Günter Graetsch

Günter Graetsch, 2009

Günter Graetsch (born January 5, 1937 ; † July 13, 2012 in Herten ) was a German football player . As an active player in the second division team SpVgg Herten , he was 19 years old when he played for the German national B team in Zurich against Switzerland on November 21, 1956 .

career

Herten and selection games up to round 1963/64

With the green-whites from the Katzenbusch arena , the SpVgg Herten, located in the northern Ruhr area, he went through the stations in the youth department as a youth footballer and immediately became a top performer there after joining the senior team. The game association played in the 2nd League West, the substructure of the football Oberliga West . Under the former league player as coach, Heinz Dokter , Graetsch made his debut in the 1955/56 season at Herten at the side of teammate Hans Barwenzik in the 2nd League West. The game association took 10th place and the young player had completed 21 league games. "Kuddel" Graetsch was already used on August 11, 1956 in the representative game in Hanover against North Germany in the selection of West Germany. He acted on the side of center runner Heinz Wewers as right outside runner and Bernhard Klodt and Helmut Rahn stormed on the wing of the West German selection. National coach Sepp Herberger nominated the talent from Herten on November 3, 1956 in a test match against Eintracht Frankfurt in a DFB selection. In the victorious DFB-Elf (1-0) Karl Schmidt , Graetsch and Horst Szymaniak formed the runner row. Almost three weeks later, on November 21, the man from the 2nd League West was appointed to the B national team. In Zurich he was substituted on for Georg Stollenwerk in the international match against Switzerland (2-1) as the left wing runner . His ideas had left an impression on the national coach and so Graetsch even found himself on the bench at the international match of the senior national team on December 23, 1956 in Cologne against Belgium. Eight days later, on December 30th in Ludwigshafen, he was active as a middle runner in the west selection in the comparison against the southwest. Club colleague Hans Barwenzik was nominated as a left defender. At the beginning of the second half of 1956/57, from February 18 to March 2, 1957, the national coach held a DFB course in Duisburg, where the talent from Herten was also on the ball. At the end of the course he was in the West team on March 3rd, which won 3-1 goals against Berlin in Bochum. In the same month - on March 27th - he was used by the DFB in the junior national team U23 at the international match in Essen against Belgium. In the German 4-2 success, the defense formed with goalkeeper Helmut Traska , defenders Walter Zastrau and Hans Barwenzik, as well as the runner row with Heinz Wieczorek , Graetsch and Hermann Nuber . The game year ended with two selection appointments in June 1957. On June 20, he was part of an A selection against a B selection in a test match in Schweinfurt, and on June 26, he formed the runner row of the victorious DFB together with Hans Sturm and Horst Szymaniak -Selection (4: 1) against Berlin.

National coach Herberger opened the 1958 soccer world championship season in Sweden with a course from July 22nd to 28th, 1957 in Munich. The contingent of runners was made up of Horst Eckel , Hans Sturm, Herbert Schäfer , Willi Gerdau , Horst Szymaniak, Karl Mai , Karl Borutta , Helmut Jagielski and the 20-year-old "Kuddel" Graetsch. In April 1958 he was considered by the national coach in two test matches and also included in the 40 list of the DFB to FIFA, but he was not included in the final World Cup squad for the tournament in Sweden. Due to his continued stay in the next few years with Herten in the 2nd League West, the competitors from the Oberliga pulled past him. Graetsch was only considered once on November 7, 1959 in the U23 at the international match against Hungary in Miskolc. At 2-2 he formed the runner row with Ferdinand Wenauer and Heinz Lowin . On March 4, 1962, his appointments ended with the use in the West selection, which competed in Wuppertal against Berlin and he led the defensive as a middle runner. Surprisingly, he was in the debut year of the Football Regionalliga West , 1963/64, in the provisional squad for the international match of the senior national team on September 28, 1963 in Frankfurt against Turkey.

In the last year of the old regional league system of the first-class upper leagues and their substructure of the 2nd leagues, 1962/63, SpVgg Herten took third place in the 2nd League West. Graetsch had completed 212 competitive games for Herten in the 2nd division from 1955 to 1963 and scored ten goals. With the third place - a teammate was the young Rudolf Assauer - the team of "Kuddel" Graetsch was integrated into the newly installed second division of the Regionalliga West for the 1963/64 season. Herten started with 4: 2 points - Sportfreunde Siegen (1: 1), Bayer Leverkusen (5: 1), Arminia Bielefeld (1: 1) - in August 1963 in the regional league season. On the fourth matchday, August 25, Graetsch and his teammates had to face the eventual runner-up Wuppertaler SV (2: 3) - Helmut Domagalla , Werner Tönges , Erich Haase , Manfred Reichert , Günter Augustat , Emil Meisen , Günter Nauheimer - in front of 10,000 spectators suffered the first defeat in the local arena Katzenbusch. After further defeats against Marl-Hüls, Oberhausen, Horst-Emscher and Aachen, the Green-Whites got the full number of points against Mönchengladbach and Düsseldorf on matchdays 10 and 11. The 3-1 home win against the Bökelberg team was remarkable, because BMG trainer Fritz Langner had several players on the field with Manfred Orzessek , Gerd Schommen , Heinz Lowin , Rudolf Pöggeler , Karl-Heinz Mülhausen , Herbert L Bäumen and Günter Netzer , which belonged to the better level of the regional league. Eight days later, Herten surprised coach Kuno Klötzer's team with a 2-1 away win in Düsseldorf . After the preliminary round, Herten had a point account of 16:22 points. In the second half of the season, three game days before the end of the round on April 26, 1964, the home game was lost with 1: 2 goals against Duisburg 48/99, who had already been relegated, and thus the relegation was lost. Even the 2-1 success eight days later at RW Essen could not make up for that, as Herten finally lost the round on matchday 38 with a 2-1 defeat at VfB Bottrop, who were also relegated to the amateur camp. Herten conceded the 2-1 winning goal in the 89th minute of the game with a converted hand penalty. With 31:45 points Graetsch and colleagues were tied with STV Horst-Emscher, but the goal quotient - 55:79 (Herten); 56:75 (STV) - decided the question of relegation in favor of the team from Gelsenkirchen. "Kuddel" Graetsch had completed all 38 rounds for Herten for the team of coach Kurt Sahm and at the side of the teammates Hermann Schönbeck (goalkeeper), Rudolf Assauer, Günter Rudnik , Horst Hahn , Gerd Zeitz and Helmut Binkowski . After relegation, he joined Westfalia Herne for the 1964/65 round and thus continued his career in the second-rate Regionalliga West.

Herne, 1964 to 1968

With the team from the Stadion am Schloss Strünkede , the man from Herten opened the 1964/65 season on August 9, 1964 with a 2-0 win at STV Horst-Emscher. Coach Herbert Burdenski relied on the defensive qualities of goalkeeper Wolfgang Scheid , defender Kurt Gehlisch and the newcomer on the center stage. On the fourth match day, August 30, the Westfalia runners acted in a 2-0 home win against Fortuna Düsseldorf with Graetsch, Friedhelm Dick and Hans Sondermann . The 2-1 home win against the eventual champions Borussia Mönchengladbach on January 10, 1965 with their dangerous attacking occupation by Rudolf Pöggeler, Herbert L Bäumen, Bernd Rupp , Günter Netzer and Werner Waddey clearly stood out in this round. "Kuddel" Graetsch belonged to the group of Westfalia service providers from the beginning of his time in Herne.

In the fourth year (1967/68) of Graetsch bei Herne, now the trainer was Fritz Pliska , the club went without the former top performers Wolfgang Scheid, Friedhelm Dick, Gerhard Clement and Gerhard Wilbrandt . Since in the previous rounds with Hans Sondermann, Jürgen Koch and Kurt Gehlich tried and tested players in the team had been lost, the loss of quality could no longer be compensated, Herne took 17th place and was relegated to the amateur camp. In the last six games of the second half of the season, the team had already given up, with the scoring of 0:12 points they surrendered to relegation. With the 1: 2 defeat at Lüner SV on May 12, 1968, "Kuddel" Graetsch said goodbye after 128 regional league appearances from 1964 to 1968 with a goal for Westfalia Herne from the Regional League West.

literature

• Achim Nöllenheidt (ed.): Fohlensturm am Katzenbusch. The history of the Regionalliga West 1963–1974. Volume 2, Klartext, Essen 1995, ISBN 3-88474-206-X .
• Hardy Grüne , Lorenz Knieriem: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 8: Player Lexicon 1890–1963. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-89784-148-7 .
• Raphael Keppel : Germany's international football matches. Documentation from 1908–1989. Sport- und Spielverlag Hitzel, Hürth 1989, ISBN 3-9802172-4-8 .
• Christian Karn, Reinhard Rehberg: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 9: Player Lexicon 1963-1994. Bundesliga, regional league, 2nd league. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2012, ISBN 978-3-89784-214-4 , p. 163.

Individual evidence

1. ^ German Sports Club for Football Statistics (DSFS): Football in West Germany 1952-1963 (2 volumes). Berlin 2012