Fritz Müller (soccer player)

Fritz Müller (born July 16, 1910 in Karlsruhe ; † July 3, 1984 ibid) was a German soccer player who had been an offensive player at Karlsruher FV , VfB Mühlburg and Planitzer SC for years in Gauligen Baden and Saxony . For KFV and Mühlburg, he completed a total of 31 rounds and scored 17 goals in the first three rounds of the Gauliga Baden. After a suspension and moving to Zwickau in 1936, he was still active for years at Planitzer SC and was part of their championship team in the Gauliga Sachsen in the 1941/42 season and made three appearances in the final round of the German soccer championship scored two goals. In Saxony he also worked as a trainer in the 1950s after World War II.

career

Karlsruhe, until 1936

The son of a police officer from the Karlsruhe district of Rüppurr started his football career as a 16-year-old in the senior division in the first team of VfB Karlsruhe. He was a member of its promotion teams in 1926/27 and 1929/30, and in 1930/31 he was sixth in the Baden district league with VfB. For the 1931/32 season he joined the master craftsman Karlsruher FV. With the team from the stadium at the Telegrafenkaserne , the much-vaunted attacker managed to defend his title with 65:11 goals and 29:7 points . The technically excellent striker made his debut in the KFV league eleven in a 3-0 win against SC Freiburg on September 13, 1931 and also scored his first competitive goal for his new club. In the association round, the KFV had to do with three local rivals: FC Phönix, FC Mühlburg and the previous club of "Müller-Spitzer", VfB Karlsruhe. After the 4: 1 success in the second half of the season in the Wildpark Stadium in front of 8,000 spectators against host Phoenix, the KFV chronicler emphasized the brilliant harmony in the victorious attack, which would have brought the excess weight, and also noted, “In addition to the two excellent wingers of the KFV, the football talent Müller (Spitzer) proved to be the most powerful, most dangerous and most successful striker. "

In the subsequent games for the southern German championship, the "striker with phenomenal shooting power" underlined his outstanding qualities. After the preliminary round, “Müller-Spitzer” and his comrades were in 2nd place. In the 1: 1 against SpVgg Fürth on January 24, 1932, he scored the 1: 1 at the Ronhof and in the second leg on March 13, in a 3-0 home win against the Spielvereinigung, “the Müller-Spitzer shot so incredibly sharp the goal of Fürth that the iron-hard defender Hans Hagen , who prevented a safe goal with a head defense, fell unconscious to the ground and had to be treated for minutes behind the goal. ”In the 4-2 home win on March 20th against the Württemberg runner-up VfB Stuttgart, the spirited attacker was sent off, and the KFV fell in the remaining games behind FC Bayern Munich and 1. FC Nürnberg to 3rd place. In the KFV chronicle it is noted: "A tremendous loss for the entire team was the suspension of the best striker of this round in the game against VfB Stuttgart for assault: Fritz Müller, called Spitzer, was sent off for assault and insulting the referee." Suspended for four months and FC Bayern won the first German championship on June 12, 1932.

In his second year at KFV, in 1932/33, which was last held under the leadership of the South German Football Association, he failed to defend his title, the old rival FC Phönix prevailed in the championship and the KFV had to be content with the runner-up championship. The sophisticated dribbler was already a permanent member of the South German team at this stage. He was in Marseille on February 12, 1933 in a 4-0 win against southeast France, on March 12, 1933 in Stuttgart in a 0-0 win against France B and also in the last representative game of the South German Football Association on May 21, 1933 in Le Havre against France B (Normandy selection), in a 5-3 win in action and scored a goal at the side of the triple scorer Edmund Conen , as well as left winger Seppl Fath .

In the first year in the new Gauliga Baden, 1933/34 , Müller started with KFV with two successes: On September 10, 1933, the round started with a 2-1 home win against VfL Neckarau, as "Müller-Spitzer" Neckarau goalkeeper Otto Diringer defeated with two goals. This was followed by a 1-0 away win against the later Gauliga champion SV Waldhof on September 16 when he converted a penalty in the 41st minute to a 1-0 away win against the hosts led by Ernst Heermann and Otto Siffling . In January 1934 he played his last game for KFV in the return match against SV Waldhof - he had brought KFV 1-0 up in the 58th minute - he was released from KFV due to continued unsportsmanlike conduct and gross violations of club discipline and blocked by the southern German football association for a year and thus the season for Müller ended prematurely after nine Gauliga missions with seven goals.

In the 1934/35 round he joined the youth club, which had now merged to form VfB 05 Mühlburg, where he took 5th place with Mühlburg alongside other players such as Eugen Dienert, Gottfried Moser , August Rink, Hans Gruber and Otto Schwörer at 21:15 occupied, played all 18 league games and scored nine goals.

With the regional selection of Baden, the offensive whirlwind failed only in the semifinals on March 3, 1935 in Berlin in the competition for the national cup against hosts Brandenburg with 0: 1. He formed the right wing of the Baden selection with half-striker Otto Siffling . In the anniversary book of the South German Football Association from 1997 it is noted: “Also perhaps the most talented Karlsruhe footballer, the former VfB player Müller-'Spitzer ', returned from the KFV; unfortunately he made too little of his talent. His often exuberant temperament also made Reich coach Otto Nerz refrain from being appointed to the national squad. ”After four games in the following season, it was over for the time being. Müller and Mühlburg lost the away game at Amicitia Viernheim 1: 3 on November 17, 1935, and after the final whistle he was allowed to assault referee Nagel from Mannheim-Feudenheim. He was "permanently" excluded from the German Football Association.

Although he was only active as a footballer in Karlsruhe for a few years, his quick-tempered temperament and eccentric personality made him very popular. The temperament of the "Spitzer" - it was both a curse and a blessing. The highly talented player was a “flash of heat”, one who was often unable to control himself and committed stupid things in precisely these situations, which hindered his athletic development. Such a stupid thing happened on the occasion of a DFB course when he pulled the Reich trainer Nerz “blank” and was then no longer considered in the DFB squad.

Saxony

In 1936, Müller then moved to Zwickau in Saxony . He worked there for the well-known car company "Horch" and joined the Planitzer SC as a footballer. His footballing qualities also prevailed in Saxony and he made it into the finals in 1939/40 with Saxony's Gauliga selection in the Reichsbund Cup . At the side of his club colleagues Herbert Seltmann and Herbert Weigel , he had defeated Nordmark 6-3 in Hamburg on December 3, 1939, and also scored a goal on the left wing. In the following 14: 1 victory on January 14, 1940 in Leipzig against Pomerania, he stormed the right wing and in the semi-final game on June 16, 1940 against the Lower Rhine, he showed his versatility in attack as a center forward. In the 3-2 win in Duisburg after extra time, he scored a goal for Saxony alongside his club colleagues Heinz Croy (goalkeeper), Helmut Schubert , Seltmann and Weigel. He was not active in the final, lost 1: 3 against Bayern on June 30th. In the 1941/42 season, "Müller-Spitzer" won the championship in the Gauliga Sachsen with Planitz and moved into the final round of the German soccer championship with his club. With the black and yellow from the Zwickau suburb, he prevailed against LSV Boelcke Krakau (5: 2, one goal) and Breslauer SV (2: 1 a.s.), in the 102nd minute Müller scored the winning goal . On June 7th he lost 3-2 with Planitz at First Vienna Wien and was eliminated from the competition with teammates like Karl Dittes , Johannes Breitenstein , Herbert Seltmann and Rudi Voigtmann .

During the war, Müller was taken prisoner by the British and met u in the Canadian POW camp. a. to the future German champions, Philipp Henninger and Jakob Müller from VfR Mannheim. According to Leske , when he returned from captivity, he played six league games in the DS Oberliga between 1950 and 1952 at the age of 40 at BSG Motor Zwickau and scored two goals.

Trainer

Müller's first coaching activity was from July to December 1949 at ZSG Horch Zwickau . This was followed by the coaching position at BSG Freiheit Wismut Lauter in the DS-Liga 1950/51 in the southern season, before he worked in the transition round 1955 at BSG Progress Meerane and was dismissed there in August 1956 as a coach in the GDR league .

Private

Back in Karlsruhe, the unmarried and childless Müller was no longer involved in the football business. As 2nd tenor of the male choir Karlsruhe-West he spent a quiet retirement. In 1984 Fritz "Spitzer" Müller died in Karlsruhe. In the obituary of the men's choir, he was honored as follows: "With him, a personality has left us, an original in the best sense of the word, one of those men you will never forget."

literature

• Andreas Ebner: When the war ate football. The history of the Gauliga Baden 1933–1945. Verlag Regionalkultur, Ubstadt-Weiher 2016, ISBN 978-3-89735-879-9 , pp. 380–382.
• Karlsruhe Sport Club Mühlburg-Phönix (Ed.): 100 Years 1894–1994 KSC. Bath pressure, Karlsruhe 1994, p. 64.
• Josef Frey: 90 years of the Karlsruhe football club KFV 1891–1981. Precise-Druck, Karlsruhe 1981, p. 190.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ cf. CD-ROM supplement in: Andreas Ebner: When the war ate football. The history of the Gauliga Baden 1933–1945. Publishing house regional culture. Ubstadt-Weiher 2016. ISBN 978-3-89735-879-9 .
2. ↑ Andreas Ebner: When the war ate football. P. 381
3. ^ Josef Frey: 90 years of the Karlsruhe football club KFV 1891–1981. P. 107.
4. ^ Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix (Ed.): 100 Years 1894–1994 KSC. P. 64.
5. ^ Josef Frey: 90 years of the Karlsruhe football club KFV 1891–1981. P. 107.
6. ↑ Andreas Ebner: When the war ate football. P. 381
7. ↑ cf. CD-ROM supplement in: Andreas Ebner: When the war ate football. The history of the Gauliga Baden 1933–1945. Publishing house regional culture. Ubstadt-Weiher 2016. ISBN 978-3-89735-879-9 .
8. ^ Süddeutscher Fußball-Verband (Ed.): 100 Years of the Süddeutscher Fußball-Verband. Vindelica publishing house. Gersthofen 1997. p. 115
9. ↑ Andreas Ebner: When the war ate football. P. 381
10. ↑ Andreas Ebner: When the war ate football. P. 381
11. ^ Klaus Querengässer: The German Football Championship, Part 1: 1903-1945. Agon Sportverlag. Kassel 1997. ISBN 3-89609-106-9 . Pp. 209-213
12. ^ Hanns Leske: The GDR league players. A lexicon. Agon Sportverlag. Kassel 2014. ISBN 978-3-89784-392-9 . Pp. 336/337.
13. ↑ IFFHS: LIBERO, Special Germany. No. D4. 1992. pp. 96-99 and LIBERO No. D8, 1993. p. 34.
14. ↑ Song greeting: Association magazine of the male choir Karlsruhe-West 1837 e. V., edition 3/1984. P. 9 in Andreas Ebner: When the war ate football.