Auf Wiedersehen, Basti

Hello, my patient blog readers!

Apologies for my blog inaction since the beginning of 2007; unfortunately, the preparation for, and sitting of, exams has deprived me of the time to pen any blogs. Thankfully, having sat the last of said exams yesterday morning, I’m now free to re-enter the blogosphere (for another 4 months, at least.)

Unfortunately, though, my first blog of 2007 is not on the cheeriest of subjects, given that this week saw the premature retirement of former Great White Hope of German Football (TM) Sebastian Deisler. This excellent article by Raphael Honigstein goes into many of the reasons why the man nicknamed “Basti Fantasti” (a nickname he apparently loathed) decided to quit the game at the tender age of 27 (a mere 5 years older than this column.) What makes me feel particularly sympathetic towards Deisler is the fact that he was always quite a fragile, shy character even before embarking on a career as a professional footballer, a career which, despite Deisler showing flashes of his great talent, was blighted by one of the most unenviable injury records in the history of the game. What isn’t mentioned in this article (but which is perhaps particularly sad) was that Deisler’s first bout of depression was triggered not only by the injuries that kept him out of the 2002 World Cup squad (and which blighted his first season at Bayern Munich), but also his Brazilian wife miscarrying in 2003; such relentless misfortune would destroy anyone, so it was perhaps not suprising that Deisler felt that he was “at the end of his tether”, as he once remarked to Bayern’s general manager, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

What was also interesting about Honigstein’s piece was his account of the comparisons in Germany between Deisler and soon-to-be galaxico David Beckham, which seem bizarre given that you couldn’t get 2 more different characters (as evidenced by their contrasting responses to the media glare, with Deisler seemingly petrified by the attention of the German press, while Beckham and his anorexic, silicone-enhanced, Scientology-dabbling wife seem to have well an truly embraced the Hollywood lifestyle.)

Anyway, on a final note, it’s perhaps no great shock that, given the brevity of Deisler’s career (due to chronic injury problems, he only played 62 league games for Bayern during his five year stint there), not a lot of video footage exists, but what there is can be found here, as well as this footage of his last great outing against Hamburg (where he provided the assists for both goals), which can be found here and here.

Later,
Das Prof.