SC Hakoah Graz
The sports club Hakoah Graz was an Austrian-Jewish sports and football club from the Styrian capital Graz . Until its dissolution in 1938, more than 400 members were active in the sections football , handball , table tennis , athletics , swimming , fencing and chess .
The Graz Hakoah was founded on March 12, 1919 as an all-round sports club to give the Jewish population the opportunity to participate in sports activities after the suspension of the Jewish Gymnastics Club in Graz , which had existed since 1905, in 1917. At the beginning of the 1920s, about 2,900 people of Jewish faith lived in the city. While a part of the religious community was opposed to this establishment, the football-loving youth in particular saw the establishment of the club as an opportunity to prove themselves to the non-Jewish public.
History of the football section
Difficulties starting in 2nd class
When the Styrian regional association was founded in 1921 , championships in football were announced for the first time . The Hakoah sports club started in second grade. The game was played in blue and white suits with the Star of David on the chest in the same way as the club colors . In the first few years, the Jewish players had to contend with massive anti-Semitism . In addition, the club did not have its own football field in the first two years and had to switch to third-party venues. This turned out to be all the more difficult since most of the other clubs refused to let the Hakoah train on their place.
In 1923 it was possible to rent an own space in Engelgasse ( St. Leonhard ), which made regular training possible. The consequence of these good conditions was the championship title in the second class and promotion to the top division in the 1921/22 season . Since there was no Austrian league at that time, the Styrian 1st class at that time counted almost as much as the Viennese 1st class, whose champions were, however, regarded as those of Austria.
The playing years in the national class
The entry into the top national class confronted the Hakoah footballers again with anti-Semitism and the refusal of some clubs to compete against the "Jewish Club". While the sporting idea soon gained the upper hand at the Grazer AK and the refusal was withdrawn, the German Sports Club Leoben , which had already included the so-called Aryan paragraph in its statute, and the Gymnastics Club Leibnitz remained uncompromising on this issue. The Styrian Football Association then excluded both clubs from the championship. In terms of sport, the blue-whites quickly integrated into the first class. In the first season 1922/23 the Hakoah was able to place itself in fourth place with two victories.
In the game year 1924/25 , the year in which, with its big brother Hakoah Vienna , a Jewish club won the championship title of a country for the first time , the Hakoah of Graz also really performed well. In the championship, the blue-whites, where Isidor Gansl, a former star striker of the Wiener Hakoah ran up, dueled with the series champion Grazer AK for the runner-up title behind SK Sturm Graz . Despite one more win, including one against the “Red Jackets” themselves, the Hakoah only had to be content with third place due to the slightly worse goal difference. Against Sturm Graz, however, the Hakoah was almost always left behind. Only in the 1928/29 season could the "Blackies" be defeated 2-0. The Grazer Sport-Zeitung reported on this sensation on October 29, 1928: “A sensational surprise in the championship, as the Hakoah succeeded in taking both points from Sturm. The unsophisticated and, above all, quick style of play of the blue and white won them a valuable victory. "
For Sturm Graz this meant the only defeat during the regular season, the Hakoah in turn could go into the winter break just one point behind Sturm. At the end of the season, the Hakoah ranked fourth with five wins from ten games and a positive goal difference. In the same season, the Jewish sports club qualified for the “Brückelmaier Cup” for the first time with a 3-2 win over the Grazer AK. This was advertised by the Styrian Regional Association and is considered to be the forerunner of the later (from 1932) played Styrian Regional Cup . In the final, the Hakoah met their feared opponents Sturm Graz and were able to surprise again with a 1-1 draw. Since there was neither an extension of the playing time nor a penalty shoot-out, the final game had to be repeated. The result of this repetition is no longer known today.
The descent into the 2nd class and the end due to National Socialism
After two sixth places in 1930 and 1931, the Hakoah surprisingly managed to move up to fourth place again in the 1932/33 season . In general, however, the level of performance of the blue-whites decreased more and more due to non-athletic problems. After the lease for the soccer field had expired in 1933 and was no longer extended, the club again had no home of its own. In the following years players always left the club. A few were poached by competitors because of their playing strength, many withdrew completely from the sport due to the increasingly popular anti-Semitism, which was already more pronounced before the annexation of Austria to the German Reich .
As a result of these events, the Hakoah gradually lost its luster. After two weak years in which only eighth place in the table could be achieved, came in the game year 1934/35 with ninth place, the worst first division placement of the club and associated with the final relegation to the 2nd class. The Hakoah was able to regain itself there, but when the German troops marched into Austria in March 1938, the club finally ended. The Hakoah Graz sports club was forcibly dissolved and the more than thirty-year history of Jewish sports in the city of Graz came to an end.
successes
- 3rd place 1st class: 1924/25, 1928.
- 4th place 1st class: 1922/23, 1928/29
- 2nd class master: 1921/22
- Final Brückelmaier Cup: 1928/29 (result not known)
Remaining sections
Over the years the Hakoah sports club has also developed other sections. The best-known department besides the footballers was represented by the chess players, who each won the Styrian national championship title for three consecutive years from 1931 to 1933. The table tennis section which was able to achieve third place at its Styrian championships in these years was also successful. Until 1938, the Hakoah still operated the handball, fencing, athletics and swimming sections. After the “ Aryan ” regional sports associations were founded in 1933 and 1934, however, the Hakoah athletes were excluded from participating in the Styrian regional championships.