The death of Henry Kissinger in the early hours of Thursday morning forced us to review several chapters in the history of global politics and sports. After learning of his death at the age of 100, his team, Greuther Fürth, paid tribute to him and recalled when he went to the court secretly during his childhood.
The coming to power in Germany of Nazism in 1933 not only had an impact on the history of humanity, it was also, in a fine way, the trigger for the man born in 1923 as Heinz Alfred Kissinger, to emigrate in 1938 to the United States, from where he would become one of the most influential people of the twentieth century.
Greuther Furth currently competes in Bundesliga 2, the second division of German football, and is identified with a green clover.
Das #Kleeblatt trauert um Henry #Kissinger. Der gebürtige Fürther und Ex-US-Außenminister ist am Mittwoch im Alter von 100 Jahren gestorben. Damit verliert die Spielvereinigung in ihrem Ehrenmitglied ihren wohl berühmtesten Fan.
➡️ https://t.co/CfYb1xbujm pic.twitter.com/YbEgtjTkMm
— SPVGG GREUTHER FÜRTH (@kleeblattfuerth) November 30, 2023
The club, its official site says, "mourns the loss of its honorary member," who was raised in a Jewish family and was the son of a "respected professor."
"Because his father had little interest in football, little Heinz Alfred went to the games in secret at first," says the 2.0 house of "The Shamrocks" or "Kleeblätter", in German.
Henry Kissinger was honored by the team he went to sneak up on as a kid.
"I always found an adult to hold my hand and take me inside," an adult Kissinger recalled at one point.
He almost always chose the same location inside the stadium and cheered from there. Although his life changed radically after escaping to North America, where he became secretary of state, the emergence of the internet brought Kissinger once again closer to the team he loves.
Prior to these days of hyper-globalized communication, Washington D.C. turned to the German embassy in the United States to find out about the results of the Fürth, reveals the official website of the Bundesliga.
In 2010, he fulfilled his dream of stepping on the pitch and, from there, shouted: "This is my Ronhof!", an expression of encouragement for one of the dominant teams in German football at the beginning of the last century.
Kissinger knew how to wear the green and white shirt before the forced emigration.
"Now Greuther Fürth has lost one of its most loyal, but arguably the most famous clover fans in the world. It will honour the memory of its honorary member, who has also been an honorary citizen of Fürth since 1998," concludes the short text that pays tribute to him.
Bayern Munich also sacked Henry Kissinger
The rest of Kissinger's history linked to sport ranges from Pelé to Olympism, a movement that made him an Honorary Member of the International Olympic Committee, which awarded him the Pierre de Coubertin Medal.
His journey also includes links with the last military dictatorship in Argentina, the development of football in the United States and the organisation of the 1994 World Cup and for having been a mediator for a historic game of chess that had Bobby Fischer as the protagonist, among other chapters.
Bayern Munich also sacked Henry Kissinger
Bayern Munich, which dominated German football for the last few decades, which also named him an honorary member in 1989, joined the Nobel Peace Prize tribute in 1973.
"He was a man who always stood for peace and was held in high esteem around the world," Bayern president Herbert Hainer said.
He added: "We are very proud to have had such a great politician and such an outstanding personality in our FC Bayern family. Our thoughts are with the family of the deceased."
DS