Introduction
Leicester City’s 2015-16 English Premier League title remains one of the greatest achievements in modern sport.
After heroically surviving a relegation battle the previous season, Leicester began the 2015–16 campaign under new coach Claudio Ranieri as football underdogs: a team of misfits, rank outsiders, and rejects.
Led in attack by striker Jamie Vardy, marshalled in defence by captain Wes Morgan, and anchored by goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, the Foxes achieved a feat bookmakers had priced at 5000-1.
Mark Schwarzer, the unused champion
Many newspaper columns and books have been written about this miraculous sporting achievement. Yet hidden within this already improbable story is an even stranger footnote: Leicester’s backup goalkeeper, Australian veteran Mark Schwarzer, did not play a single Premier League match that season.
Remarkably, the 43-year-old Schwarzer had won the EPL in the previous season with Chelsea, also as a back-up goalkeeper, without playing a single EPL match for them. He is widely regarded as the first goalkeeper to win back-to-back Premier League titles with two different clubs without playing a league match in either title-winning season.
Not surprisingly, some commentators have tongue-in-cheek claimed that Schwarzer was the lucky charm for both Chelsea and Leicester.
Why lucky charms persist
Is there any truth to this claim? Perhaps not in a literal sense. Yet across history, culture and myth, the idea of the lucky charm persists.
Scholars have observed that in various European royal courts from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, people with unusual physical features or minor abnormalities – including hunchbacks, dwarfs, and conjoined twins – were regarded as “lucky charms” and often enjoyed unique access and influence within the palace walls.
In some cultures, dwarfs, for example, were believed to possess spiritual significance and, like those in royal courts, to bring good luck.
Consider Semar, a figure in Javanese mythology and wayang shadow theatre performances. In human form, Semar appears as a grotesquely fat dwarf with an enormous pot-belly and a huge backside. Yet spiritually, he is one of the most powerful gods of the Javanese pantheon and is regarded as the dhanyang, or guardian spirit of the island of Java. He is also a tireless champion of the common people and, with wit and folksy wisdom, quietly advises and mentors gods and humans alike.
Schwarzer’s practical value
Echoing Semar’s humble form and immense power, Schwarzer’s footballing heroics across various stages have been described as immense.
Schwarzer’s seemingly god-like goalkeeping had long been on display for the Australian national team, most memorably in 2005, when his two ice-cold penalty saves in a World Cup qualifying playoff against Uruguay sent Australia to the 2006 World Cup finals, ending a 32-year absence.
At Leicester City, Schwarzer’s presence, beyond his talismanic status, was of deep practical value. He played a key role in Leicester’s fight against relegation when he joined them midway through the 2014-15 season, playing six matches to help them avoid the drop. In the title-winning season, he played in several non-EPL cup matches, giving Schmeichel some welcome respite.
Like Semar at Leicester, Schwarzer operated at the margins. Perhaps his greatest value was as a mentor. Respected by the younger goalkeepers in the squad, he offered experience and guidance and understood exactly what was required to win a title.
Never underestimate the value of a lucky charm.
– Marshall & Tristan, Canberra, May 2016 / Brisbane, May 2026