Why I have forgiven Chris Waddle

So yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and thusly the reunification of Germany. To mark the occasion I watched the rather brilliant film Goodbye Lenin! (recommended, if you haven’t seen it), which basically takes place during the fall of the Berlin Wall, from the East German perspective.

Anyway, one of the subplots of the film is the newly reunified Germany’s run in the 1990 World Cup, in Italy, in which they famously beat a brilliant England team thanks to Chris Waddle’s inability to keep his penalty in the stadium (above, at the end of the video)

The penalty is shown, and I absolutely cringed as I watched it, but as the film progressed, I realised that actually, it wasn’t such a bad thing that Germany went all the way.

Alright, so i’m morally obliged not to be happy about the Germans winning, but think about it, 20 years ago, Germany was facing a real identity crisis, as its two sides had to approach living together for the first time in a long time.

Their run in the World Cup bought the Country together, literally, as it gave the two sides, one which had been living in capatilistic excess, and the other which had been living under strict Communist conditions, some immediate common ground.

And really, it provided that unique thing about football – it brings people together. Germany might have been playing – for the final time – under the “West Germany” banner, but the German people as a whole got behind the team, and politics was forgotten, as people from East and West could talk about how bloody good Lothar Matthäus was.

So its actually quite nice that Germany won that World Cup. And we might not have ended our 24 years of hurt, but we did get alot out of that World Cup, Gazzamania, Terry Butcher and Chris Waddle dancing, John Barnes rapping with New Order.

So I don’t hate Germany for 1990 anymore. 1996 though? I’m not forgetting that in a hurry.