Gerd Schommen

Gerd Schommen (born December 16, 1932 in Mönchengladbach - Pesch ) is a former German soccer player, coach and functionary.

career

Childhood and youth

Schommen was born in Mönchengladbach in 1932 as the son of a bakery couple. After attending the Oberrealschule in Mönchengladbach, he was evacuated during the war and then attended the grammar school in Aschersleben . After the war, he finished school at the Zeppelin School in Lürrip. After training as a baker, he worked in his parents' business until 1960. At the same time, he became a contract footballer with Borussia Mönchengladbach in the major league in 1955. From 1965 he attended the football instructor course in Cologne.

Player, until 1966

At the age of 22, Gerd Schommen made the move from 1. FC Mönchengladbach from the Lower Rhine regional league to city rivals Borussia Mönchengladbach in the West Football League for the 1955/56 round . On the eighth game day, October 16, 1955, he made his debut in the home game against Borussia Dortmund in the league. He played right outside runner on the side of Franz Wichelhaus and Egmont Kablitz . The game ended 1: 1 in a draw and the Gladbach runner row stood out especially against the goal-threatening Dortmund indoor storm with Alfred Preißler , Alfred Kelbassa and Alfred Niepieklo . The ex-amateur came under coach Klaus Dondorf in his first league round to 15 league games and the Bökelberg-Elf took eleventh place.

In his second year on Borussia Schommen was able to increase his stakes to 26 games, but there was no question of satisfaction, because Mönchengladbach set the "eternal league record" with a negative goal difference of 39: 112 and was relegated bottom of the table. It was only with the 15th game - catch-up game on December 30, 1956 at Westfalia Herne - that Schommen and his teammates managed to win their first points with a 1-1 draw. The year 1956 was closed with 1:29 points and 15:66 goals and at the end of the round Borussia had deployed 27 players. Schommen formed together with Albert Brülls (25-5), Christian Dohmen (25-0), Egmont Kablitz (26-4) and Ewald Nienhaus (28-6) the manageable circle of regular players. Well ahead of the Duisburger Spielverein (91 goals in the 1961/62 round), Erkenschwick and the STV Horst (1952/53 and 1958/59 with 90 goals conceded each), the team from Niederrhein leads the list of goals conceded in a season in the old football -Oberliga West. Schommen was also the captain of Borussia under the coaches Fritz Pliska , Bernd Oles , Fritz Langner and Hennes Weisweiler .

In 23 missions in the second division in 1957/58 , Schommen contributed to Borussia returning immediately to the upper division. With coach Fritz Pliska, the league could be managed for two years. In the 1960/61 round, Bernd Oles took over as coach and the team moved away from the final ranks. Gerd Schommen was still in action on September 7, 1960 in the surprising 2-0 semi -final success in the 1959/60 DFB Cup at Hamburger SV , but suffered a protracted injury on the seventh league matchday in the 3-0 defeat at VfL Bochum to, which made him active again on March 19, 1961. So he missed the cup final on October 5, 1960 against Karlsruher SC and also the appearances in the European Cup in November 1960 against Glasgow Rangers . In the last year of the Oberliga West, he was part of the regular line-up of coach Fritz Langner with 29 missions and accompanied the first "steps" of the offensive talent Herbert L Bäumen .

In total, Gerd Schommen completed 140 games in the Oberliga West from 1955 to 1963 and scored seven goals.

In the first year of the West Regional Football League , 1963/64 , the 31-year-old veteran organized the defense of the Borussia-Elf in 33 appearances with three goals in the middle position. Together with goalkeeper Manfred Orzessek , captain Albert Jansen and playmaker Heinz Lowin , he introduced the talents Horst-Dieter Höttges , Günter Netzer and L Bäumen into the processes of league football. When the steep ascent of the “Foal Elf” from Bökelberg under the new coach Hennes Weisweiler began with the 1964/65 series , Schommen only played three more games. With his use on the 27th matchday, March 28, 1965, in the 2-2 draw at Eintracht Gelsenkirchen, he ended his playing career. On the defensive, coach Weisweiler had built on the formation with Orzessek in goal, Albert Jansen and Arno Ernst in defense, and Egon Milder , Schommen and Heinz Lowin in the runner row. In the 1965/66 round he was still officially part of the Borussia Bundesliga squad with an “honorary contract”, but he had been training the Gladbach amateurs since 1963 and also successfully completed the football teacher training course in Cologne in 1965 under course leader Hennes Weisweiler. Course colleagues from the Gladbach veteran were Helmut Benthaus , Gyula Lóránt and Udo Lattek .

Trainer and functionary

In 1965 Schommen became the head coach of the entire amateur department. He held this job until 1978 and led the amateurs continuously upwards from the 1st district class. From 1978 to 1988 he was the head coach of the youth department. This was followed by eight years as a supervisor and coordinator, during which he was considered an indispensable part of the professional team. He organized training grounds, checked suitable hotels, prepared training camps and was a very important reference person for many players. And once he brought young talent to Borussia. At Borussia he was “the girl for everything”. Wife Christa also grew up with the club, because her parents owned the VfL club “Schumacher” on the Eickener Höhe.

literature

• Matthias Kropp: Germany's great football teams. Part 5: Borussia Mönchengladbach (= "AGON Sportverlag statistics." Vol. 11). AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1994, ISBN 3-928562-39-8 .
• Merk / Schulin / Großmann, My club: Borussia Mönchengladbach, Chronicle of the 60s, AGON Sportverlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-89784-293-9
• Hardy Grüne , Lorenz Knieriem: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 8: Player Lexicon 1890–1963. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-89784-148-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ after Harald Landefeld and Achim Nöllenheidt (eds.): "Helmut, tell me dat Tor ..." , Essen 1993, page 145 (not included in the 2nd division and regional division)
2. ^ Günter Netzer's memories . www.abendblatt.de. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014. Retrieved May 2, 2009.

Web links

• Data from Gerd Schommen at Fußballdaten.de
• Congratulations from Borussia Mönchengladbach on their 80th birthday