Behind the north curve of the Volksparkstadion stands a bronze foot, larger than life, alone three and a half meters high and over five meters wide. In 2005, it was unveiled in front of the Hamburg Arena in honor of one of football's greatest: Uwe Seeler, world star, icon of HSV, died last Thursday at the age of 85.
This Sunday this, his right foot, became a place of pilgrimage again. HSV's game against Hansa Rostock was coming up, the first in decades without Seeler in the stands or on the television, and the sea of flowers, candles and farewell letters grew around the gigantic sculpture.
A club mourns its legend, masses of black clothing could be seen in the stands and the opponent from Rostock also laid a wreath of blue and white flowers in the center circle ten minutes before kick-off.
There were poignant scenes that took place there. HSV coach Tim Walter was one who wore one of the black T-shirts with the jubilant Uwe Seeler on it. The former "Tagesschau" spokesman Jo Brauner gave a short eulogy. And in the North Bend, the staunchest of the staunch followers unfurled a banner. "Loyal and down to earth - one of the greatest of all time" was ready to be read.
The players, both from Hamburg and Rostock, then gathered on the pitch in front of a huge poster. "Us Uwe - athletes, HSVer. Man,” was the message. When the whistle was about to start after a minute's silence, the stadium chanted "Uwe, Uwe, Uwe Seeler - you're the best man." instead of the sleeve sponsor, the 9. In addition, another small number 9 in white was worked into the shirt numbers of the HSV pros. His number 9, Seeler, HSV centre-forward - for a lifetime as a footballer.
Review. A torn Achilles tendon can kill an ox. You suddenly feel a nauseous pain and have no control over your leg. "It's a feeling," Uwe Seeler described the terrifying moment, "as if an elephant were kicking you down there."
But his feeling on February 20, 1965 was at least as dreadful when he had to endure the pictures from the Frankfurt Waldstadion in the “Sportschau”. Eintracht played against HSV, and the eyewitnesses who were still alive couldn't be dissuaded from hearing the dull bang all the way up to the stands - but above all Uwe's scream.
No respectable German will forget the photo that was in the newspapers the next day. Uwe in bed, freshly operated. Weeds don't spoil, he said and was touched by the overwhelming interest. "There were flowers everywhere," he recalled throughout his life. "And the many letters that have come have been heartbreaking."
It's like this again. There are flowers everywhere, in front of Uwe's house and on his monument, the cast bronze foot in front of the Volksparkstadion. Crowds of HSV fans are calling for the arena to be renamed the Uwe-Seeler-Stadion. The Federal Chancellor also reported to Uwe with a last proud greeting, followed by the Federal President, and IOC President Thomas Bach even said: "My first football shoes bore his name."
They said "Uwe to you" in St. Pauli, but for the rest of the republic he was "us Uwe", but in any case he was my Uwe, and has been since that incredible incident against Westfalia Herne in 1960, when he was in a Final round game for the German championship in a dogfight with national goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski and freed himself from the hopeless situation with such a mysterious overhead kick that the next day the newspaper read: "The goal of the century".
"Once you spoke to him, you were impressed," says Erich Laaser about the deceased soccer legend Uwe Seeler. The football commentator describes him as a very humble person who never refused an autograph. "No airs and graces like footballers nowadays," he says.
Source: WORLD
As soon as the "fat" exploded over the full width and height of the penalty area, there was a risk of a crack under the bar, or at least a header torpedo. "Dear Uwe," Sir Bobby Charlton once congratulated him on a milestone birthday, "it was always a pleasure against you if only you hadn't headed those famous goals." He thought of Leon in 1970. Then Uwe catapulted his 170 centimeters in the air, took the extended back of his head, and Sir Bobby and the English packed their World Cup bags and regretted what they had done to the German captain four years earlier. Keyword: "Wembley Gate".
"It's better to be a good loser than a bad winner," he said, and then punished the English with the aforementioned headbutt. It was the last of his 43 goals in 72 internationals, spanning from his debut at 17 through four World Cups to being named honorary captain. He was also made an honorary citizen of Hamburg, honorary police commissioner, honorary shipping captain and honorary lock keeper, and all because of his persistent motto: "The best thing in the world is to stay normal."
Uwe Seeler, one of the greatest German football legends, has died at the age of 85. "A great person and a great athlete has left us," says former national soccer player Jimmy Hartwig. "Uwe got the header from an opponent from two meters away."
Source: WORLD
Uwe Seeler exaggerated this virtue so much that as a punishment he was also named Footballer of the Year three times, and when you appreciate this life you catch yourself stopping in awe. Or can you think of someone else who for 85 years a) kept a clear head, b) held his head up and c) never let his head down? The famous photo of the bruised souler being carried away by a London bobby from the final turf at Wembley in 1966 was either taken at half-time – or it was a brazen fake.
Because Uwe always carried his head up. Even when his Achilles tendon tore below. At the time, a torn Achilles tendon was still considered a sure career ending, but when an extremely important World Cup qualifier in Stockholm was imminent seven months later, the injured man packed his freshly repaired tendon into a padded special shoe, reported for duty, and when the Swedes 1: 0 led, he quickly rolled up his sleeves and yelled across the pitch: "Nobody lets their floppy ears hang down!"
The equalizer came immediately - and in the end, Seeler made it 2-1. He not only played for himself, but also for you and me. In 1961 he stormed for 460 marks a month when Inter Milan suddenly offered him 500,000 marks a year, a breathtaking sum at the time. But Seeler stayed in the country for a warm meal with bacon (“You should have known my mother’s bean soup”) and ate well.
"There wasn't a single scandal, he always had both feet on the ground," says Christian Stoll. In the WELT interview, the sports journalist recalls the football legend and the special relationship between HSV and Werder Bremen.
Source: WORLD
A touch from the Stone Age? No, a piece of Seeler. He was never able to do much with players "who kiss the HSV diamond at heart level and run away shortly afterwards". He had lived in his house in Ochsenzoll since 1958 and was married to his wife Ilka all his life. No scandal, nothing, he was old-fashioned like Max Schmeling, the other great Hamburger. And no one should think that scoring goals was easier for Seeler than for the Lewandowskis of today. On the contrary, equal height was still offside, and the ball, when it rained, heavy as a medicine ball. If you don't believe it, you only had to watch Olli ("Dittsche") Dittrich when he climbed onto the comedy stage with his Uwe memorial haircut and recalled those starvation wages when "18 marks 60 Munich against entry Frankfurt" was still playing.
Uwe gratefully returned the favor on "Dittsche" with a guest appearance that was as stunning as the TV commercial in the 1970s, when Seeler rubbed his aftershave on himself and whistled like a virtuoso "Im Frühtau zu Berge". So Uwe shaved himself and his opponents, and everyone who was born too late is welcome to watch his seat-kicks and back-of-the-head torpedoes on YouTube.
The short dialogue with which he once recommended himself as HSV President may even be found somewhere. A critic asked: "What is your concept, Uwe?" To which Seeler replied: "I am the concept." After all, this concept always worked. The thank you stands for all eternity in front of the Hamburg stadium: the right foot of the master captain as a sculpture, weighing four tons.
But where is the head? Souler without a head, that's not possible. Because where Pele or Beckenbauer needed four feet for their ball magic, Uwe was enough with this one, incomparable head. His outside instep was the high crown. If DFB President Bernd Neuendorf holds Uwe's eulogy, he should simply dig out the dusty manuscript of the former head of the association Egidius Braun and read again what he promised when Fritz Walter died: "Anyone who has done so much for football, go to heaven.”
