How “Toni” Became the “Monster from Sevilla”

A certain Harald Anton Schumacher first saw the light of day in Düren on 6 March 1954. Schumacher started playing football at an early age. Little Harald joined the Schwarz-Weiß Düren club as a goalkeeper.

In 1972, 1 FC Cologne snapped up player with the cheery nature so typical for the area of his birth. In allusion to his second christian name and in memory of the legendary Toni Schumacher, who was a member of “FC’s” league championship winning team in 1964, Harald was quickly changed into Toni. The national youth team’s goalkeeper soon became Cologne’s regular keeper and a league championship winner. In 1979 he succeeded Sepp Maier in the German A team. Many experts see him as being the world’s best goalkeeper in the 1980s. Statisticians have noted 72 international caps. He played 422 times for Cologne, made 33 appearances for Schalke, 89 for Fenerbahce Istanbul, eight for Bayern Munich and one for Borussia Dortmund. He worked either as a coach or goalkeeping coach at Fortuna Köln, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen respectively. These days Toni is the managing director of the sports marketing agency “Sports First”.

Missed out on two World Cups at the final hurdle

Schumacher’s ambition as a footballer was always to be the No. 1. Defeats were intolerable for him. Toni’s views on Toni: “I’m very passionate about being a footballer.” Players like Schumacher always dream of the World Cup trophy and becoming a world champion was always his biggest goal. But to no avail. He and the German team failed to convert the first match point when losing 3-1 to Italy in Spain in 1982. They also messed up the second match point four years later against Argentina (2-3) in Mexico. In total, Schumacher was beaten six times in the two finals and Germany had to play catch-up on both occasions. They went 3-0 behind in the first and 2-0 in the second. After the 1986 final, when he was way off top form, he said, “I played like a bloody idiot.”

Stern, the German magazine, once asked Schumacher, “Do you still dream of winning the World Cup?” Schumacher: “It was my biggest goal and I did everything to try achieve it. But one shouldn’t lament lost chances. I had the chance twice. At the time, the two runners-up medals didn’t mean much to me. But who can say they’ve appeared in two finals?” Schumacher only fulfilled a big dream on one occasion, namely in 1980 when he was a member of the German team that became European Champions for a second time in Italy. The first win came in 1972. But Harald Schumacher the goalkeeper is not only associated with heroic deeds.

An example: 8 July 1982. 58th minute of the World Cup semifinal between Germany and France. It is the day that almost caused a state crisis. It is the day that made him a “beast”. It is the day when he turned into to the “Monster from Sevilla” in the eyes of at least everybody in France but also in the minds of many football lovers in Germany. In his book “Anpfiff”, which can be roughly translated as “Opening Whistle”, he describes the horrific collision with the Frenchman Patrick Battiston which happened a long way in front of the German 18-yard box as follows: “A goalkeeper simply isn’t an aeroplane but I flew in Battison’s direction with my knees up. Things would have been even worse for him if the contact had been full frontal. I was able to turn at the last moment and struck him in the head with either my backside or hip.”

Jacket crowns for Battiston

Schumacher was not even given the yellow card by the Dutch referee, Corver, for his actions. Schumacher trotted back between the posts. “Feeling very awkward, I stood in goal messing around with the ball. It was cowardice. Perhaps it was the first moment in my life when I was a real coward,” he wrote. When talking about the scene later he said: “There were lots of French players. My fear was that the situation would escalate. Today I’d behave differently.” Whilst a motionless Battiston was carried out of the stadium three minutes later, Schumacher became the hero of the game in as far as the football was concerned. After being 3-1 down he and Germany won 8-7 after a penalty shoot-out. He saved the spot kicks from Six and Bossis and put the German team into the final in Madrid.

Schumacher’s real mistake came after the thriller had come to an end. Whilst still on the pitch, a French journalist questioned him about the Battison incident and informed him that the Frenchman had lost two teeth. Thereupon Schumacher said: “If that’s all it is then I’d be very happy to pay for some jacket crowns.” Later on he put things into perspective saying he didn’t mean it nastily: “I was simply relieved that nothing more serious had happened.”

“Toni Schumacher, profession barbarian. He is a small pathetic goblin, a weakling who has the need to injure others,” wrote a scathing L’Equipe. Things got worse. Whilst Battison was diagnosed as having a broken vertebrae and concussion and was lying badly injured in hospital, Schuhmacher and the German eleven jetted off to the final. There was no word of apology from either the German Football Association (DFB) or from Toni. In fact, it was a telephone call from Schumacher’s mother that led to him becoming aware of just what he had done.

The opening whistle becomes the final whistle

It took many months for Schumacher to apologise. One hundred journalists and 20 television crews saw him and Battison shaking hands in Metz. Two years on from the incident in Sevilla, Schumacher travelled with Germany to an international in Strasbourg and he was accompanied by hate tirades all the way into the stadium where a Schumacher dummy was even hanging from the gallows. Toni answered with a perfect performance. Battison even gave him a pat on the back. France won 1-0. Toni had prevented a stuffing. The anger died down. Schumacher, who sometimes seemed so consumed by ambition, had mastered the conflict in the cheery way so typical for the Rhineland. In the end, he reacted in a understanding and jovial manner. He admitted to having made a mistake and he appeared to be genuinely sorry. As a sportsman Toni was an honest soul – a little later it almost cost him his career.

In 1987 Schumacher published his book “Anpfiff”. He spoke of doping and was immediately seen as a whistle blower. He was forced to leave Cologne but the resulting discussion gave the DFB the impetus needed to introduce doping tests in 1988. But the book went from being an “opening whistle” to the final whistle on his international career. His criticism, his candidness had caused offence to too many people. Typical Schumacher: he said, if he had to write the book again, he would do so in basically the same way.