These have been an unusual few days for England’s players. Since beating Tunisia in their opening game they have gone bowling and ridden inflatable unicorns, they have seen the sights in St Petersburg or spent time with their families. The Guardian’s Daniel Taylor has beaten Kieran Trippier at darts and Jamie Vardy at pool. Though the team needed a stoppage-time goal to claim victory, the English media has been full of praise for the players and management, with Gareth Southgate’s only misstep being the one taken while jogging that resulted in a dislocated shoulder.

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The contrast with many of their previous tournaments could hardly be greater. In a large number of them the only inflatables were the egos of the travelling Englishmen, destined to be swiftly and irreparably punctured. At many World Cups encouraging players to compete in similar darts or pool competitions would have been wildly irresponsible, principally because giving any member of the squad a sharpened object or long stick and putting them in the same room as a journalist would inevitably have led to a seriously injured writer.

At this point in 1990 England had drawn their opening game against the Republic of Ireland and were engaged in a sullen stand-off with the press, whose reporting in the run-up to the tournament – “In the name of Allah, go!” read the Mirror’s infamous headline about Bobby Robson after a warm-up draw with Tunisia – had enraged many.

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When, in the buildup to the second match against the Netherlands, the same newspaper ran a fictitious tale about three unnamed players enjoying the company of a female member of their hotel’s staff, players vowed not to speak to the media again. “What are they trying to do, torpedo the players? Torpedo the team?” wondered Robson.

“For some of you to want to do this at this particular time, I find pretty disgraceful.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest England’s Kieran Trippier takes on The Guardian’s Daniel Taylor at darts. Photograph: Lee Smith/Reuters

England’s set-up this year, in a countryside hotel complex complete with private bowling alley, is uncannily similar to that they enjoyed in 1962, when a US copper mining company leant the FA at no charge, its executive Andean retreat. The team’s training pitch lay yards from their bungalows, and while at leisure they enjoyed unrestricted access to a spectacular private golf course, a cinema, a bowling alley and pristine tennis courts; their meals were lovingly prepared by a kindly, grey-haired matronly English lady named Bertha Lewis. The entire touring party watched the game between two teams in their group, Argentina and Bulgaria, and left feeling – in the words of Desmond Hackett in the Express – “confident they could lick both the Argentine and Bulgaria in the same afternoon”.

They then lost to Hungary in their opening game, could only draw with Bulgaria and by finishing second in their group were flung into a quarter-final against Brazil, who beat them comfortably.

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The funny thing about England’s use of a property owned by an American copper mining company in 1962 was that when the competition had last been held in South America they stayed in a property owned by a British gold mining company. In 1950 they had beaten Chile 2-0 in their opening game, before heading for the hills to prepare for their second game. Walter Winterbottom believed that he had done everything possible to maximise his side’s chances of winning their next fixture, paying attention even to small details: he scouted the Estadia Independencia and decided the changing rooms were of insufficient quality, and so located a nearbytennis club where his team could change before the match.

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Thus they turned up fully kitted out just before kick-off while opponents suffered in their cramped facilities. The game was played in Belo Horizonte, the opponents were the USA, and England’s 1-0 defeat remains one of the all-time World Cup shocks.

Still, at least they had won their opening match, something they did not manage again until 1970 and have still accomplished only six times. Four years later they drew their first encounter 4-4 against Belgium after extra time, with the Mirror’s Bob Ferrier winningly describing “a shambling omelette of a performance”, leading to several days dominated by team selection-related angst, a recurring theme on England tours.

By the second match of a tournament the England team have often been dealing with serious injuries. In 1986 and 1990 Bryan Robson’s participation was ended during game two, while in 1982 Kevin Keegan spent the first week of the tournament bed-ridden. “He has seen one of the most prominent medical practitioners in the area,” said Ron Greenwood, but the doctor’s skills were insufficient and Keegan – like Trevor Brooking, another of the team’s stars – made only a single substitute appearance as England were eliminated unbeaten.

It was a similar story in 1958, when England had come back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with the USSR in their opening match. Afterwards Tom Finney’s right knee “swelled like a balloon”, and while his teammates spent the following day touring the Swedish coast, the winger remained at their hotel receiving innovative treatment to his injury. This consisted of “short-wave heat treatment” and the fitting of a special, chemical-infused pad. “Every hour Finney has to soak two teaspoonfuls of water into the pad to restore the power of the chemicals,” it was reported. It did not work.

The Tottenham manager, Bill Nicholson, had scouted England’s next opponents, Brazil, and under his instruction the second string imitated the Brazilians in a practice match, with Peter Broadbent taking his impersonation of Didi so far he spoke in broken English and cried “caramba!” in particularly heated moments. “I do not expect this match to be as hard as the one we had against Russia,” said Winterbottom. “Well, I sincerely hope it will not be.” It was: England drew that and their next and were out.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gareth Southgate has encouraged an informal atmosphere within the England camp. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/The FA/Rex/Shutterstock

Gareth Southgate’s willingness to allow his players to engage in unusual free-time pursuits has few parallels beyond 1966, when players made regular visits to the cinema, set up a poker school and made a trip to Lord’s to watch Middlesex play Essex. On the day after their dreary opening draw with Uruguay they went to a drinks reception at Pinewood film studios, where they hobnobbed with Sean Connery, Yul Brynner, Lulu and Norman Wisdom. On the day before their second match Alf Ramsey played golf with his assistant, Harold Shepherdson, and on the day before the final five players including Bobby Moore and both Charlton brothers spent several hours in Muhammad Ali’s London gym, a surprising use of their time which became more inexplicable when the great man himself failed to turn up. None of this appeared to do their performances much harm.

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Four years later Ramsey’s relaxed regime was still in force. Between their opening victory over Romania and their second game against Brazil the players watched the film Grand Prix – a strange choice as it was three hours long and so had to be split over two nights, and was anyway according to several players fairly dull – and Peter Thompson and David Sadler, two players cut from the squad before the tournament, were allowed to stay with the team and enjoy specially relaxed curfews.

But forcing the first team into their bedrooms was of little use when on the eve of the Brazil game local fans spent the night blowing horns and banging bins outside their hotel. At 4am Ramsey had the bright idea of dressing some England fans in tracksuits and driving them away in the team bus, a ruse that did not curtail the fiesta outside. “We didn’t get a wink of sleep,” said the centre-back Brian Labone. “We resorted to throwing milk cartons at the buggers.”

If all Southgate’s squad ever throw is darts and bowling balls, the current England manager can probably consider the trip a success.