Birthday boy of the month II: Erich Seckler will be 60

In his first international he suffered a serious knee injury that kept him on the sidelines for months. Nevertheless, he stayed under the Bayer Cross, played for the reserve team and was employed at the Bayer Works. Based on his good performances in the following years he was recommended for the first team by the reserve coach Gerd Kentschke at the start of 1987. In his first training session with the first team he caught his studs in the grass and broke his foot.

The second attempt came six months later. First team central defender Alois Reinhardt was ruled out and Erich Seckler played his first Bundesliga match – at the age of 24. On 17 October 1987, he marked his opponent Stefan Kuntz out of the game in the home match against Bayer 05 Uerdingen. Erich made his European debut four days later in the UEFA Cup in Toulouse. There he faced the France international Dominique Rocheteau. He also completed that task brilliantly and became a regular starter for the Werkself.

Erich impressed with his battling qualities. His approach to the game spared neither himself nor his opponents. He always went in hard and sometimes took the opponent with the ball. When he won possession he mostly quickly laid the ball off to a teammate. Erich fought his way into the hearts of the Bayer 04 fans with his honest approach to football, winning the UEFA Cup with the Werkself in 1988 and he clocked up a total of 106 appearances for Bayer 04 with three goals scored.

After twelve years under the Bayer Cross he moved to the capital to play for Hertha Berlin. But he was forced to end his playing career at the age of 30 due to serious back problems. He returned to his hometown and worked as an almoner and as a landscape gardener. He is now the caretaker at a primary school in Düsseldorf.

Dear Erich, I wish you many happy returns on your 60th birthday. Stay healthy and have a good one.