Georg Melches
Georg Melches (born August 24, 1893 in Essen- Bergeborbeck / Vogelheim ; † March 24, 1963 ) was the manager and mine director, who became known beyond his hometown as a football official .
Life
The son of a manager of the Emil-Emscher colliery first attended the Vogelheim elementary school, then the Borbeck grammar school and later the Altenessen grammar school . After completing the school leaving examination, he joined the German army as a war volunteer in 1914 and did not return to his parents' house until Christmas in 1918. In the following year, he began his professional career with two half-year internships in underground operations at the Emscher mine and at the Helene coking plant in the nozzle canal.
In 1920 Melches joined the "Koksofen und Gasverwertungs-AG" (Kogag) in Essen, where he quickly rose to leading positions. From 1928 to 1938 he was director of "Didier-Kogag" and from 1938 director of "Didier-Kogag-Hinselmann AG". He stayed that way until his retirement in 1959.
Red and white food
Although Georg Melches was never the club's chairman, he shaped Rot-Weiss Essen for over half a century and laid the foundation for the German Cup victory in 1953 and the German Championship in 1955 .
In 1907 he was one of the founders of the association, which was located in the middle of the colliery area of the Emscherniederung. At that time, players and members were mainly schoolchildren as well as miners and employees of the Emscher colliery. He played as a center forward and later as a defender in the first team until 1927. From 1919 he also took on numerous other tasks, including as secretary, managing director, football lobbyist and financial chairman. Since 1950 he has been honorary chairman for life with a seat and a vote on the board.
Georg Melches Stadium
The first venue for the "Rot-Weissen" was at the foot of a coal mountain of the Emscher colliery. At the beginning of the 1920s, the company moved to Hafenstrasse to an area previously used by the Bergeborbeck gymnastics club. The "Rot-Weiss" stadium was built on the site of today's venue. With a maximum capacity for around 10,000 to 12,000 visitors, this stadium was sufficient until the 1930s. After the promotion to the Gauliga in 1938, the top German league at the time, the capacity limits were quickly reached.
Mine director Georg Melches used his entrepreneurial contacts and offered the construction company Hochtief the stadium site as a rubble dump. Club members and miners erected new standing bars from the rubble. The inauguration of the renewed facility took place on August 13, 1939 with a game against the German champions FC Schalke 04 . Schalke won the game 5: 1 in front of over 30,000 spectators.
The stadium area was destroyed in the Second World War. Immediately after the end of the war, Georg Melches invited to a first meeting on August 31, 1945 on the destroyed square. Around 40 members responded to the call, and it was decided to resume gaming operations, prepare the playing area and repair the damage. Melches led the construction work and procured the necessary materials. Gradually, in the years that followed, a clubhouse was built with an office, a lounge, three changing rooms with two shower rooms, a bowling alley and an apartment for the groundskeeper. In addition, a green area was created, which was also called "Little Gruga" in the style of the Grugapark in the south of Essen, based on the 1929 “Great Ruhrland Horticultural Exhibition” .
Georg Melches put the possibilities of his professional life at the service of football and in particular of the Rot-Weiss Essen club. Under his aegis, RWE grew into a top German club with an international reputation. It was thanks to Melche's initiative that RWE was already going abroad and playing major games there at a time when many countries were still declining sports relations with Germany. Shortly after the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, Rot-Weiss began its international series on June 18, 1949 with a game against Wacker Vienna. The highlight was a nine-week trip to America in 1954, which led from Argentina to the United States. His possibilities finally ended with his retirement in 1959, after the collieries' commitment to the clubs had come to an end with the emergence of the mining crisis in 1957. The sporting crash of the Red and White followed almost immediately with the relegation from the Oberliga West in 1961.
On August 5th, 1964 - one year after his death during a spa stay at the age of almost 70 - the "Stadion an der Hafenstrasse" was named after Georg Melches .
His grave is in the Matthäus-Friedhof in Essen-Borbeck . In November 2011 the tomb was extensively renovated.
literature
- Hartmut Hering (Ed.), In the land of a thousand derbies: the football history of the Ruhr area. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-89533-372-7
- Georg Schrepper, Uwe Wick: “… RWE again and again!” The story of Rot-Weiss-Essen. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-89533-467-7 , pp. 63–68.
- Robert Gerlings, New Essen Football Stadium - Future Project or Millions Grave. Thesis. Ruhr-University Bochum. Geographical Institute, Bochum 2004.
- Wolfgang Sykorra : Georg Melches, industrialist and football pioneer. In: Lothar Böning (Ed.): From the Penne to the world. Borbeck portraits. Edition Rainruhr: Essen 2013, p. 9 ff. ISBN 978-3-941676-17-6
Individual evidence
- ↑ Georg Schrepper / Uwe Wick, "... again and again RWE!", The story of Rot-Weiss Essen, Verlag Die Werkstatt, 2004, page 63.
- ↑ Company archive directory .
- ↑ Fan club page
- ^ Reviersport.de, accessed November 30, 2011
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Melches, Georg |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German football official and mine director |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 24, 1893 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | eat |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 24, 1963 |