Siegfried Rachuba

Siegfried Rachuba (born June 6, 1922 in Datteln , † July 20, 2002 in Münster ) was a German football player .

1945 to 1949: in Erkenschwick

The striker made his debut in the men's team of Germania Datteln as a teenager before the outbreak of World War II . After his father was sent to a concentration camp in 1935 , Siegfried Rachuba had to take on the role of breadwinner after completing his professional training as a painter and house painter. At the end of 1941 he was called up as a direction finder for the Air Force and played in military teams at his respective locations in the following years , for example at MSV Lüneburg , LSV Pocking and LSV Stettin . Briefly imprisoned after the end of the war, he returned to his hometown in July 1945.

From 1945 he wore the dress of the SpVgg Erkenschwick after the Schalke Ernst Kuzorra , trainer of the Erkenschwicker at the time, had drawn the attention of the local club superiors to Rachuba with the words "Don't let the boys slip by". So the attacker entered the top division of the time - that was initially the Landesliga Westfalen, which was split into two seasons, in whose group 2 "Sigi" and Erkenschwicker " Knappenelf " took first place in 1945/46 and second place in 1946/47, from 1947 onwards the Oberliga West .

The 1947/48 season started promisingly for his team: after a 5-0 opening win at the Tivoli in Aachen , SpVgg was. very first league table leader, who succeeded in another hussar coup with a 2-1 win at Schalke 04 at the beginning of October. In the end it was only enough for 8th place in the 13th league, but Rachuba was behind August Lenz ( Borussia Dortmund , 22 goals), Alfred Kelbassa ( STV Horst-Emscher , 20) and his club mate Julius Ludorf (17 ) with 15 hits in fourth place. The following year, his club again ended up in midfield and the striker repeated exactly his result from the previous year in the league goal scorers. Overall, he missed only two of the 48 games in these two league years.

Rachuba soon became a selection player (Westphalia selection, selection of the British occupation zone and the WFV ) and was also considered a service provider here.

In Münster's "100,000 Mark Storm"

The subsequent move to Preußen Münster is said to have been made palatable to him with the opportunity to take over a painting business. According to another source, Münster's offer to enable him to attend the master's school and the proximity to his home town were decisive for this decision of the down-to-earth Westphalia. But there were also sporting reasons, because Prussia's club superior began at this point to sign a number of good attackers who were soon to make a name for themselves as the "100,000 mark storm". In addition to Rachuba, this included right winger Fiffi Gerritzen from VfB Oldenburg , Dortmund Borussia Adi Preißler , center forward Rudi Schulz and Jupp Lammers , as well as home grown Friedel Weghorst and from 1952 Werner Erb from Altona 93 . In 1949/50, Münster even ended up behind Rachubas Erkenschwickern, but he scored 14 goals of the season himself - and in 1950/51 the change of club also paid off for him in sporting terms: The Prussians became western runners-up and qualified for the final round of the German championship .

In the final group B, Münster met 1. FC Nürnberg , Hamburger SV and Tennis Borussia Berlin , won four of the six games and then stood in the final (with a goal difference of 22:16); Rachuba had contributed four goals, who was present in all encounters. In the final, however, the Münster striker was largely controlled by 1. FC Kaiserslautern ; Even the half-left Rachuba could only rarely prevail decisively, so that the Prussians lost 1: 2 in the Olympic Stadium .

Siegfried Rachuba played for Preußen Münster until 1959, for which he scored 97 goals in a total of 238 league games. This makes him the most successful attacker that the Westphalians have ever had in the years of their membership in the highest league. He was never able to repeat the success of 1951 with his team - there was no better than a fourth place in the league (1953/54), and even though he scored several times personally, season after season, he was only able to succeed in 1952/53. to place himself at the very top of the top scorer list (fourth with 20 hits).

The player, who was able to celebrate successes in such a way that he was also referred to as the "chief cheer on duty", did not make an international appearance . This was mainly due to the fact that he was competing with Fritz Walter in his position , but also an upset with national coach Herberger on the edge of a game between West and South Germany.

After his active career, as far as his craft business allowed, he made his footballing knowledge available to smaller clubs in the vicinity and kept himself fit by playing in Prussia's traditional 1951 team, as well as tennis, skiing and ice skating. Siegfried Rachuba died in 2002.

literature

• Hardy Grüne , Lorenz Knieriem: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 8: Player Lexicon 1890–1963. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-89784-148-7 .
• Harald Landefeld, Achim Nöllenheidt (ed.): Helmut, tell me dat Tor ... New stories and portraits from the Oberliga West 1947–1963. Klartext, Essen 1993, ISBN 3-88474-043-1 .
• Helmut Nottelmann: Football in Datteln until World War II. Own print, dates 2008.
• Heinrich Peuckmann: The heroes from the football west. Stories - legends - anecdotes. Aschendorff, Münster 2001 ISBN 978-3-402-06480-1 .

Remarks

1. ↑ Nottelmann, p. 64 ff.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Hardy Green, Lorenz Knieriem: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 8: Player Lexicon 1890–1963. P. 304.