinger in the air. All of his team-mates, even the goalkeeper, were chasing after him.

When half the crowd ran onto to the pitch to join in, it became a bizarre scene with this 6'6" giant charging round with dozens of people in breathless pursuit, all high-stepping and jabbing their fingers in the air, too. I've never seen such undiluted joy at a football match.
David Barber
Superfan, Author of The Barber and FA Historian

We always welcome you to share your footballing highlights with us, by sending an e-mail of your favourite moments to adele.bolderson@thefa.com.

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