THE West German national team were getting their kicks in more ways than one at the 1966 World Cup, by smuggling PORN into their hotel.
Featuring the likes of Franz Beckenbauer, the Germans stormed through to the final of the competition after defeating Switzerland, Spain, Uruguay and the Soviet Union.
The West German national team reached the final of the 1966 World CupCredit: Alamy
Players found a novel way to get their kicks at the tournamentCredit: Getty – Contributor
And it turns out that they had an unorthodox method of keeping up team morale and camaraderie.
For at regular intervals during the tournament, all 22 players would cram into room 24 of their hotel, occupied by goalkeeper Sepp Maier and defender Bernd Patzke – in order to watch a porn movie together.
After sharing the code “Porn in room 24”, the team would pile into the small twin room to watch the adult films using a screen projector.
There was one slight hitch, however, as Maier, now 76, described the scene to Bild.
He said: “We hadn’t set the thing properly. In the pictures that were shone on the wall, the heads were at the bottom, the bodies at the top, with the dividing strip in between.”
Despite the protestations of his team-mates, who were presumably enjoying the film as it was – Maier was determined to fix the projection – but with disastrous results.
He continued: “When I posted it, the damn movie tore.”
Amid his furious team-mates’ stream of insults, a sheepish Maier hopped straight in a car to find a new film to watch – with the hour-long trip nothing compared to facing the increased ire of his peers.
But in football, things can be settled by the finest of margins, as Maier and Co were to find out in the subsequent World Cup final.
Sepp Maier, now 76, has admitted hosting the 22-man squad’s porn sessionsCredit: Reuters
With Maier an unused reserve on the day, West Germany fell to a famous 4-2 defeat in extra time to Alf Ramsey’s England.
Not for the first time that summer, the German players found themselves enraged, as hat-trick hero Geoff Hurst’s crucial strike didn’t appear to have crossed the line.
But linesman Tofiq Bahramov waved for a goal and the rest, they say, is history.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
