How! A German bloke named Adolf helped win the 1954 World Cup and restored the self-esteem of a nation...or it might have been drugs!

During the 19th century as football became ever more popular in England, the traditionally working-class players would simply use regular boots to play in. These were heavy leather boots, usually with steel toecaps, ankle-high and were the protective footwear they would wear daily to their work, often in mining, heavy industry and the dark satanic mills.

When they got wet, they would double in weight and were designed to be protective. They weren't much good on wet grass or mud so the workers started banging in metal studs or segs in an attempt to provide a little more grip.

Despite some specific 'football-boots' being produced from the latter part of the 1800s, the design changes were minimal, they were still heavy, ankle-deep and made from leather but due to the dangers posed by the metal studs and tacks, football association rules dictated that any 'studs' must be round and made from leather.


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At the turn of the century, a number of companies such as Gola in the UK and Hummel in Denmark started marketing a new, more slipper-shaped boots which were really the forerunners to the boots we wear today and this is how it stayed until 1940.

With the advent of air travel gaining popularity, more and more internationals were being played and the attention turned to the South Americans. They wore a lighter, and even more slipper-like design which allowed them more control of the ball and the Europeans were dazzled and foot protection became the poor cousin of agility and performance!

As is always, necessity is the mother of invention and is the force that drives technology and engineering forward, and so in this case, the Europeans were not happy about being second best at 'their own' sport and something needed to be done.

Adolf Dassler was born in 1900, the youngest of four siblings including a brother named Rudolph. Their father, after working in the textile industry which had collapsed, retrained as a cobbler and his mother ran a laundry service from home.

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Adolf, who was more commonly known as Adi was a sporty child, enjoying athletics and skiing and was often known to make his own equipment such as ski-poles, discus form rocks and javelins. Upon leaving school, he started as an apprentice to a baker but was far more interested in sports than baking.

He joined the army at 17 and a half in June 1918 just before the end of the war and remained with the army until 1919 when upon returning home, the economic devastation had meant his mother had given up her laundry business so with his father's ability as a cobbler and Adi's talent for innovating and experimenting with new materials to create sports equipment, he set up a business at the back of the house to design, develop and manufacture sporting shoes and while his business was in its infancy, he toured the town, repairing shoes.

One of his first breakthroughs was in athletics shoes where with the aid of a local blacksmith, created a shoe with a spike which became one of the first running shoes. Despite materials and even electricity being in short supply, the resourceful young fella toured the countryside picking up abandoned army equipment. Army ration pouches and helmets provided leather, parachutes provided silk and he even created a leather milling machine powered by a stationary bicycle to overcome the lack of electricity. It was these early experiments in creating lightweight footwear during times of adversity that formed the beginnings of what the little company was to become.

In 1923, Adi's brother, Rudolph joined the company after finishing his post-war training as a policeman but deciding the force wasn't for him. Buoyed by his success, Adi registered the company "Dassler Brothers Sports Shoe Factory", Herzogenaurach in 1924 and by 1925 were in full production making leather football boots with nailed studs and track shoes with hand-forged spikes.

Dassler's track innovative lightweight track shoes began making waves on the international stage with a number of athletes wearing them. but Adi got a huge break when his shoes came to the attention of former Olympic athlete and current coach of the German track and field team, Josef Waitzer, who travelled to meet the Dasslers and would become a consultant to the company and long time friend of Adi. This was a huge breakthrough as Adi had access to the athletes as he strived to develop and improve upon his designs.
In 1928, Lina Radke won the inaugural women's 800m gold medal wearing Dasler shoes. A german athlete also won gold at the LA Olympics in 1932 and at the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympics Adi had full access to the whole German team as well as many foreign athletes, especially as by this time, he had spotted the business potential of Hitler's teamwork philosophy and the rise of the Hitler youth sporting clubs of which Adi became a leading coach and equipment supplier. He and his brothers had all joined the Nazi party.

With production ramping up, Adi pulled of a masterstroke after he met American track and field star Jesse Owens and offered him Dassler shoes. Owens took up his offer, won four Olympic medals and suddenly the Americans wanted his basketball, baseball and track shoes. His dalliance with 'the enemy' had not gone unnoticed as the American relay team stormed to gold in the relay, beating the much-fancied Germans.

Then there was a War...

This is the background of Adi and his company and I don't really want to concentrate on the politics involved during the war which is well documented in a number of works including a concise edition on the excellent Wikipedia stub but what happened during this period is that Adi and Rudolph had a major fallout that seems to have different causes depending on which source you read. Whether it was political ideologies, sibling rivalry or the influence of Adi's wife, the end result was that the company was divided, the brothers would never again speak for the rest of their lives. Rudolph started Puma sportswear and Adi's company became....

ADIDAS

Now Adi had tasted the success that came with successful, winning athletes wearing his products, in this respect, he was well in front of the curve in recognising the power of brand awareness and the use of 'influencers' and so became obsessed with creating a style and signature that the world could recognise when athletes were wearing his shoes.

After playing around with different designs and colours based on the reinforcement straps that ran diagonally down the side of his shoes, he finally settled on the three stripe design in contrasting colour to the shoes themselves and so pleased was he, he incorporated the design into the company logo which he registered as a trademark in 1949.

So if anyone ever asks you, "which came first, the shoe stripes or the logo stripes?" You'll know the right answer!

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OK, so let's get back to football and return to the 1936 Olympics where as well as humiliation in the relay at the hands of Jesse Owens, they were also stuffed in the football at the quarter-final stage by Norway! The Nazis were again not impressed and employed West German player, Sepp Herberger who like Waitzer before him, came on board as a consultant but this time as a friend of Rudolph. Initially, after the war and the company split, Herberger stayed with Rudolph and Puma but later, after a falling out, jumped over to Adidas.

Adidas had already learned a lot from the South Americans and had reduced the weight and size of their football boots, moving away from the 'standard' pre-war English designs and despite West Germany (after the war, Germany was, of course, divided and formally ratified in 1949) not being eligible to play in the 1950 World Cup, Adi and Sepp were already planning an assault on the 1954 World Cup!

The 1954 World Cup and the Battle of Berne

The 1954 World cup took place in Switzerland and West Germany, who were still without a Professional league was made up from amateurs including FritzWaiter who was well known for playing better in the rain and this became a very important point.

In the group stages, West Germany was annihilated by Hungary 8-3 but after easily overcoming Turkey, they progressed to the knockout stages where they beat Yugoslavia in the quarters and hammered Austria 6-1 in the semis.

In the final, they were again to meet Hungary, the professionals and hot favourites to win. It had been raining all day getting worse and worse and the pitch was deteriorating and so before the game, Adi pulled out his new, unseen before secret weapon. Boots with screw-in studs that came in varying lengths to suit the conditions. The long ones were screwed in and the match started. Hungary got two early and very soft goals but they were tiring quickly in their heavy boots that were caked with mud and unable to give decent grip in the filthy conditions.

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The magic boots from the 1954 World Cup source

West Germany pulled two back and the stage was set for a spectacular second half and with only 6 minutes left, Helmut Rahn hit a rather opportunistic ball from just inside the area to take the game 3-2, aided by a dubious offside decision that cost Hungary a last-minute equaliser.

The West German amateurs had beaten the massive favourites and the self-esteem of a nation had been partially restored. Herberger sang the praises of Adi far and wide and Adidas' reputation and stock took off both in Germany and abroad as these finals were the first ones to be televised. You can even watch the highlights on YouTube, here

And that's HOW! A German bloke named Adolf helped win the 1954 World Cup and restored the self-esteem of a nation...

Or did he?

Well, controversy surrounds this game even today. It was claimed that the Germans were given an injection at halftime using a syringe provided by a Russian sports Doctor. This can hardly be denied as a week after the game, most of the German team had come down with jaundice. The injection was said to simply be a slug of Vitamin C but rumours persisted that it was something a little more sinister and it was concluded in a study by Leipzig University that they had in fact been given the stimulant, methamphetamine.

Adolph 'Adi' Dassler died on September the 6th 1978 and the company was taken over by his son and wife and Adidas became a PLC in 1989 and continues to go from strength to strength.

No mention of Leeds in this post @nathen007?

Behave yourselves! Leeds signed the biggest shirt sponsorship deal in their history in 2020 upon confirmation of their return to the Premiership with...

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Marching On Together (with Adidas)

@nathen007

Loads of extra reading and all my sources!
www.tokay-ultimate.com/history-of-ultimate-cleats-part3/
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_boot#cite_note-2
www.footy-boots.com (I kid you not!)
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Dassler
www.spiegel.de/
www.fifa.com
www.historyofyesterday.com/the-nazi-origins-of-adidas-and-puma-ee617aad8b00


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Thank you for sharing this history.

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Brilliant and interesting post. Had no idea his brother started Puma but only knew of Adi Dassler. Funny as I know how bad the mud can become as it sticks and weighs a ton on your feet when you play on shitty pitches. The protection has basically disappeared when using the modern day boots as they don't have any. I think one of the most painful experiences playing is when someone stands on your foot. Never tried the plastic studs but they can be as lethal as the metal ones as they can also get sharp edges. Some of the injuries are gruesome as players have been really sliced up.

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Thought about you and your rugby, there was an interesting article about how kicking styles influenced design separation as rugby in the old days and US football used a straight on kicking technique which meant the boots traditionally had a slab front.
Dry subject but it made a good story. Kept me reading and following rabbit holes half the day!

Thanks for dropping by and have a great weekend :-)

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I must admit I could kick the old leather ball much further than the synthetic one of today. This was the theory why the balls changed as 60 m was becoming fairly common in the late 1980's. I remember watching the old clips of players toe kicking the balls and having the slab front boots. I forwarded the post through for curation even though you had one the day before as it was that good and know how much research goes into these.
You have a great weekend as well.

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Great stuff! And here I was thinking that the name Adolph died alongside the toothbrush moustache in 1945 when in fact it's been right in front of me all this time.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methamphetamine

That must have been some party in the 1954 German changing room then!

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Until they all started turning yellow from the jaundice ! An early lesson in why drug users shouldn't share needles lol

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Wow, this is great I love to read an history of a great person. Thanks for sharing us an history like. Have a wonderful weekend


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What history being brought back to life by you,to be honest am getting to know this for the very first time,this is absolutely brilliant from you.

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Amazing what sport can do for the mood of a nation. We had here in Ireland during the 1990s when our soccer team was qualifying for major tournaments and even made it to the Quarter finals in 1990 when the hosts beat us 1-0 🙈

Very interesting write up. I never knew the history of Adidas.

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