This Day in History: 2023-05-19

Nr. 459

FOXED BY A DUCK (1970)

The outsize gloves of Sepp Maier grasped arguably more silverware than most goalkeepers could hope for in a playing career. Regarded by critics as clown-like with his large gloves and over-long shorts, Maier was a legend in West Germany during the 1970s, when he played 437 times for Bayern Munich and 95 for his country. He won World Cup, European Championship and three successive European Cup medals for club or country, but the giant gloves were no match for a duck which wandered onto the pitch during a Bayern game. Maier went duck-hunting, but the bird eluded the keeper’s every dive and provided some much-needed entertainment in a dull game.

Sepp Maier was a formidable and easily recognisable figure in the Bayern Munich and West Germany goalmouth during the 1970’s.