{"id":295929,"date":"2023-11-22T16:24:04","date_gmt":"2023-11-22T16:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=295929"},"modified":"2023-11-22T16:24:04","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T16:24:04","slug":"chris-foy-recalls-englands-2003-world-cup-win-on-20th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-union\/chris-foy-recalls-englands-2003-world-cup-win-on-20th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"CHRIS FOY recalls England&apos;s 2003 World Cup win on 20th anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Worse-for-wear Prince Harry had to be helped out of the after-party, players rode in a police van and the Wharf Bar was the place to be! Mail Sport&#8217;s rugby correspondent CHRIS FOY recalls England&#8217;s 2003 World Cup win on the 20th anniversary<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Even years later, the memory of the enormous party in Sydney is still sharp\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Jonny Wilkinson&#8217;s iconic drop goal wrote England into history with 20-17 win<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>It was like Beatlemania as fans flocked to the hotel to catch sight of their heroes<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There were only two of us stood in the pouring rain outside England\u2019s World Cup celebration party in Sydney in 2003, when Prince Harry was helped out by a minder \u2013 some time before the sun came up.<\/p>\n<p>It is funny how vivid the memory is, 20 years on. The young Royal was wearing a Barmy Army T-shirt and he was decidedly worse for wear too \u2013 which was hardly surprising in the circumstances, amid so much English euphoria. The man who was providing vital support to the unsteady Prince looked up at the photographer and said: \u2018You\u2019re not going to take this picture, are you?\u2019 Remarkably, his forceful request worked; the camera remained lowered and the moment was not captured.<\/p>\n<p>Sir Clive Woodward\u2019s triumphant squad had relocated from Stadium Australia \u2013 way out in the western suburbs of the city \u2013 to the Wharf bar down by the iconic harbour area at Circular Quay. My orders were to \u2018door-step\u2019 the event, to try to grab a word with some heroes of the hour, or at least come away with a sense of how they were enjoying their glorious feat.<\/p>\n<p>But it was so dark, cold and wet that they all stayed inside and there was enough secrecy around the function that supporters did not turn up outside. So this observer \u2013 surely the only sober Englishman in Sydney that night, bar Jonny Wilkinson \u2013 cut a bedraggled figure, stood in the dark, watching the festivities, briefly, before retreating to sleep. There was another Royal guest, as Zara Phillips sat chatting to Mike Tindall, who would ultimately become her husband.<\/p>\n<p>At that stage, there were high spirits, but it wasn\u2019t total bedlam. That came later. Meanwhile, all around the city, England fans drank the place dry. They had turned up in their thousands. There were tales of people booking flights at a day\u2019s notice, arriving in Australia, going to the game and going straight back to the airport for a flight home. It cost them thousands and they didn\u2019t care. They had flown via Japan, the Middle East, America and various other points on the atlas.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/22\/15\/78114171-0-image-a-30_1700665898847.jpg\" height=\"455\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Prince Harry followed England&#8217;s progress Down Under avidly &#8211; and joined in with the ensuing celebrations (right, with Sir Clive Woodward)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/22\/15\/78114613-0-image-a-31_1700665905472.jpg\" height=\"441\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>After their triumph in the final against Australia, the team gathered for raucous festivities at the Wharf Bar in Sydney<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/22\/15\/78114503-0-image-a-32_1700665909061.jpg\" height=\"420\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mail Sport&#8217;s Chris Foy believes he was the only sober Englishman in the city (pictured: hooker Steve Thompson)<\/p>\n<p>Your correspondent was not supposed to be there at all. My predecessor, Peter Jackson, was in charge of covering the England team in those days and I had been told to work through until after the quarter-finals, then come home. But having arranged to stay Down Under for the remainder of the tournament, using holiday time, I was soon put to work again by an opportunistic boss.<\/p>\n<p>This led to such unique scenarios as talking to Wallaby legend Michael Lynagh on the phone, for his Mail Sport column, while sat on the floor in the corridor of a hostel in Woolloomooloo, as drunken guests stumbled over me on their way to bed. Days later, a productive visit to the nearby Star City casino allowed my brother, Andrew, and a friend, Rick \u2013 who were in Sydney, hoping to attend the final \u2013 to buy tickets from a pair of Australians who had offered to sell on the basis that \u2018if it\u2019s raining, the Poms will win\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They were right. England did win, just. It was incredibly tense, with the game drifting into extra-time, before the dramatic surge up-field which led to Wilkinson\u2019s iconic drop goal. From our vantage point above the halfway line, we knew it was on target from the way a huge swathe of England fans clad leapt up as the kick left the fly-half\u2019s foot.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/22\/15\/78114679-0-image-a-35_1700665990669.jpg\" height=\"408\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Jonny Wilkinson&#8217;s drop goal wrote his name and England&#8217;s into the sport&#8217;s history books<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/22\/15\/78114509-0-image-a-34_1700665937712.jpg\" height=\"514\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>After a night of partying fans flocked to the players&#8217; camp at the Manly Pacific Hotel (pictured: Lawrence Dallaglio)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/22\/15\/78116237-12780267-image-m-56_1700667643807.jpg\" height=\"444\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/22\/15\/78116239-12780267-image-a-57_1700667648561.jpg\" height=\"444\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Zara Phillips (left) would meet her now-husband Mike Tindall (right) at England&#8217;s after-party<\/p>\n<p>What followed was a blur of ticker-tape and a trophy parade around the stadium, before a good-natured slog through post-match interviews in the giant media centre. What was far more memorable was the next debrief, at the Manly Pacific Hotel, the following afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>It was as if Beatle-mania had come to Sydney\u2019s north shore. The area was swamped by England fans, who had come to acclaim the champions. Thousands of them. How they weren\u2019t still in bed with monstrous hangovers is anyone\u2019s guess. Maybe they hadn\u2019t made it to bed. That was certainly the case for a handful of Red Rose players, who were brought back to their hotel in a Police van, having been rescued from a delirious mob of compatriots in Kings Cross.<\/p>\n<p>The press conference that day was hilarious, as some of the interviewees were barely able to speak properly, such had been the extent of the partying. Players were talking to broadcasters while hiding beers \u2013 one in each hand \u2013 just out of sight of the cameras. Jason Leonard kept walking towards the windows overlooking the street, to allow the hordes outside another glimpse of the Webb Ellis Cup. Every time he did it, the cheer was deafening.<\/p>\n<p>When each of the champions had finished their media duties, they walked down a staircase, linked up with their wife or girlfriend on the landing area and then descended into the lobby, which was a scene of total pandemonium. Police held back the throng outside as the England squad boarded a coach to attend another function. It was a precursor of what was to follow, back at Heathrow airport and around the streets of London during the epic victory parade.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/22\/15\/78114805-0-image-a-36_1700666128160.jpg\" height=\"412\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>When England landed back home, an epic victory parade through Central London followed<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12780267\/Worse-wear-Prince-Harry-helped-party-players-rode-police-van-Wharf-Bar-place-Mail-Sports-rugby-correspondent-CHRIS-FOY-recalls-Englands-2003-World-Cup-win-20th-anniversary.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Worse-for-wear Prince Harry had to be helped out of the after-party, players rode in a police van and the Wharf Bar was the place to <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-union\/chris-foy-recalls-englands-2003-world-cup-win-on-20th-anniversary\/\" title=\"CHRIS FOY recalls England&amp;apos;s 2003 World Cup win on 20th anniversary\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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