Bert Trautmann Testimonial 1963/64
Date Published
MANCHESTER XI 5 ENGLAND XI 4
Bert Trautmann Testimonial
15th April 1964
Attendance 47,951
From TRAUTMANN THE BIOGRAPHY by Alan Rowlands Bert Trautmann's testimonial match attracted one of the largest attendances assembled for such a game. The official attendance was a doctored 47,951. The more realistic figure of 60,000 was revealed in later years.
The build up and publicity for the match was incredible, the sportswriters pulled every possible cliche out of the hat in praise of his career and Trautmann was the subject of countless interviews in England and Germany.
A truly magnificent collection of football talent lined up at 7-30pm that Wednesday evening. In the Manchester XI were Trautmann, Law, Charlton and Kevan, in opposition the team included Matthews, Finney and Armfield. The atmosphere of the game was charged with emotion, and the noise from the crowd when Trautmann led out the two teams was ear shattering, he could feel the pin pricks at the back of his eyes as the wall of noise welcomed him on to the field.
In a match of no consequence other than to honour one man, the players exhibited all their tricks and skills to entertain the spectators, but as the end of the game approached, with the Manchester team leading 5-4, the intense sentiment of the crowd started to interrupt the game. It started with a few small boys running on to the pitch to hug Trautmann, they were followed by larger boys and finally a torrent of humanity flowed from the terraces to engulf the man of the moment. The Manchester police cleared a path to the safety of the Main Stand where Trautmann, choking back tears, said farewell.
