obituary – GAME OF THE PEOPLE

GEORGE COHEN’s passing is another reminder that time is getting on, leaving us with just Geoff Hurst and Bobby Charlton from the triumphant 11 and five from the England squad of 22 from that glorious summer of 1966.

Cohen’s football career is well documented, his cheery disposition very notable in all media discussions about England’s World Cup victory. Fulham was his only club, Cohen may have been one of the less celebrated figures at the time of England’s success, but at Craven Cottage, he remained a club icon. Full backs are rarely in the spotlight, but his name rolled off the tongue in every attempt to name the “boys of 66”- Banks, Cohen, Wilson… and so on.

Cohen was a one club man, not unusual in 1966, but nevertheless, a stable, reliable and determined footballer. In that 1966 squad, there were other similarly loyal figures: Bobby and Jack Charlton, Roger Hunt, Ian Callaghan, Terry Paine, Bobby Moore, Nobby Stiles, Norman Hunter, Ron Flowers and Peter Bonetti. Not all were one-club men by the time their playing days ended, but most spent peak career with a single employer. Sadly, his later career was plagued with injury and he had to retire before he was 30. The only medal was the World Cup winners’ medal of 1966. At club level, he won nothing. He was not alone in the England squad – Ron Springett, Jimmy Armfield and Terry Paine all ended their careers without a medal from domestic football, but only Cohen played in the final.

The most decorated player in Sir Alf Ramsey’s squad of 1966 didn’t line-up in the final against West Germany. Ian Callaghan of Liverpool won 11 major prizes, including five league titles and four European trophies. Between them, the winning side of 1966 won 28 top prizes with their clubs, but because some played for relatively unfashionable clubs, their trophy haul was modest. This underlines how football has changed in the years since 1966 – top players are supposed to win prizes, as evidenced by the medal cabinets of the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, among others.

Only five of the England team that lifted the Jules Rimet trophy won the Football League title: Nobby Stiles, Jack Charlton, Bobby Charlton, Alan Ball and Roger Hunt. Legendary players like Bobby Moore, Alan Ball, Gordon Banks and Geoff Hurst won surprisingly little in their club careers. Furthermore, few members of the 22-man squad – Jack Charlton, Jimmy Armfield and Alan Ball – made a mark in management.

In recent years, time has caught up with the boys of 1966 and 10 have died in four years. Their opponents at Wembley in July 1966 have fared much better. While there are five members of the squad still with us, there are 14 West Germans still enjoying their autumn years, including seven of the starting 11. Perhaps this is due to lifestyle or the difference in social conditions in Germany. Possibly it has something to do with the way elder statesmen are treated after their playing time is over. According to some professionals from the 1960s and 1970s, they were kept playing by dozens of pain-killing injections and as a result, they become riddled with arthritis or rheumatism in old age. Was that any different in West Germany? Perhaps they simply lead healthier lives? Cohen battled illness after his career finished, eventually being given the all-clear on bowel cancer in 1990.

He remains one of only 11 Englishmen to play in the World Cup final, a feat that has eluded countless groups of England hopefuls. He was also an outstanding footballer, rated England’s finest right back with an attacking style that proved to be very influential. His name will live on. He may have won just one medal, but what a medal that was.

AT first glance, Uwe Seeler never looked like your classic footballer. Stocky and balding, 1.7 metres in height, he was deceptively good in the air and over short distances, lightning quick. He was combative, strong and was an expert of that most acrobatic of goal attempts, the bicycle kick.

Seeler was a child of Hamburg, born in November 1936, so his family would have endured the horrors of war and what followed after 1945. His father, Erwin, was passionate about football and played for Hamburg, hence his two sons, Uwe and Dieter followed in his footsteps.

Uwe made his debut for Hamburg in 1954 and in his first season was joint top scorer with 28 goals. Over the next 18 years he was, almost without fail, Hamburg’s leading scorer every season. In 1962-63, the Bundesliga’s inaugural campaign, he topped the league’s scoring list with 30 goals.

Seeler was incredibly loyal to Hamburg and rejected multiple offers to leave his beloved club. There was one especially tempting proposition, though, in 1961 when Inter Milan’s Helenio Herrera met with him and the Italian club offered a signing on fee of 250,000 Deutsche Marks and a salary of 150,000 DM per year. His rejection only served to make him more loved by the public.

Why was he so cherished by Hamburg people who called him “Uns Uwe”, which translates to “our Uwe”? Those that met him always commented on his unassuming, down-to-earth nature – to use that well-worn adage, “what you saw was what you got”. Unsurprisingly, his autogiography was called “Danke, Fussball”.

Seeler made his debut for West Germany in October 1954 just a few months after the Germans won the World Cup in Bern. He was only 18 years old. By the time the 1958 World Cup came around, he was becoming a fixture in the team and scored twice in Sweden that summer. He played in four World Cups, bowing out after the 1970 tournament in Mexico as a 33 year-old. He scored in all four of his World Cups, the last of his nine goals, the famous looping header that brought West Germany level against holders England in the quarter-final.

He never won the Jules Rimet Trophy, although he captained his country at Wembley in 1966 when England beat them 4-2 after extra time in the final. Many of his team-mates were angered by the controversial third England goal by Hurst, but after the game, despite being very visibly dejected, his comment underlined his sporting nature: “The English team was exceptional and worthy of the title.” Seeler had returned to the national side after sustaining a serious achilles tendon injury that could have ended the career of lesser players. In 1970, West Germany went out in the semi-final after the famous “match of the century” in which Italy beat Seeler and co. 4-3. The Germans, with Seeler’s heir, Gerd Müller scoring prolifically, were arguably the second best team in that memorable competition.

Seeler’s career was not laden with trophies and medals, although he was capped 72 times and scored 43 goals. He was player of the year in Germany three times (1960, 1964 and 1970) and finished in the first three in the Ballon d’Or in 1960. As Hamburg’s talismanic centre forward, he won just two major prizes, the German championship in 1960, where he scored twice as Hamburg beat Frankfurt in the title play-off, and the DFB Pokal in 1963 when his team overcame Borussia Dortmund thanks to his hat-trick. His brother, Dieter was captain of the cup winners.

After his playing career had yielded almost 500 goals in close to 600 games, Seeler had a brief spell in Ireland with Cork Celtic, but he was, inevitably, part of the football scene at Hamburg in future years. He had a short stint as president, but during his watch, the club was embroiled in a financial scandal. Seeler, predictably, took responsibility although was not implicated. He remained a popular, much-loved figure and a bizarre statue of his right foot was erected to commemorate his contribution to the club. A depiction of strength, simplicity and reliability, perhaps – the very qualities that made Uwe Seeler the football hero that he was.