This past weekend brought a wave of sadness to the footballing world with the passing of the great Jimmy Greaves.
The former England and Tottenham striker has been remembered fondly in the days after his passing with many great stories surfacing around the web.
One of the gems about the late Greaves was how he became known as the 'Garrincha Dog Catcher' in Brazil.
England had made it to the quarter-finals of the 1962 World Cup. Their opponents in their last-eight encounter were none other than defending champions, Brazil.
Brazil would eventually go on to win the game 3-1, even without Pelé, whom had injured himself in an earlier group game.
What would soften the blow a little was the light hearted encounter with a stray black dog that made it's way onto the pitch.
Jimmy Greaves rescuing a dog at the 1962 World Cup pic.twitter.com/GtcrVNAVD6
— Footballers with animals (@ftbllrswanimals) September 19, 2021
The story was recalled in Richard Foster's book World Cup Nuggets: Everything You Need To Know About Every World Cup.
During the first half the dog entered the field of play and managed to evade attempts to catch him by English keeper Ron Springett and Brazilian winger Garrincha. Then Greaves took control of the situation as he recalled, "I got down on my hands and knees, being a dog lover anyway, and called the dog over. It got a massive cheer and I picked the god up and cuddled him and as I cuddle him he peed all down my shirt. And you never changed strips in those days, you just had the one shirt, so I had to play in this shirt."
The book then went on to say that Garrincha, the star of the 1962 tournament, was so taken by the dog that he took it home and adopted it.
Greaves claims in the aftermath he's known as the 'Garrincha Dog Cather' in the South American country and is happy to have played a helping hand.
Foster's book ends with, "The prolific Greaves may have only scored once for England in the World Cup finals, but at least he has been left with an original moniker and is guaranteed instant recognition in Rio."
Another great story about a great footballing figure.
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