World Cup 1954: Heinz Kubsch and his curious accident – shoulder-width

Football goalkeepers have always had a strong sense of dark humor. In 1975, Manchester United goalkeeper Alex Stepney managed to yell at his teammates so viciously in a league match that he broke his jaw. And David Seaman, legendary fly-catcher for Arsenal and the England national team, dislocated his shoulder on a fishing trip, just as he was recovering from a long-term knee injury.

Heinz Kubsch, born on July 20, 1930, in Essen, undoubtedly belongs to the category of unlucky goalkeepers. In 1954, at the World Cup in Switzerland, he was supposed to make his big appearance against Hungary. He missed the game of his life because he tried to fish a fellow goalkeeper out of Lake Thun.

But first things first.

A good six years before the World Cup, the very young Heinz Kubsch made his debut on the big German football stage, which at the time still had a small name. At 17, the Essen native was the youngest goalkeeper in DFB history to date on matchday 16 of the 1947/48 Oberliga West season. His club: Sportfreunde Katernberg 1913. In the wild Oberliga era of the post-war years, the boys from the coal mines had long since made a name for themselves as tough football rockers. Rudi Schulz, a proud member of Preußen Münster's legendary "100,000 Mark Sturm" in 1951, remembered the games on the Lindenbruch dirt pitch with horror: "That was real coal mining with real kicks. And those guys really hit hard, don't ask for sunshine." The young Kubsch was in goal for Katernberg until the summer of 1953. After 122 matches, the goalkeeper, who had since been promoted to the U19 national team, changed clubs and signed with FK Pirmasens. A tobacco shop with a lottery ticket sales point provided by the club was incentive enough.

And in February 1954, Kubsch had just played his first games for his new club, national coach Sepp Herberger invited him to a DFB training course. This was not surprising given the Essen native's achievements, but rather due to the disappointing history of the Kubsch/Herberger relationship. The "old man" had observed the taciturn goalkeeper almost a year earlier during a match between his Katernberg team and Alemannia Aachen and, after the game, marched onto the pitch to give the goalkeeper a few kind words. Unfortunately, Kubsch had celebrated a colleague's birthday a little too vigorously and, consequently, offended the national coach's fine nose with his alcohol breath. A real blow to the discipline fanatic Herberger.

But when the squad for the World Cup was announced in April 1954, Heinz Kubsch's name was also on the list. Right behind Toni Turek and just ahead of Heinz Kwiatkowski. A few days earlier, the Pirmanen native had made his senior national team debut in a 5-3 win against Switzerland.

Heinz Kubsch at a World Cup. The call-up must have cost the goalkeeper, who already lacked nerves of steel, a few more cigarettes and cognacs than usual. Herberger had already hinted beforehand why he had named the young man to his team. "He's a lazy goalkeeper," was the veteran's harsh verdict, "but on good days he's unbeatable." Unbeatable on good days? Herberger will have remembered this when, after the 4-1 victory in the group match against Turkey, he wondered who could replace Toni Turek in the German goal against the super team from Hungary three days later, on June 20, 1954. Turek - as commanding as the victory against the Turks had been - had cut a poor figure. Did he feel too confident in his role as number one? Herberger didn't want to let it get that far and decided to teach Turek a lesson.

But Heinz Kubsch didn't play a single minute in the World Cup. And Toni Turek went down in radio broadcast history as a "football god" after the final defensive battle against Puskas and his colleagues. Thanks to Herbert Zimmermann. What happened to Kubsch?

German football memory does not make it easy for the searcher; there are three versions of the events between June 17 and 20, 1954. One thing is certain: It involves rowing boats on Lake Thun.

The portal dieheldenvonbern.de reported a "scuffle for the last free rowing boat" and a resulting injury that prevented the goalkeeper from playing. The truth is: The "Heroes" very elegantly sidestepped coach Herberger's threatening patrols at their idyllic training base in Spiez and simply sailed around Lake Thun as they pleased and with the training time they had. Cigarettes and alcoholic soft drinks included.

Version number two comes from Captain Fritz Walter, who earned a few extra marks after the World Cup by publishing some rather uninspired football books. According to the story, Kubsch was sitting in one of the boats with his goalkeeper colleague from Room 309, Heinz Kwiatkowski. When "Kwiat" tipped out of the boat and his teammates, in their overzealous rescue attempt, threatened to push Kubsch into the water as well, he tried to extricate himself gracefully – and sprained his shoulder while diving out of the boat.

The third version comes from the detailed accompanying booklet to the ZDF documentary "The Miracle of Bern. The True Story." "Go down and make sure you get a boat. I'll follow you," according to TV research, Kwiatkowski is said to have shouted. Kubsch did as he was told, secured a small boat, and encouraged his goalkeeper colleague, who had meanwhile arrived at the quay: "Come on, Heini. What are you waiting for?" The quay wall was said to have been over two meters high – Kwiatkowski later claimed. In any case, the deep dive into the boat failed, Kwiatkowski slipped and splashed into the water. This didn't go unnoticed by his cheering colleagues on the shore, who were still laughing their heads off as the goalkeeper flailed wildly with his arms in Lake Thun. Finally, Kubsch noticed that his neighbor clearly couldn't swim, grabbed his panicked colleague, and pulled him into the boat with a powerful tug. And injured his shoulder in the process.

Boat scuffle, dive, or rescue? Whatever the case, Kubsch was so badly injured that a furious Herberger put Kwaitkowski in goal against Hungary. He conceded eight goals, and Herberger subsequently had to respond to a ton of angry letters of protest from home.

For Heinz Kubsch, the 1954 World Cup ended in a resounding triumph, but he had at least messed up that one game, his entry in the history books. The wonder guys from Bern today are Helmut Rahn, Fritz Walter, and Toni Turek. But not Heinz Kubsch.

Life went on in Pirmasens, though. Between 1958 and 1960, Kubsch and his teammates won the Southwest German Championship three times in a row. Kubsch twice again represented Germany as a national team goalkeeper, in 1955 against Ireland and in 1958 against Switzerland. Heinz Kubsch's career ended in 1961, and if they had ever built a monument to their goalkeeper in Pirmasens, coach Helmut Schneider's quote would likely have been on the shortlist for the pedestal decoration: "God helps us up front, and Heinz Kubsch at the back."

On October 24, 1993, Heinz Kubsch died after a long illness.