Max Schwall (soccer player)

Max Schwall (born September 2, 1932 in Karlsruhe -Daxlanden) is a former football player of the Karlsruher SC in the Oberliga Süd .

career

FV Daxlanden, 1942 to 1957

At the age of ten, Max Schwall started playing soccer in the youth department of his home club FV Daxlanden . As an A-youth he won the Baden championship with his comrades in 1949 and then reached the runner-up in southern Germany. Herbert Dannenmeier , who had successfully walked the path from Daxlanden via VfB Mühlburg to Karlsruher SC , was a role model in footballing technique, the natural handling of the ball, for him as well as for many other talents of FV Daxlanden . Since the FV Daxlanden made it into what was then the highest amateur class in North Baden, the 1st Amateur League North Baden, in the 1949/50 round, the young talent Max Schwall was able to measure his footballing strength against performance-enhancing competition right from the start of his senior career. In the first round in the senior division, 1951/52, the junior player was often used on the left wing (left wing / half left) and as a center forward. Third in the 1st Amateur League North Baden Daxlanden qualified for the games for the South German Cup in 1952. The opponents from the Oberliga ( SV Waldhof Mannheim , VfR Mannheim , VfL Neckarau ) and the 2nd League South (SV Wiesbaden and ASV Feudenheim ) were for the talent Max Schwall a first examination of league football in southern Germany. In the 1952/53 round, the 20-year-old celebrated the championship with Daxlanden and therefore took part in the promotion round to the 2nd League South against 1. FC Hanau 93 (Hesse), Wacker Munich (South Bavaria), VfR Aalen (Württemberg), FV Offenburg (South Baden) and the ATS Kulmbach (North Bavaria). As third behind Hanau and Munich, Daxlanden narrowly missed promotion to the 2nd League South. In the year of the football world championship in Switzerland in 1954, Daxlanden celebrated not only winning the title of the Herberger protégés but also winning the runner-up championship of the FVD in North Baden at the local level, which at the same time ensured entry into the group games for the German amateur championship of 1954 . The games against VfB Friedrichshafen, SC Baden-Baden and FC Lichtenfels in the August Klingler Stadium at home were further sporting highlights of the left runner, who was strong in running and shooting.

Amateur national team, 1955 to 1956

Due to the outstanding performance of Max Schwall at FV Daxlanden in the 1st Amateur League North Baden, the games in the promotion round and the encounters for the German amateur championship as well as in his appearances in the association selection of North Baden in the national cup competition, the DFB was in the personnel inspection for its amateur national team became aware of him. From September 5 to 10, 1955, the first screening course for the amateur national team for the 1956 Olympics took place in Cologne under the direction of national trainer Sepp Herberger . After two test matches against a Swiss youth team (September 14 in Zurich) and the Niederrhein selection (November 1 in Düsseldorf), the squad was nominated for the international match of the amateur national team on November 12, 1955 in London against England. Max Schwall was part of the selection and made his debut in London against England. Together with Karl and Rudolf Hoffmann, he formed the runner row in the 3-2 victory, which after the game was called the "backbone" of the successful team. Even today (2007), Max Schwall describes this international match and the subsequent congratulations from national coach Sepp Herberger on his performance as a great experience. The national coach also used the Daxlander amateur as the left runner in a test match of the national team on February 22, 1956 in Hamburg in a DFB selection against Hamburger SV. Robert Schlienz played on the right and Rudolf Hoffmann on the stopper position .

Preparation for the 1956 Olympic Games

Rudolf Hoffmann (left) and Max Schwall in Melbourne in 1956

With the training game of two amateur national teams on April 18, 1956 in Bottrop, the DFB began official preparations for the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. The man from Daxlanden also convinced in this game. Since the amateur was also able to convince in the representative game of North Baden against Southwest Germany within a major league selection on May 1, 1956 in the Karlsruhe Wildpark Stadium, his second appointment to the amateur national team was no longer a surprise. On May 19, 1956, he acted on the side of center runner Ludwig Landerer in his second use in the amateur national team in the 3-3 draw in Freiburg against France. Two days later, on May 21st in Munich, he came on for Rudolf Hoffmann in the 4-1 win against Scotland and thus had three international appearances. Another course for the amateurs took place in Munich from May 30th to June 7th, 1956. Since Turkey canceled the qualifying game on June 10th in Ankara at short notice, the DFB team was certain to participate in the 1956 Olympic football tournament. On August 8th and 15th, two more preparatory games were played against the B national team . Another short course took place in Duisburg from October 23 to October 24. After the final test game on November 7th, again against the German B-Elf, Max Schwall was appointed to the final DFB line-up for the 1956 Olympic football tournament in Melbourne. For tactical reasons (there was a defensive basic alignment in midfield and Schwall embodied the offensive outside runner) and due to an ankle injury from the preparation phase that had not completely healed, he was able to play against the clearly favored team at the DFB team's opening encounter on November 24, 1956 in Melbourne the Soviet Union does not participate. After the 1: 2 defeat against the eventual Olympic champion, the Olympic Games were over prematurely for the DFB team and Max Schwall took the flight home without having been active on the field at the Olympics. Nevertheless, participation in the Olympic Games was one of the most formative events in Max Schwall's athletic career. To have climbed the hurdles of the sighting as a player of the FV Daxlanden, the world trip to Melbourne and the atmosphere and the encounters at the games left such lasting impressions that this flood remained in the mind's eye well into advanced age.

Karlsruher SC, 1957 to 1963

For the round 1957/58 Schwall moved to Karlsruher SC in the Oberliga Süd. Kurt Sommerlatt had left a gap in the midfield of the Wildpark-Elf when he switched to FC Bayern Munich , which the amateur national team should try to keep as small as possible. With the season opener game of Karlsruher SC in the round 1957/58 at TSV 1860 Munich , on August 11, 1957, the Daxlander made his debut in the Oberliga Süd. He experienced a 1: 2 defeat in the Grünwalder Stadium , but under the leadership of coach Ludwig Janda immediately developed into a regular player (24 games with two goals) and was able to stand alongside Rudi Fischer , Pál Csernai , Heinz Beck , Bernhard Termath and Gustav Witlatschil celebrate the championship in the Oberliga Süd at the end of the round. He scored his first goal on November 3, 1957 in a 2-1 home win against SpVgg Fürth . In the final round of the 1958 German football championship, which was shortened because of the 1958 World Cup in Sweden , he was in the three KSC games to be contested against Tennis Borussia Berlin , Eintracht Braunschweig and the eventual German champions FC Schalke 04 . In the 1-0 win against Tennis Borussia, he contributed the winning goal, in the 2-1 win against Braunschweig, the 1-0 lead for Karlsruhe. When national player Horst Szymaniak moved to the game park for the 1959/60 round , Schwall got a prominent competitor for the left outside runner position. After finishing the association round, he celebrated the second championship in the Oberliga Süd with the KSC. Although he no longer held the usual outside runner position, he developed into an all-rounder through his willpower and also played in the 1960 finals against Westfalia Herne , Borussia Neunkirchen and Hamburger SV . In 1960/61 he even had four more games in the Oberliga Süd with 29 versus 25 appearances by Szymaniak. In the DFB Cup he was in the semi-finals with Karlsruhe in 1960 and 1961. In 1960 the KSC moved into the final, but Schwall was unable to play due to an injury. In 1961, the move was missed by a 2-3 defeat after extra time at Werder Bremen . According to his own statement, he was reluctant to act against primarily small and lively dribblers, such as Rolf Geiger from VfB Stuttgart and Engelbert Kraus from Offenbacher Kickers , against whom he always found it very difficult and therefore could rarely take his own offensive actions. In the 2-0 defeat on September 9, 1962 in Schweinfurt, Max Schwall completed his last game as a right defender for Karlsruher SC. He suffered a rupture of the capsule in his left ankle and a fracture of the fibula and after their lengthy healing did not take up the fight for a comeback. The line-up for the last league game read: Paul; Schwall, Witlatschil; Saida, Rhim, Kahn; Marx, Hermann, Geisert, Ruppenstein, Wild. In June 1960, Max Schwall completed his training as a licensed trainer at the Schöneck sports school . From 1963 to 1969 he was a coach at the local FV Daxlanden.

Max Schwall also met in the 1:13 defeat at Real Madrid in the legendary Bernabeu Stadium.

Outside the field of play

Professionally, Max Schwall had at least as much a career with the city of Karlsruhe as on the grass field. He made it up to the administrative manager of the Karlsruhe building construction office. At the side of Mayor Prof. Dr. Gerhard Seiler shared a passion for jogging. Since he also enjoyed playing tennis with friends and old companions, today's (2007) senior still has an admirably athletic figure. He keeps in touch with almost all of his former teammates who are still living in the Karlsruhe area. He lives as a pensioner in Karlsruhe, in his parents' house in Daxlanden.

Literature and Sources

• Germany's major soccer teams, part 11: Karlsruher SC, AGON, 1998, ISBN 3-89609-115-8 .
• Jürgen Bitter : Germany's football. The encyclopedia. Sportverlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-328-00857-8 .
• Hardy Grüne , Lorenz Knieriem: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 8: Player Lexicon 1890–1963. AGON-Sportverlag, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-89784-148-7 .
• Hardy Greens: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 7: Club Lexicon . AGON-Sportverlag, Kassel 2001, ISBN 3-89784-147-9 .
• Matthias Weinrich, Hardy Greens: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 6: German Cup history since 1935. Pictures, statistics, stories, constellations. AGON-Sportverlag, Kassel 2000, ISBN 3-89784-146-0 .
• Hardy Greens: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 1: From the Crown Prince to the Bundesliga. 1890 to 1963. German championship, Gauliga, Oberliga. Numbers, pictures, stories. AGON-Sportverlag, Kassel 1996, ISBN 3-928562-85-1 .
• Werner Skrentny (Ed.): When Morlock still met the moonlight. The history of the Oberliga Süd 1945–1963. Klartext, Essen 1993, ISBN 3-88474-055-5 .
• Conversations with Max Schwall and review of his documents in March 2007.