A sleepy, non-descript, Southern Bavarian town 15 miles north of Nuremburg is not only the sports footwear capital of the world, but also the scene for one of the most extraordinary familial feuds known to man. I was in Herzogenaurach last week visiting the Algerian football team at the Puma headquarters but took time also to witness the legacy of a fraternal falling out of extreme proportions. Rudolf and Adolf Dassler turned their mother's washroom into a sports shoe factory in 1924 and, 12 years' later, Jesse Owens sported their spikes as he took four golds at the Berlin Olympics. Yet, in 1948, the brothers split, with Rudi packing his bags andcreating a new business across the river Aurach fromhis brother. Puma was created and, in retaliation, Adi Dassler formed Adidas. Nobody quite knows why the brothers fell out. Some say it was due to an affair, others that one had been caught with his hands in the till, while another theory is that they argued over who should take the credit for the first screw-in football studs. Rudi, who was in an American prisoner of war camp, was also thought to have accused his brother for turning him in. Whatever the case the feud would last for the rest of their lives, with each sueing the other on numerous occasions. Both had their victories. In 1954 the West German World Cup-winning team wore Adidas boots. In 1958 Pele, who helped Brazil become world champions, wore Puma. The feud spread to the town. You were either Puma or Adidas and it got to the point where families were divided, or shops refused to serve people. Rudi died in 1974. Adi followed him to the footwear factory in the sky four years' later. They are now buried in the town cemetery with plots that could not be further apart from each other. The headquarters of the two companies remain in this town of just 23,000 people and while relationships have thawed they remain main rivals.It's a fascinating story that begs one question as you survey the two gravestones:isn't life too short for two brothers tolose each other for good overshoes?
