Robert Bernard himself played two times for Germany in his career, both as fullback in the successive matches against Luxembourg (9–0) and Norway (0–2) at the 1936 Summer Olympics. The surprise defeat against Norway eliminated the host nation from the tournament and got coach Otto Nerz sacked. Nerz' successor Sepp Herberger, who later handed his son Günter caps for Germany, did not see use in playing Robert Bernard any further.
“Jimmy threw in some questions to see if we were really as engaged as we said we were – thankfully, we had done our homework and knew the name, for example, of the obscure band RobertPlant was singing in before Zep,” says Bernard.