Lars Lunde turns 60 and looks back: “It was of course not a suicide attempt then.”

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Lars Lunde, this blond snotty boy in the YB shirt he casually pulled over his pants. He often directed insults and shame at then-coach Alexander Mandziara – and also at his teammates on the field when they made mistakes. He just always had respect for those who made it: Robert Prytz, Martin Weber, Jean-Marie Conz.

These were the main players at the time, the champion makers who crowned YB champions again in 1986 after a 26-year wait. Lunde could afford a lot. He repaid his clemency with goals, becoming top scorer with 21 goals in 30 games – and becoming a crowd favorite. The loyal Bernese fans (then it was not as hip and cool as it is now to show the yellow-black flag) took the idiosyncratic dribbler and joker to their hearts. Blonde Lars was also a star on the starting kilometer – much seen and appreciated.

His talent could have given him a great career. But it turned out very differently. After the YB was crowned champions, Bayern bought him. Even his performance in Munich did not bode well. He had to change into a Viking disguise. That was slapstick and initially brought ridicule, which quickly turned to malice because Lunde simply stopped shooting on target. It was like magic. Nothing reminded us of the light-hearted twirler from the YB days.

After failing, he returned to Switzerland in 1988 – to Aarau, where coach Ottmar Hitzfeld wanted to help him flourish again. Then it went black. On April 12, 1988, after the away match – against YB of all places – Lunde crashed his VW Golf on the Wynental-Suhrental railway line at a level crossing in Oberentfelden, Aargau, and was in a coma for 240 hours. Traumatic brain damage. Would he wake up again? And if so, in what condition?

Lars Lunde survived and almost 36 years later sits at a table in the Kieser training center at Monbijoustrasse 10 in Bern, where he has been working as a fitness instructor for two years. On March 21 he celebrates his sixtieth birthday – he looks back on his dramatic life without rancor, with few regrets and many emotions.

Lars Lunde, what is it like to be able to celebrate your birthday twice a year?
That’s right, I was given a second life 36 years ago. But honestly, April 12 is not an important date for me, I have almost erased it from my memory. I only celebrate March 21st.

Is it difficult to talk about that accident?
No, it’s part of my life, my biography. I then had to give up my ambitions as a footballer, but I still think I have a beautiful and rich life.

Are you struggling with your fate?
No, I don’t think about the accident often anymore. I enjoy my work, I enjoy every day. Life has so many beautiful sides. I don’t even think about it when I drive past the accident site in Oberentfelden. It’s like this happened in another life.

Your career should have been completely different, you already signed a contract with Xamax after winning the championship.
President Gilbert Facchinetti invited me to his home and offered me a ten-year contract, which I signed. But a few days later Uli Hoeness called me and I almost dropped the phone. And if Bayern wants you, you don’t say no. Facchinetti understood me, we canceled the contract quite easily and I went to Munich. If I had played for Xamax, everything would have been different.

What is available from this April 12? What else can you remember?
I still remember isolated scenes from the match in Bern. And also the return journey. The team bus from Aarau had to wait ten minutes for me because I spoke to some of my ex-colleagues from Bern after showering. When we arrived in Brügglifeld it was raining. Then we got into our cars. Ottmar Hitzfeld told me afterwards that we waved at each other at a light signal, but I don’t remember that.

You ran a red light, was it an accident?
Later, during a rehab clinic in Germany, a psychologist asked me if my accident was a suicide attempt because I kept running red lights. Of course that wasn’t the case, it was more a mixture of youthful exuberance and temporary frustration at playing poorly that day – in Bern of course. For me, that’s the only explanation for the shit I did back then.

What were your first memories after you woke up from your coma?
I saw Ottmar Hitzfeld at the elevator. He wore a red tie. The tie thing was true, but apparently he wasn’t standing by the elevator, but by my bed holding my hand, as I heard from him later. Anyway, I said hello to him, at least in my dream. I didn’t really wake up until later, after I had been transferred from Aarau to Bern.

How should you imagine waking up?
I lay in bed, not knowing where I was, and just drifted off. Suddenly the door opened and my brother and my advisor Bruno Huber entered the room. My brother didn’t live in Switzerland, so I was surprised and asked him what he was doing here.

Did you quickly realize how bad it was for you?
My brother told me what happened, but I didn’t even want to think about football, I just knew there was something wrong with me. I was very weak, had trouble balancing and even fell out of bed once. Sitting, standing, walking, I had to learn everything again. I was in a pretty bad mood too. I terrorized my brother.

How?
With special requests. For example, I wanted to go down into the garden, as soon as we got down there I wanted to go back up again, as soon as we got up there I wanted to go down again. I was impatient, wanted to leave the hospital, it was unbearable. My brother is the most important person in my life.

Where did you go when you were discharged from the hospital?
René and Alain Sutter picked me up from the hospital and invited me to their home in Bümpliz, where my mother had cooked something delicious. With Sutters on the balcony I tried to juggle the ball for the first time. It didn’t work anymore. They lived on the twelfth floor and after a few touches the ball flew over the railing into the depths.

Uli Hoeness later took great care of you and your recovery. How important was he to you?
Very important. I was still a Bayern player and was loaned out to Aarau. The Hoeness family did everything for me at that time. Uli’s daughter moved in with her brother, so I could live in her bedroom for three weeks. I was fed and cared for and was able to recuperate in Munich. I could discuss any problem with Uli.

Then you tried football again – went from Aarau to FC Zug, later to FC Baden in the National League B. Why didn’t it work?
The automatics stopped working, there were problems with coordination and timing, and people no longer believed in me, didn’t trust me, that was the worst because I also lost my self-confidence and my instincts as a footballer.

When did you admit to yourself that there is no point in football anymore?
I could hardly believe it when my agent told me that I had to take a trial training at FC Baden. I was Lars Lunde, that was not possible. I got a contract, but after that I hardly had any playing time and even the simplest things in training no longer worked. On the pitch I felt like I had a twenty kilo stone on my back and that I could no longer dribble past the defenders. One day there was an honest conversation with coach Raimondo Ponte. We both knew it wasn’t possible anymore and we put an end to it. That is it. It hurts.

You then worked as a ward nurse in the hospital for thirty years and helped many people; was that your true calling?
I was just a cog, but I enjoyed the work and quickly found my role and came to terms with it – with all the suffering. The only time I had any problems was with serious head injuries from car accidents. I don’t want to miss this time. I wouldn’t have met many great people if I hadn’t had the accident.

How much of the dashing Lars Lunde of the past is still in you?
I’m still a dreamer, a kid who wants to have fun. But today there is something in me that is putting on the brakes. A voice that says: Be careful, Lars! For example, I haven’t gotten on a plane in ten years. I just can’t do it anymore.

Do you still play football?
Yes, sometimes I still participate in chats. Then I look forward to meeting old colleagues again. But for me that has nothing to do with football anymore. There’s not much left.

What would be the best birthday gift someone could give you?
You can’t give me anything anymore. I have everything, I am happy, I am doing well physically and mentally, the Swiss love me and I get to live in Bern, the most beautiful place in the world.

Does growing older scare you?
The thought of retirement bothers me. I really like this job at Kieser. Working here with these people and passing on my experiences is like winning the lottery. What if I no longer have that? And I’m afraid to suffer and die. I want to stay healthy and grow old.

We wish you, dear Lars Lunde, a happy birthday.
Thank you.

Source : Blick