Soccer players who were more than a player.

[ChaChaFut]

Neil Webb - does anyone remember him? ex-Man U & Nottingham Forest legend.

http://www.thebubbleburst.co.uk/pics_people/neil%20webb_before.jpg

He is now a postman in Reading.... http://www.thebubbleburst.co.uk/bb.php?entry=Neil%20Webb

"Neil now works as a postman in Reading, working 10 hour shifts and getting paid 220 pounds a week."

... seriously.... I think he left the game right before top flight star players became instant millionaires and is now delivering mail for a living instead.Cool. I had no idea about that.

[Excape Goat]

Mike Fisher - a great player for UVA. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Mutiny but I guess at the time MLS had only been around for 1 year and he figured being a doctor was much more lucrative. I don't recall if he was involved in any youth National team programs. Perhaps it was a case of a very good college player with a game that wouldn't have translated well to the pros. I wonder what Arena thought of his choice? He was already with DCU at this time but coached Fisher for I think 3 years.


He played in the 1996 Olympics for Arena.

[Owen Gohl]

Fritz Walter, I believe, was an airplane (fighter) mechanic with the Jagdgeschwader 51 on the Eastern Front during the war.

According to this the fighter ace Hermann Graf, a goal keeper, looked after Walter:

"In 1943, Graf intervened to save all the best German soccer players from the horrors of frontline service, and had them transferred to his JG 50 in Germany--under the pretext that they were "badly needed technical experts""

http://www.graf-grislawski.elknet.pl/walter.htm

[argentine soccer fan]

Antonio Rattin, the emblematic captain of Boca Juniors and Argentina's national team, was elected to Argentina's Camara de Diputados. (House of Representatives). He was also the head of Argentina's National Sports Commision.

Pedro Spencer, the prolific Ecuador centerforward who played many years for Penarol in Uruguay and is the leading scorer in Copa Libertadores history, was appointed Counsulate General of Ecuador in Uruguay.

[lanman]

There was a good story in the paper today about Max Woosnam.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_objectid=17475590%26method=full%26siteid=94762-name_page.html

The best part is about how he beat Charlie Chaplin at table tennis using a butter knife before throwing him into a swimming pool.