Alfred Kunze

Alfred Kunze (born September 8, 1909 in Leipzig ; † July 19, 1996 there ) was a German soccer player, soccer coach and soccer theorist in the GDR .

Live and act

Player, teacher, trainer and soldier (1926–1945)

Kunze grew up in the Leipzig district of Stötteritz and began his football career there in 1926 at the workers' sports club VfL Südost Leipzig . As a 24-year-old, he had to change clubs in 1933 because the National Socialists had banned workers' sports clubs. Together with his brother, Kunze went to Wacker Leipzig , where he was active as a runner until 1938. After that, a complicated broken leg ended his career as an active soccer player. Since he had already completed a teaching degree between 1929 and 1933, he was able to take up a job as a primary school teacher. From 1940 until his conscription to the Wehrmacht in 1941, he took over the training of his old club, Wacker Leipzig. Kunze was a member of the NSDAP and inspector of the Wehrmacht from 1937 to 1945 .

Football specialist in the young GDR (1948–1952)

For Alfred Kunze, World War II was not over until 1948 when he was released from British captivity. He went back to his hometown Leipzig and took over the training at TSG Leipzig-Stötteritz. In July 1950, the German Sports Committee , the highest sports committee in the GDR, appointed him to the Football Committee. Between 1950 and 1952 Kunze worked as a soccer lecturer at the Leipzig Sports University DHfK . In 1951, Kunze oversaw a GDR soccer team in two unofficial international matches against Poland. Both games, which served to prepare the official international match traffic from 1952, were lost in Berlin with 0: 3 and in Leipzig with 1: 4.

Fiasco with Forward Leipzig / Berlin (1952/53)

In 1950, the VP Leipzig sports association was founded as the central sports community of the People's Police . Later taken over by the Kasernierte Volkspolizei (KVP), the SV soccer section was to be expanded into a top GDR team. In addition, in the autumn of 1952, much to the displeasure of the Leipzig soccer audience, numerous top players from local rivals and GDR soccer champions 1951 BSG Chemie Leipzig were lured away. With the beginning of the 2nd half series of the 1952/53 season, the previous coach Heinz Krügel was dismissed and replaced by Alfred Kunze. A few weeks later, the Vorwärts sports association, which was responsible for the team, which had since been renamed Vorwärts KVP Leipzig, moved to Berlin. With all this confusion, Kunze did not succeed in forming a homogeneous team, and so the CIP team Vorwärts Berlin had to relegate from the top GDR football league.

First success with Chemie Leipzig (1953–1955)

Returning to Leipzig, Kunze took over the rump team from Chemie Leipzig in the 1953/54 season, which after bloodletting in favor of the army team had only ended the season with 8th place. Here he kindled the spirit of Leutzsch for the first time, spurred the ambition of those who stayed behind and surprisingly led the team to the runner-up championship. Subsequently, unrest from outside was brought into the team again. The GDR sports management had decided to form focus clubs within the individual central sports associations. The Halle location had been determined for SV Chemie, and the Leipzig chemistry players were invited to join the new SC Chemie Halle-Leuna. After some back and forth, however, the players managed to find accommodation at the new Leipzig club SC Lokomotive Leipzig , where Alfred Kunze also took on training again. In this team, however, previous supporters from Chemie Leipzig such as Günter Busch , Heinz Schoppe , Lothar Vetterke and Werner Walther were missing , and so Lok Leipzig landed on the disappointing 11th place at the end of the 1954/55 season, while the new local rival SC Rotation came in 3rd had achieved.

Demotion and probation (1955–1963)

• (after a transition round in autumn 1955, the season until 1960 was aligned with the calendar year)

The Lokomotiv Spielvereinigung then moved Alfred Kunze to the third division Lok Weimar in the summer of 1955 . Kunze led the team into the 1st GDR league within a year . In 1957, Kunze was coach of the second division SC Wissenschaft Halle for one year . At the beginning of the 1958 season, Kunze was again allowed to take over training from Lok Leipzig. The team had fallen back to mediocrity after an intermediate high in 1956 from 3rd place in 1957. In the very first year he brought the team to the final of the GDR Cup competition , where the team were defeated by SC Einheit Dresden with 1: 2. Then it took another two years before Kunze could lead the team again to third place in the league. After further placement in the upper half of the table, Kunze's team again fell victim to structural changes. In Leipzig there was to be only one football club, SC Leipzig , to which the best Leipzig players were to be fed. The rest of the team that was not eligible for funding was allowed to continue playing with coach Kunze as a company sports club for chemistry, as in the old days.

Again at Chemie Leipzig (1963–1967)

In the 1963/64 season he was East German champion with chemistry. After a 3rd place in 1965 Kunze won the GDR soccer cup with Chemie Leipzig on April 30, 1966 with a 1-0 victory over Lok Stendal . Manfred Walter played 16 times for the GDR national team during this period. Bernd Bauchspieß was among others top scorer of the GDR-Oberliga in 1965 under Kunze. Both players and their teammate Klaus Lisiewicz won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in 1964. Kunze's successes also made him known beyond the GDR borders, the TUS Bremerhaven and Tunisia offered him contracts, which he could not accept for political reasons. Meanwhile, the subordinate role of a company sports club at Chemie Leipzig became more and more noticeable, talented young players became rare and at the end of the 1966/67 season the team occupied 12th place in the league table. Kunze resigned from his coaching position.

The football theorist (1967–1976)

The GDR football association used Kunze as a lecturer in the scientific center of the DFV. In addition to his teaching activities, Kunze published the textbook “Football” in 1977, developed teaching and training programs and acted as an observer for the GDR national team in preparation for the 1974 World Cup. In 1976 Alfred Kunze retired.

Overview of trainer stations

1953	Forward Leipzig / Berlin
1953-1955	BSG Chemie / SC Lok Leipzig
1955-1956	BSG locomotive Weimar
1957	SC Science Hall
1958-1963	SC Lok Leipzig
1963-1967	BSG Chemie Leipzig

Alfred Kunze Sports Park (1992)

A special kind of monument was erected for Alfred Kunze while he was still alive. In memory of his spectacular successes, the Leutzscher Georg-Schwarz-Sportpark, Kunze's long-standing place of activity, was renamed the Alfred-Kunze-Sportpark on May 27, 1992 . Until 2004, the stadium was the venue of FC Sachsen Leipzig, the successor club of BSG Chemie. After the new construction of the larger central stadium, the first men's team played their home games there, in the Alfred Kunze sports park only the junior teams played.

From the 2009/2010 season until the bankruptcy in 2011, FC Sachsen Leipzig played its home games, with the exception of so-called risk games , at the Alfred Kunze Sportpark. Since the 2014/15 season, the newly founded BSG Chemie Leipzig , a Leutzsch club, has been playing its home games in the "AKS".

Works

Football: A textbook for coaches, trainers and active people . 2nd edition, Sportverlag, Berlin 1981, ISBN 3-328-00035-6 .

literature

• Jens Fuge: Alfred Kunze. The silent genius . 1st edition 2019, ISBN 978-3981602388 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hanns Leske: Erich Mielke , the Stasi and the round leather: the influence of the SED and the Ministry for State Security on football in the GDR. The workshop 2014. p. 268f.