By Lindsay Ash
RECENTLY I wrote a piece on the FA Cup and I mentioned a man named Bert Trautmann.
Now, being a football aficionado, I presumed that everyone knew of this historical figure who was the custodian of the Manchester City net and had a dodgy neck – but apparently not, as several people have inquired as to who Mr Trautmann was and what his claim to fame was or, as one less subtle individual put it: “Who the **** is Bert Trautmann?”
Well, let me tell you exactly who he was and why his story is such a fascinating one that goes beyond football and becomes part of our story of reconciliation after the Second World War.
Bert Trautmann was born Bernhard Trautmann in Germany in 1923. He grew up in the 1930s within a working-class family in what were grim economic times for Germany and, like many young men of his time, joined the Hitler Youth where he was noted to have excelled athletically as well as at football and handball. At the beginning of the war, he worked as a motor mechanic before joining the Luftwaffe where he went on to become a paratrooper. His career was blighted when a practical joke misfired and resulted in a sergeant receiving burns to his arms. Trautmann was court martialled and received three months in prison. On his release, he found himself on the Russian front where his unit suffered numerous casualties and he was decorated with the Iron Cross. He then fought in France before being captured by the British in 1945. He, in fact, escaped the first time he was captured but was recaptured after climbing a fence where he ran straight into British troops, one of whom greeted him with the splendid line: “Hello Fritz, fancy a cup of tea?”
He was transferred to England where he ended up in a prisoner-of-war camp until 1948, working on farms in the area.
Football was played in the camp against local teams and he gained a reputation as a decent goalkeeper and, by this time, had become known as Bert. When the camp closed, Bert declined the offer of repatriation and stayed in England, working on farms but also helping with bomb disposal. He also started playing football for a local non-league team where he met and married Margaret, the club secretary’s daughter. Clubs had now started to notice him and Manchester City signed him in 1949.
Nowadays, of course, players come from all over the world to play in the English game. In fact, some clubs have fielded sides devoid of any home-grown players at all but this was 1949/50. The emergence of Ardiles, Toure, Cantona, Bergkamp and Salah were a long way off and, to make matters worse, he was replacing the club’s legendary player, Frank Swift.
On top of which, of course, not only was he a foreigner but he was German at a time when memories of what had occurred were still all too fresh. Trautmann received considerable abuse, with cries of “Kraut” and “Nazi”, but an outstanding performance in a one-nil defeat earned him a standing ovation and acceptance from the Manchester City faithful, although away fans did continue to shout the odd choice phrase…most unlike today’s modern-day sporting spectators, of course.
It was later, though, in 1956, at Wembley in the FA Cup final, that he wrote his name into football folklore. With Manchester City leading 3-1, Trautmann threw himself at a Birmingham player’s feet to prevent a goal and was caught in the neck by the opponent’s right knee. In 1956, men were men and no substitutes were allowed, so he played on, rather dazed and unsteady on his feet, later saying the last part of the match was “a kind of fog” to him, and he attended the pre-match banquet, unable to move his head. It was, in fact, three days later the diagnosis was received and the astonishing fact revealed that he had played the last 15 minutes with a broken neck – and the legend was born.
He was obviously out of the game for some time and never perhaps was the player of old when he returned, although he didn’t retire until 1964, having played a total of 545 games for Manchester City.
His personal life was tinged with sadness, as his first son was killed in a car crash in 1956, when he was just five years old, not long after the cup final. The subsequent divorce was attributed by Trautmann to his wife never coming to terms with the loss. He died in Spain in 2013 at the age of 89.
The ex-Arsenal goalkeeper and TV pundit Bob Wilson said he was an “amazing man who helped bring our warring countries together”. Wilson’s assertion is backed up by the fact that in 2004 Bert received an OBE for his part in Anglo-German relations, making him possibly the only person to have an OBE and an Iron Cross.
But it wasn’t for that he’ll be remembered, or for being in the Hitler Youth, serving on the Russian front, being a prisoner of war, working on farms, settling in Britain and marrying a British girl after the war.
NO, he’ll be remembered as HM The Queen did when introduced to Bert when he received his OBE: “Ah, Herr Trautmann, I remember you… Have you still got that pain in your neck?”
Lindsay Ash was Deputy for St Clement between 2018 and 2022, serving as Assistant Treasury and Home Affairs Minister under Chief Minister John Le Fondré. He worked in the City of London for 15 years as a futures broker before moving to Jersey and working in the Island’s finance industry from 2000.
Feedback welcome on Twitter @Getonthelash2
