Events and Consequences, Part Eleven

1- Event:

Kaiserslautern and West German forward Klaus Toppmöller being involved in a car accident in June 1976

Consequence:

As a result of the accident, he had amnesia for two days. He lost the opportunity to represent West Germany during the 1976 UEFA European Championships that was to take place that month.

Photo From: Fussball Magazin, September october 1977

(Klaus Toppmöller and Pirri, May 22, 1976, European Championship, West Germany 2-Spain 0)

2- Event:

Italy and AC Milan midfielder Roberto Donadoni signing with Lotto in January 1991.

Consequence:

Donadoni was already contracted with Diadora. There was a clause in his contract that made reneweing priority, which he did not respect.

Diadora sued and two years later in  March 1993, the Tribunal of Treviso made the following ruling:

Donadoni was forced to wear Diadora for 2 more years and 3 months and pay damages for not respecting the contract.

Photo From: 100 Anni del Campionato del Calcio

(AC Milan’s Roberto Donadoni)

3- Event:

England’s Roy McFarland’s foul on Polish Captain Włodzimierz Lubański on June 6^th, 1973 (World cup Qualifier, Poland 2-England 0).

Consequence:

Włodzimierz Lubański was the star of the Poland squad that had won the Previous year’s Olympic title. The injury forced him out of Football for nearly two years. As a result he missed the chance to participate in the 1974 World Cup that Poland finished third.

Years later in his autobiography, he stated that McFarland’s foul was not entirely responsible for the severity of his injury, he was in fact already carrying an injury that had not sufficiently healed.

Photo From:  Foot Magazine, Issue 17, October 1982

(Włodzimierz Lubański )

4- Event:

France’s Gilbert Gress refusing to get a hair cut in 1966.

Consequence:

Future Great manager Gilbert Gress was ordered by France Manager Henri Guerin to get a haircut in order to be called up for the national Team.

Gress refused and as a result Guerin did not select him for the 1966 France World Cup squad.

Photo from: Les Bleus Author Denis Chaumier, 2004

(Gilbert Gress)

5- Event:

Tottenham Hotspur and Republic of Ireland’s James Paul Holmes’ injury vs. Bulgaria in Sofia (EC Qualifier, May 19, 1979, Bulgaria 1-Republic of Ireland 0).

Consequence:

James Paul Holmes was harshly tackled by Ivan Iliev, as a result his leg was broken. He was taken to a Bulgarian Hospital where the plaster was cast on too tight. He was in so much pain on the return flight, that they were forced to land in Geneva to replace the plaster.

He endured many more operations and was out of the game for nearly a year. Although he managed to earn one more cap for Ireland in 1981, the injury in Sofia effectively ended his career.