Verner Lička

"You get used to everything. I know that when we were training at the Yeremenko field or at Na Bazalech, we crunched something with our teeth. There were differences between Hlučín and Hošt'álkovice and Ostrava. When there was a small industrial accident, I came home to Fifejdy and was banned to open the windows. But you live and adapt. You washed the car and it was dirty again the next day; there was greasy black dirt on it when you touched it. I remember the boys drove downtown to Hotel Imperial for lunch, and there was an accident in the chemical plant. People and cars were dirty with tar, and cars had to be repainted. These are all unbelievable stories, but that's just the way it was."

"As far as the mines were concerned, they not only threatened us, but actually did it. I have been to the shaft twice and my memories are not exactly fond. I have all the more respect for the miners who worked there for years and for the kind of work they had to do to support their families." - "Did they take you on a field trip or did you have to work there?" - "'Field trip' is a very nice word that doesn't do it justice. We were given complete outfits and then given a tour. We had to crawl through the seam, there was no other way. My biggest and most powerful experience is from the Yeremenko shaft, about 1300 metres or so deep. The elevator went only 11 floors down and then we walked for an hour and a half to get to the 13th floor. The ceiling is high at first, then it lowers and is full of pipes, often in complete darkness. One player and the masseur couldn't take it. They got sick and had to go back. When we came to the coal face after an hour and a half, there was a black hole of 60 centimeters in diameter. I can still see it. A cutter loader was going in there, and there was a miner lying on his back throwing coal onto the belt by hand. We had to crawl to the other side next to him and there was freedom, but you had to lie either on your stomach or on your back."

"When I wanted to get a pass, as in with a millimetre precision, it was always from Albrecht. That was his specialty. When I wanted to do something tricky, we had this thing rehearsed with Petr Němec. They called him Rivelino, he could shoot like crazy. He would suggest a left-footed shot, so the players would come at him and slide. He'd pass it to me past the defenders where I was safe. That's when I felt the best as a player. We brought this to the Olympic team, I've mentioned it before. It was great to play with Petr Janečka and Ladislav Vízek, they were strong personalities and everyone was different. They were able to solve game situations, they would pass the ball and weren't greedy; they didn't care if they scored or someone else did. Then there were the guys from Dukla, there were five of them and they had rehearsed automatic reactions; there were five of us from Ostrava and we also had automatic reactions rehearsed, and four guys from Brno who also could react automatically, so it all came together somehow. As I've often said, Mr. Havranek would take us on team building sessions, playing together in Mexico or Brazil for three weeks. We played a lot of games together and the qualification stage was packed with games. It confirms what they say today that automatic reactons are important. A player plays automatically as in by instinct: athletes and footballers in particular must not think too hard - there is no time to think on the pitch."

"It wasn't nice - a shock event. I was looking forward to the military service, but the first thing they do is cut your hair off. I was a long-haired, curly-haired boy, so it brings you down. I have a vivid memory of the first night. The old hands came in at midnight, a bit bit drunk, they'd had a few. One of them says, 'Lička Verner, who is it?' I say, 'Here, here.' I had to stand up. 'What position are you?' 'Centre forward.' 'Wrong answer, you're a winger.' He was a centre forward. Holeček was his name; he turned out to be a nice guy. I had to clean the corridor a couple of times, though not once every night, and it was 50 or 60 metres long. Then I was very happy to say I was a winger. I played a winger and Petr Holeček played centre forward and he played it really well, very well. I played a winger."

"It was at the end of the war. My father showed me his scars, not to brag though. He was hit by a shrapnel above the eyebrow and in the calf. He was supposed to be guarding an island off La Rochelle. All the stories I know are from a distance. Relatives didn't want to talk about it during our family gatherings. But guys liked to drink and bring up stories, I heard first hand how one uncle was a German sailor, he was proud of it, he had pictures of him in his sailor uniform all over his house. One of the more distant uncles was unlucky; he walked home from the war in Russia and all his toes froze. That's where I got my attention. Later on, Dad didn't want to talk about it. When I defended our socialist country as a model pupil, my father said to me: 'Son, you are stupid.'" - "Did anyone in your extended family die in the war?" - "Not any of my relatives, but we do have one tragic story. My mother's eldest sister was one of eight children and had a husband. His name was Karl Hurnik. He was held in Russian captivity for eight years until 1953. You can imagine what that meant, he had three children at home. When he was released, he wanted to return to Hlučín. They wouldn't let him go, he had to move to Wuppertal. One family helped my aunt and her children with the move."