Uwe Seeler is – without question – one of the most popular athletes Germany has ever had! The man from Hamburg has always thrilled his audience on and off the pitch as a footballer and even more so as a person. Today the man who everyone just calls “Uns Uwe” celebrates his 85th birthday.
Measure the worth of Uwe Seeler? Actually impossible. But one day there was this poster of VfL Jesteburg for a game of the club against the old men of Hamburger SV. A bright red banner was drawn across the poster: “Due to Uwe Seeler’s cancellation at short notice, the admission price has been reduced by 50 pfennigs.”
As early as 1960 the “Hamburger Morgenpost” was certain: “There is nobody in our city who does not know him”. Uwe Seeler was and is simply a phenomenon. A rare symbiosis of an outstanding athlete and a great person. And that all the deep connection and affection over all the decades is more than deserved, his former teammate in the national team, Franz Beckenbauer, once put in very nice words: “Uwe is a treasure. I don’t know if it’s a perfect one People give. Perhaps the Pope. But then Uwe Seeler will come soon. “
And the press loved him from the start. “Welt” editor Hans-Jürgen Usko said: “You would have to pour barrels of honey over Uwe Seeler.” And “kicker” editor Dr. Friedebert Becker wrote after a spectacular Seeler goal in 1960 against Westfalia Herne: “Every vaudeville stage in the world would be full if it could show its audience this Uwe goal, the decisive Uwe goal, every evening, if possible in slow motion. But this truly acrobatic one Back pulling gate while lying down was even more valuable than a trick rehearsed for the stage. Because it was worth the virtue of the little hamburger, which is at least as valuable as the technical artistic: Uwe’s lightning-fast grasp of the situation … “
“A great guy”
It is always difficult to make the sporting class of a footballer clear to future generations, but if you read this simple and loving sentence by the former Bundesliga player of MSV Duisburg and FC Schalke 04 and European champion captain from 1980, Bernard “Ennatz” Dietz, you can Imagine the extraordinary size of the hamburger on the pitch: “I dreamed of winning a header against Uwe Seeler only once.”
And another example. This time from the 1969/70 season. At that time, Hamburger SV won 2-1 at home against Rot-Weiß Oberhausen. Uwe Seeler was a two-time goalscorer and outstanding man of the game. Guest coach Adi Preißler said afterwards full of praise: “When I look at my young players and this Uwe Seeler, I no longer understand the world of football. Seeler is 34. He jumped higher than everyone else. He shoots more. He runs them all to death. He spurs his people on in the last few minutes. I don’t know how he does it. A great guy! “
How much the fans loved him is shown by the story of the later Bundesliga scorer Uwe Leifeld. Uwe actually owes its name to “Uns Uwe” Seeler. One day after Germany won 4-0 against Uruguay at the 1966 World Cup (“Uwe Seeler scored a great goal”, Leifeld quote), little Leifeld was born: “Of course, my football-crazy father made me Uwe called!”
But the outstanding athletic class was only a part of Uwe Seeler, whom the fans and teammates valued and adored. In his book “Football is not a simple game”, the later national coach Jupp Derwall described his conversation with Seeler before the 1970 World Cup: “‘I have the assignment from Helmut Schön, for Mexico, for our hotel Comanjilla in Leon, to organize the rooms Now I have to ask you, in a situation where the media and the press would like to divide you and Gerd apart and nobody believes that an interaction between the two of you could be possible because you both embody the typical midfielder, whether it wouldn’t be possible if you and Gerd lived together in one of these ground floor bungalows. ‘ Uwe looked at me in disbelief and full of expectation, grinned furtively and then suddenly said: ‘Well, if Gerd wants that, then I would be there right away, that’s no question at all.’ So he was, “us Uwe”, always ready to do anything for the team and always looking for harmony and success. “
“Uwe had to play”
And Seeler was able to make it clear for that. When Tasmania was passed in the Bundesliga in the 1965/66 season, it was Uwe Seeler who demanded the necessary sporting respect from his team. In the 5-1 victory of HSV, Charly Dörfel played a big role that day, scored one goal and prepared two more. But when the Hamburg idol started shooting in the legs, it got too colorful for Seeler: “You can score twenty goals with me, Charly, but don’t make fun of our opponent!”
Ben Redelings is a passionate “chronicler of football madness” and a supporter of the glorious VfL Bochum. The bestselling author and comedian lives in the Ruhr area and maintains his legendary treasure trove of anecdotes. For ntv.de he writes down the most exciting and funniest stories on Mondays and Saturdays. More information about Ben Redelings, his current dates and his book with the best columns (“Between Puff and Barcelona”) can be found on his website www.scudetto.de.
Uwe Seeler once said: “I decide the big things and my wife the small ones. My wife decides which things are big and which are small.” His Ilka is – and in this case the hackneyed phrase fits like rarely – his better half. After a conversation with Ilka Seeler in 1960, Eberhard von Wiese wrote the wonderful essay “My husband: Uwe Seeler” in the “Hamburger Abendblatt”: “The” fat man from Rothenbaum “, as his friends call him, loves comfort. And hearty home cooking. Ilka he has to bring something that has been cooked together on the table. Then he shines. Uwe takes… sport… so seriously that he cannot be approached at all before a game. But talking is actually his weak point. What he has to say he says that with his legs. And that works. “Even as a child you had to get every word out of Uwe with the pincers,” smiles Ms. Ilka happily. But the conversation with her Uwe is enough for her. “Where he’s going to a game, which I usually only find out from the newspaper. ‘ After a big game, all kinds of “pleasing” things at Seelers. Uwe is then very hungry … Yes, an athlete woman then has to understand that even the most victorious striker is no longer so stormy after business and training … Because Ilka was before a perfect footballer bride who watched in awe when Uwe “shot” … Ilka sacrificed her honeymoon without batting an eyelid. ‘Uwe had to play.’ “
Back to top. At that time, VfL Jesteburg went down 50 pfennigs with the entry price. Lots of money at the time. But probably not enough. Because as the former Bundesliga player Dieter Schatzschneider once said about a special encounter with the HSV legend: “I recently played a celebrity game in Hanover, from 4000 there were probably 3000 only to see Uwe. At first I thought: ‘The one with me his tummy doesn’t work anymore. ‘ Suddenly he climbed straight up to the crossbar and did a great overhead kick. He’s an idol, you want to be something like that yourself. “
Today Uwe Seeler celebrates his 85th birthday. Unfortunately, his health is currently not so good that he can personally accept the congratulations of his millions of football fans. But you can be sure that he will feel the deep affection that day. Congratulations, all the best and good luck to you, dear Uwe Seeler!