Günther Thon

Günther Thon (born September 12, 1946 ) is a former German soccer player who, from 1965 to 1974, played a total of 147 league games and scored ten goals in the then second -rate regional soccer league West for the clubs STV Horst-Emscher , Eintracht Gelsenkirchen and STV Gelsenkirchen-Horst has achieved. With the "Emscher Hussars" he became German amateur soccer champion in 1967 .

career

Horst-Emscher, until 1970

Thon, who grew up in the Beckhausen district of Gelsenkirchen , went through the youth department of the Emscher "Hussars" and made his debut in the league team shortly after his 19th birthday on October 3, 1965, in a 4-0 away defeat against Preußen Münster in the 1965/66 season the black and blue in the Regionalliga West. The club in the shadow of the Nordstern colliery would have been 17th in the amateur camp last year. With the exclusion of Hertha BSC, the increase in the Bundesliga to 18 clubs and the rise of Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1965, only the bottom of the table Homberger SV was relegated from the regional league. With only 7:27 points from the home games in the Fürstenberg Stadium , the relegation battle could not be passed. At the side of teammates like goalkeeper Bernhard Petrasch, Dieter Bedürftig , Rolf Lendzian and Franz Wolny , the young Günther Thon with his 24 league appearances could not prevent the STV from relegating to the amateur camp Westphalia with 17:51 points. The successes under interim coach Heinz Flotho , who took over the training management from March 1966, in April and May against VfL Bochum (3: 2) and Schwarz-Weiß Essen (2: 0), as well as the goalless draw at Hafenstrasse were gratifying the runner-up and later Bundesliga promoted Rot-Weiss Essen. To have kept the dreaded RWE attack with the strikers Helmut Littek , Willi Koslowski , Ekkehard Feigenspan , Heinz-Dieter Hasebrink and Willi Lippens in check, was a remarkable performance of the Horster defense, to which the right wing runner Thon in the World Cup practiced at the time System belonged. On May 1st, Horst-Emscher and Günther Thon lost 5-0 at Alemannia Aachen, which in itself was a reason to be sad. In the Thon house, on the other hand, there was joy, son Olaf had been born.

After relegation, Günther Thon stayed with STV and tried 1966/67 with his teammates to immediately return to the region. But it was only enough for the runner-up in the Association League Westphalia behind master Lüner SV, but the black and blue were allowed to participate in the competition for the German amateur championship. After successes over SuS Elmshorn, ESV Ingolstadt-Ringsee and in the semifinals against SpVgg Neu-Isenburg, the team of coach Flotho was in the final on July 1, 1967 in Herford against the amateurs of Hannover 96. There the players around Petrasch and Thon prevailed 2-0 and the later Bundesliga players Bernd Helmschrot , Peter Anders and Rainer Stiller in the ranks of Hanover had to acknowledge the superiority of the Horster.

In the next three laps, Horst-Emscher missed the regional return with 4th place in 1968 and 3rd place in 1969 and 1970. Since 1969/70 Eintracht Gelsenkirchen was able to secure the championship in Westphalia in Group 1 and also prevailed in the subsequent promotion round against Herne and Sterkrade, Günther Thon signed a contract with the blue-reds from the Gelsenkirchen south for the round 1970/71.

Eintracht Gelsenkirchen, STV Gelsenkirchen-Horst, 1970 to 1974

In addition to Thon, the team of coach Heinz Murach was joined by the other newcomers Bernd Kipp and Rolf Meißner (both Eintracht Duisburg), Dieter Danzberg (Freiburg FC) and, as substitute goalkeeper, Klaus Kozicki from the Gelsenkirchen team. The team from Ückendorf started the season with a 2-0 home win against Erkenschwick and midfielder Thon scored the 2-0. Since the first away game was won with the same result at Hamborn 07, the belief in a good round progress was returned to Eintracht, and this basic mood carried the promoted through the entire round. With teammates like goalkeeper Bernd Becker, Günter Schwaba , Willi Koslowski, Klaus Kubasik , Werner Kontny , Jürgen Radau and Wolfgang Thier (16 goals), Eintracht Gelsenkirchen reached 5th place at the end of the round, tied with Fortuna Köln (both 39:29 points) as Fourth in the table. Thon had scored three goals in 30 league appearances and attacker Kipp topped the internal goalscorer list with 18 goals.

The limited financial conditions made it possible for Eintracht not to keep the squad of the good team together. Kontny, Meißner and Radau changed in the summer of 1971, Koslowski and Danzberg ended their careers; Kipp, Kubasik, Schwaba and Thier signed with new employers for the 1972/73 season. The rescue from this misery was the merger on June 15, 1973 between Eintracht Gelsenkirchen and STV Horst-Emscher to form the new STV Eintracht Gelsenkirchen-Horst. On the 34th matchday of the 1973/74 season, on May 5, 1974, the artificial and unloved construct ended with a 1: 2 home defeat against Sportfreunde Siegen, with 22:46 points in 16th place, ahead of 266 stalwart players , the chapter of the old second-rate Regionalliga West. Thon had played again in 29 games and scored two goals.

In later years he took over the coaching position at Westfalia Buer, Teutonia Schalke and SuS Beckhausen and intensively accompanied the athletic training of his son Olaf . He has thus contributed to his extraordinarily successful career as a 52-time national player and 443-time Bundesliga player for Schalke 04 and Bayern Munich.

literature

• Ulrich Homann (Hrsg.): “Bauernköppe, miners and a pascha.” The history of the Regionalliga West 1963–1974, volume 1. Klartext Verlag, Essen 1991, ISBN 3-88474-345-7 . Pp. 7-16.
• Christian Karn, Reinhard Rehberg: Player Lexicon 1963–1994. Agon, Kassel 2012, ISBN 978-3-89784-214-4 . P. 508.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hardy Greens: Bundesliga & Co. 1963 to today. Agon Sportverlag. Kassel 1997. ISBN 3-89609-113-1 . P. 33