Elfmeter Online - Issue 12 - April 1997
| Elfmeter Online - Issue 12 - April 1997 | |
While we were in Hamburg surveying the remains of Rothenburg (meta- phorically speaking, you understand), we thought we might have look around at some of the other "Traditionsklubs" scattered across the city. Most of you will be familiar with HAMBURG SV and FC ST. PAULI--but what of the others?
The Magpies of ASV BERGEDORF (or, more formally, ASV Bergedorf-Lohbruegge 1885) are an easy club to spot, playing in black shirts with white sleeves, and white shorts. The club's proudest moment was fininshing runners-up in the 1958 amateur championship. Four years later they came ninth in the old Oberliga Nord--their highest postwar league finish. But they didn't get into the Bundesliga and, despite a couple of eighth-place finishes in the Regionalliga Nord in the mid-sixties, were relegated in 1970. Last season they finished fourteenth in the Oberliga Schleswig-Holstein. The club's home ground is Sander Tannen, in the extreme southeast of the city (virtually in the countryside). Odd piece of trivia: in 1958, when Bergedorf were first promoted to the Oberliga Nord, they had to be given special permission by the Norddeutscher Fussball Verband to play their home matches because their Billtal-Stadion had a shale pitch. In 1959 they moved to Sander Tannen, in order to be able to ! play on grass.
EIMSBUETTEL TV were hot stuff in the 1930s and 40s, winning the Gauliga Nordmark five times between 1933 and 1942, paced by Hans Rohde, who earned 25 German caps over this period. After the war Eimsbuettel made it into the Oberliga Nord, but were relegated in 1956 and soon disappeared from the public eye. Their Tribuenensportplatz Lokstedt (now called the Sportzentrum Hoheluft) once held 27,000, but such is the state of the club these days that the largely-dilapidated ground can now accommodate only 600. (Incidentally a GRUEN-WEISS EIMSBUETTEL currently occupy a spot in the nether reaches of the Verbandsliga Hamburg.)
VICTORIA HAMBURG, North German champions of 1906 and 1907 (and in 1919 as a war-time club with Hamburg 88), are another once-famous club now fallen on hard times. They, too, were a strong Gauliga Nordmark team in the years leading up to World War Two and won the league in 1943. In the 1950s, they kept weaving in and out of the Oberliga and were thus unable to qualify for the Bundesliga. In 1966 they were relegated from the Second Division; eleven years later they were relegated from the Third. "Vicky's" ground adjoins the enormous University Hospital in the Eppendorf area of the city. Last season they were relegated from the Oberliga Hamburg / Schleswig Holstein, where they were replaced by SC CONDOR 56 HAMBURG, who play in the Farmsen area of Hamburg.
A happier story is ALTONA 93, or Altonaer Fussball Club Borussia von 1983, who were promoted to the Regionalliga Nord this season. Altona and Hamburg used to be neighbouring cities, and fierce rivals. At one point in history, Altona was ruled by Denmark, whereas Hamburg was part of Prussia. When "Greater Hamburg" was formed in 1937, Hamburg took control of Altona, an amalgamation still resented to this day by most Altona residents. North German champions in 1909 and 1914, Altona were cup semifinalists in 1955 (lost to Karlsruhe) and 1964 (lost to 1860 Muenchen) and as recently as 1975 reached the fourth round (lost 7-0 to MSV Duisburg).
Altona were a regular in the Gauliga Nordmark and made it into the Oberliga Nord in 1949. They were relegated the following season, but got back in a year later when Eintracht Braunschweig were thrown out. They stayed for eleven seaons, twice finishing third, and went into the Regionalliga Nord when the Bundesliga was formed in 1963. Five years later, they were relegated, and in 1993 they fell into the fourth division. Easily recognisable by their red-black-and white hooped jerseys, Altona play at the Adolf-Jaeger-Kampfbahn on Griegstrasse in Ottensen.
CONCORDIA HAMBURG, whose club crest is easily mistaken for the international copyright symbol, play at the Marienthal Stadion on Octaviostrasse in the east of the city. A reasonably steady lower-division performer, highlights of their existence have included beating Borussia Dortmund in the first round of the 1953 West German Cup, and finishing third in the 1976 amateur championship. "Cordi" spent eighteen years at third-division level from 1973 to 1991 before being relegated. Three seasons later, though, they were promoted into the Regionalliga Nord, and last season they came twelfth.
HSV BARMBEK-UHLENHORST were founder members of the Zweite Liga Nord back in 1974, but came bottom. After seven years in the Oberliga Nord, they were relegated in 1981 and haven't been back since. Their home is the Wilhelm-Rupprecht-Platz on Steilshooper Strasse, east of the the Alster lake.
To the south of the city lies the district of Harburg, home to a number of minor-league clubs. Top dogs at the moment are ROT-GELB HARBURG, who play in the Verbandsliga, but in the late fifties and early sixties TB HARBURG were the ones to beat. They spent two rather anonymous years in the Oberliga Nord in 1953 and 1954, and were relegated in 1955. Despite qualifying for the Aufsteigsrunde four times in six seasons, they never made it back up. Mention should also be made of VfR HARBURG (one season in the Regionalliga Nord in 1965) and BORUSSIA HARBURG, who merged to form SC BORUSSIA RASENSPORT HARBURG in 1970 (and that's about as much as we know about them).
Just west of the Volkspark, in Flurstrasse is the Jonny-Arfert-Sportplatz, home to SV LURUP, currently struggling in the Regionalliga and something of a yo-yo team ever since they were first promoted to the third division level in 1981.Their best performance was in 1984 when they finished third to qualify for the Aufstiegsrunde. The most accomplished season of SPERBER HAMBURG (home: the Sportplatz Heubergredder in Alsterdorf north of the city centre) was a tenth-place finish in the Regionalliga Nord in 1968. They spent just four seasons at this level before being relegated and few have heard of them since. VfL 1893 HAMBURG have enjoyed some success in recent seasons. Promoted to the Oberliga Nord in 1992, they were relegated into the Oberliga Schleswig-Holstein only last season. Their home ground is the Stadion Borgweg on the edge of the Stadtpark just north of the city.
POST SV HAMBURG finished sixth in a playoff for promotion to the Oberliga Nord in 1950, which is as close as they've ever come to first-division football. Their home is the Sportplatz Neusurenland in Bramfeld. SC UNION HAMBURG (formerly UNION ALTONA), whose home is the Rudi-Barth Sportplatz on Waidmannstrasse in the northern part of Altona, nearly made it in 1958 but again failed in a playoff. Neither of these two clubs can be found in the top five levels of the German pyramid today. Nor can TuS HAMBURG, who spent a season in the Hamburg Stadtliga in 1947 and who still play at the Sportplatz Beim Gesundbrunnen in the Borgfelde area of the city.
Currently top of the Verbandsliga Hamburg are VORWAERTS / WACKER HAMBURG, a club based in Billstedt on the city's eastern outskirts. Lest we be accused of being unfair to HSV and Pauli fans, two other clubs are worth a mention. HSV AMATEURS were promoted to the Oberliga Nord in 1989 and have stayed there ever since. They now play at Hagenbeckstrasse, near the city zoo in Stellingen. Make of that what you will. ST. PAULI AMATEURS were promoted to the third division for the first time ever in 1994 and are struggling bit this season. The team have played in a number of places since getting promoted, although officially they're listed as playing at Millerntor.
Just beyond the city limits lie other football towns we could mention, like Elmshorn, Pinneberg, Norderstedt, and Barsbuettel...but blimey, we'd be in Bremen before we knew it.
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