Alfred Schmidt (soccer player, 1929)

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Alfred Schmidt (born February 25, 1929 in Holthausen ) is a former German football player. The goalkeeper has 1,952 to 1,962 for the SV Sodingen in the then prime Oberliga West passed 160 league games.

career

In the war year 1943, Alfred Schmidt registered in the youth department of SV Sodingen. In the first few years he was active as a field player, only when he was 18 he switched to the goal. In the 1949/50 season, the "Kumpelverein" in the shadow of the winding tower of the Mont-Cenis colliery was promoted to the 2nd division West, in 1952 even the promotion to the Oberliga West. In addition to Johann Adamik and Leo Konopczynski , the goalkeeper was one of the top performers during the ascent and together with them became one of the three idols of the miners' association in the vicinity of the headframe. With the rise of SV Sodingen, the fairy tale of old Schalke seemed to repeat itself once again, a squire eleven from a Pütt in Herne. Harald Landefeld noted in the league book "Helmut, tell me about the goal ...":

Sodingen seemed to turn all football upside down, became a magnet, drove people crazy, won their hearts. And why? Because after ten minutes everyone noticed the magic that this team had: It wasn't an eleven, it was a 'team' in the truest sense of the word. Then the sentence of the eleven friends who really have to be friends to win a game became tangible. And they were, no Rastellis, just solid footballers, but the greatest fighters between kick-off and final that you could imagine. That's why we loved her in the Ruhr area. "

Schmidt worked as a welder and after eight hours of work completed the goalkeeper training in the "sand pit". Some of the training took place in the dark on an ash field before the mine management donated a spotlight with which at least one corner of the field could be illuminated.

When making their debut in the league on August 24, 1952 in front of 18,000 spectators Sodingen brought about a 2-2 home draw against the game association Erkenschwick. The Sodinger defense formed in front of goalkeeper Schmidt with the defender couple Alfons Nowak and Leo Konopczinski, as well as the runner row with Karl-Heinz Edler , Siegfried Geesmann and Gerhard Harpers . The interest and attachment of the audience to the games of the green-whites was extraordinary. The second home game on September 7th against 1. FC Köln (0: 1) took place in front of 25,000, the game on October 12th against Borussia Dortmund (1: 2) also before 25,000 and the home game with many goals on January 25, 1953 against the FC Schalke 04 even took place in front of 28,000 spectators. Schmidt and colleagues fought against relegation for the entire lap. Relegation was achieved with 25:35 points in eleventh place. Because of his outstanding performance, but also his flexibility and his spectacular parades, the Sodinger keeper was soon nicknamed "the rubber man". National coach Sepp Herberger also placed him in a test match in Augsburg on June 4, 1953 in a DFB selection - with Gerhard Harpers, Herbert Schäfer , Fritz Semmelmann , Felix Gerritzen , Josef Derwall , Willi Schröder , Hans Schäfer - against an eleven from southern Germany - Herbert Erhardt , Hans Bauer , Richard Gottinger , Max Morlock , Ulrich Biesinger , Richard Herrmann - a. Schmidt suffered a cheekbone fracture with a concussion at the beginning of the second half and therefore had to be replaced by Günter Klemm from the 52nd minute of the game .

Ironically, in the successful round of 1954/55 - Sodingen moved into the final round of the German championship as runner-up in the Oberliga West - but he had to give up his regular place in goal to Günter Sawitzki , who was three years younger , and also only made two appearances in 1955/56 in the big league. After the move from Sawitzki to VfB Stuttgart in the 1956/57 round, Schmidt was again number one among the green-whites. With Hans Cieslarczyk and Josef “Jupp” Marx, two talents developed into top performers in the next few rounds, but the rest of the team was outdated and continuously fought against relegation. Even the 3-2 success on the final day of the 1958/59 round, on April 22, 1959 at Rot-Weiss Essen, could no longer prevent the fall into the second division with 21:39 points. In 1959/60 he succeeded under coach Robert Gebhardt in the second division of the 2nd division West - Schmidt had at the side of the teammates Josef Marx (30-16), Hans-Werner Wundrock (27-16), Johann Adamik (22-5) , Leo Konopczynski (28-0), Erwin Heidinger (29-1), Helmut Niemann (27-3), Friedhelm Panne (30-8), Heinz Schmied (26-0), Gerd Wilbrandt (26-0) all 30 League games completed - the championship and with it the immediate return to the league, but after another twelve months the chapter of league football in Sodingen was finally over. The 33-year-old veteran ended his career in the top performance class of western football after a total of 160 league games on April 14, 1962 in a 1-1 home draw against Rot-Weiß Oberhausen.

Schmidt received the badge of honor from the West German Football Association in 1962 and finally ended his playing career a year later. As a coach he was still connected to football in the amateur field for years, retrained to become a banker and worked for the Herner Sparkasse for 20 years.

Stations

  • 1947 to 1963: SV Sodingen

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 .
  • Ralf Piorr (Ed.): The pot is round. The Lexikon des Revier-Fußball: Die Vereine, Volume 2. Klartext Verlag. Essen 2006. ISBN 3-89861-356-9 .
  • 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 .

Individual evidence

  1. Harald Landefeld, Achim Nöllenheidt (Ed.): "Helmut, tell me about the gate ...". P. 51.