Hans Mechnig

Hans Mechnig (born January 3, 1929 in Worms ; † January 22, 2016 ibid) was a German soccer player who is a player of Wormatia Worms with 393 appearances and 80 goals in the soccer Oberliga Südwest and thus the eternal record holder of the stakes in the old southwest league is.

Career

societies

The future defender began his career at Normannia Pfiffligheim before moving to the upper division Wormatia Worms in 1948 via Alemannia Worms . In his first two rounds at Wormatia, the league in the southwest was still divided into two seasons. In the North Season, in addition to 1. FC Kaiserslautern , Worms, Neuendorf, Pirmasens, Ludwigshafen, Trier, Mainz, Weisenau, Oppenau and Andernach teams that were also represented in the single-track southwest league from 1950/51. In the southern season, on the other hand, after their dissolution in the summer of 1950, SSV Reutlingen and FC Singen 04 became part of the Oberliga Süd and Freiburg FC, VfL Konstanz and SV Tübingen in the 2nd League South. In the first three Wormatia years, Mechnig and his teammates each achieved the runner-up. Only in 1949 did this result in participation in the final round of the German soccer championship. The 20-year-old young player retired after the 2-0 defeat against the south champion Kickers Offenbach on June 19, 1949 in Karlsruhe on the KFV-Platz at the Telegrafen-Kaserne in front of 35,000 spectators in the replay with Worms. At that time Mechnig was still in the center forward position. Rudi Fischer had guarded the Wormatia gate and the left wing was formed by Karl Blankenberger and Helmut Müller. In 1950 he failed with Worms in the qualifying games against the Südstaffelvertreter Reutlingen and in 1951 the Southwest Vice-President was not allowed for the final round, which was designed with eight participants. On the way to the runner-up in 1951, the Wormatia came with the 15-time round goalscorer Mechnig to 26: 0 home points in the Wormatia Stadium, including a 2-0 victory against the eventual German champions 1. FC Kaiserslautern.

In the 1954/55 season it was enough again for the runner-up in the southwest league. The move into the final round was brought about against the equal points 1. FC Saarbrücken but only with the better goal difference. The Saarlanders had Herbert Martin as the top scorer in this round and Herbert Binkert finished second with 23 goals together with Richard Sehrt from Wormatia and Willi Wenzel from series champion Kaiserslautern, but the 51 goals conceded brought Mechnig with Worms into the final round. It was only after three qualifying games against Bremerhaven 93 and SSV Reutlingen that the players from the Nibelungenstadt were accepted into preliminary group II against Offenbach, Rot-Weiss Essen and Bremerhaven. Mechnig played seven games and scored one goal. The two games against the later new German champions from Essen were outstanding. Wormatia reached a 1: 1 draw on Hafenstraße and in front of 30,000 spectators on Alzeyer Straße, Helmut Rahn's men prevailed with 3: 1 goals. Mechnig has acted as the right side runner in all final round matches. Sports journalists consider Mechnig and Horst Löb to be the best defender couple in the Southwest League.

The long-time Wormatia captain always remained loyal to his club and turned down tempting offers from 1. FC Kaiserslautern. In the last year of the Oberliga Südwest, the 34-year-old played ten more games for Wormatia and then ended his playing career. The Worms record man was an uncompromising and feared defender and also effective on the offensive, as his speed made him predestined for surprising counterattacks.

He is quoted as follows in Skrentny's book about the financial modalities of the time:

“ As far as the payment was concerned, we never had any problems,” says Captain Mechnig. “Before the contract players' statute settled everything, there was already black money in hand. If 10,000 spectators were in the stadium, then we got 500 DM and with 20,000 visitors there was 800 DM, in addition sometimes bonuses of 100 to 200 DM. "

Selection / national team

Mechnig drew attention to himself in the Oberliga Südwest and the finals with his skills. This was followed by appointments to the Southwest team for representative games, test games in DFB selection teams and in 1957 even two appearances in the German national B team . In March he played as a right defender in the two international matches against Austria (4-0) and the Netherlands (3-3) in Munich and Essen, respectively. But it was not enough to play in the senior national team under national coach Sepp Herberger .

Others

The trained bricklayer and chimney maker took over the Wormatia clubhouse as a tenant in 1953. Later he worked in a VW workshop in the spare parts warehouse.

Web links

• Hans Mechnig in the database of weltfussball.de
• Hans Mechnig on wormatia.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ VfR Wormatia 08 mourns Hans Mechnig
2. ↑ Werner Skrentny (Ed.): Teufelsangst vorm Erbsenberg. P. 162.
3. ↑ Werner Skrentny (Ed.): Teufelsangst vorm Erbsenberg. P. 68.

literature

• Werner Skrentny (ed.): Teufelsangst vorm Erbsenberg, The history of the Oberliga-Südwest 1946–1963. Klartext, Essen 1996, ISBN 3-88474-394-5 .
• Hardy Grüne , Lorenz Knieriem: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 8: Player Lexicon 1890–1963. Agon-Sportverlag, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-89784-148-7 .