For most football fans, what they want to see from the players who line up for the team that they support is commitment to the cause.
People can cope when a team is filled with people who put their all in, even if they eventually fall short, but get annoyed when players don’t seem to be trying hard enough.
That notion is arguably best exemplified by the tale of Bert Trautmann, who played for Manchester City and won an FA Cup with the club, in spite of the fact that he had to play the final 15 minutes or so of the game with a broken neck. What most teams would give for that sort of commitment from players taking to the pitch nowadays.
The HItler Youth and A Nazi Pilot
Bernhard Carl Trautmann, better known as ‘Bert’, was born in the city of Bremen in Germany, on the 22nd of October 1923. A decade later and Trautmann joined the Jungvolk, which was the junior section of the Hitler Youth.
Whilst we might be disgusted at the idea of someone joining the Nazi party at such a young age nowadays, it is worth bearing in mind that people in all countries around the world had to show allegiance to the ruling party when they were young, and German people were just as ready to join the war effort as those in England, America or elsewhere. Put simply, they didn’t know that they were ‘the bad guys’ back then.
In 1941, Trautmann became a radio operator for the Luftwaffe, having shown athletic ability during his youth. Sent to Poland, well behind the frontline, Trautmann and his fellow soldiers would often take part in sports and practical jokes. One such joke resulted in Trautmann being sent to prison for three months as part of court-martial proceedings.
As the war was reaching its end, Trautmann was attempting to head back to Bremen when he was caught by two Allied soldiers. He escaped but ended up running into a British soldier who famously greeted him by saying, “Hello, Fritz. Fancy a cup of tea?”
Playing Football in England
Originally imprisoned near the Belgian city of Ostend, Trautmann was transferred to a camp in Essex, where interrogation revealed that he had been indoctrinated from a young age before volunteering as a soldier. Because of this, he was classified as a ‘category C’ prisoner, transferred again to a prisoner-of-war camp at Marbury Hall in Cheshire.
His movement didn’t stop there, being shifted from place to place before ultimately ending up at PoW Camp 50, where football matches were regularly played. Trautmann was a talented outfield player, but an injury forced him to go in goal during a match against Haydock Park.
@footballin60sec This footballer went from German WAR HERO to English legend! #football #fyp #foryoupage #footballstories #soccer #soccerstories #futbol #futebol #mancity #manchestercity #mcfc ♬ Futebol – N5?
Having been a paratrooper, Trautmann was able to be quite acrobatic as a goalkeeper, knowing how to land without hurting himself. When the PoW camp was about to be closed, Trautmann decided not to head home and instead remained in England, initially working on a farm before doing bomb disposal work in Huyton.
He began playing amateur football in the area, where his reputation soon earned him interest from some of the bigger clubs around. One such club was Manchester City, who turned to Trautmann and offered him a contract, which was signed on the seventh of October 1949, initially as an amateur before later turning pro.
Trautmann’s Most Famous Story: His Broken Neck
There are numerous fascinating stories about Trautmann, such as the fact that he was friends with Adolf Dassler and therefore became the first sportsperson in Britain to wear Adidas clothing. There were protests from supporters and teammates alike initially, but soon his ability began to win everyone over.
Manchester City’s fortunes improved as a result of having the best goalkeeper in the country at the time playing for them, making it all the way to the FA Cup final of 1955, where they lost 3-1 to Newcastle United, before getting back to the same point a year later. This time, it was against Birmingham City and the Manchester team went 3-1 up.
With just 15 minutes left of the match, the opponents pushed up the field in an attempt to get back into the game. Trautmann had to dive into an onrushing Peter Murphy, colliding with his knee. Dazed and in clear pain, the goalkeeper was given some smelling salts and was back on his feet, seeing out the rest of the game.
Although he kept touching his neck in discomfort, the German helped City win the competition 3-1. As he went up to collect his winners’ medal, he was complaining of a ‘stiff neck’, but it was only after an x-ray three days later that it was confirmed that he’d actually broken it. He died in the July of 2013, aged 89.