Karl-Heinz Metzner

Karl-Heinz “Gala” Metzner (born January 9, 1923 in Kassel ; † October 25, 1994 ) was a German soccer player who played for KSV Hessen Kassel in the 1950s and was used twice for the German national soccer team .

career

societies

Youth, SG Kirchditmold, VfL Kassel, until 1949

Metzner began playing football as a schoolboy at the Kirchditmold district association TuSpo 86/09 Kassel , which was called SG Kirchditmold after the end of the war and VfL Kassel from 1947 . During the war years he was a guest player for Borussia Fulda at times . Fulda took part in the final round of the German championship in 1944 as the master of the Kurhessen . On May 7, 1944, the defending champion Dresdner SC prevailed with 9-2 goals in Fulda. Metzner was on the field as the left wing runner. The center forward at Fulda was the national striker Ludwig Gärtner , and Helmut Schön scored seven goals for the DSC alone.

After the dissolution caused by the end of the war, the association initially lived on under the name SG Kirchditmold . Local talents such as Metzner, Henner Gibhardt, Hermann Gröll, Erich and Fritz Trott ensured that the team quickly rose to the upper classes under this name. After a high-scoring duel (6: 6, 6: 3) against TSG Wilhelmshöhe for the Kurhessenliga - after the end of the war the second highest division below the football Oberliga Süd - qualified, the black and whites soon caught up with the regional top. After the merger with the former Spielverein 06 to form VfL Kassel , they finished 6th at the end of the 1947/48 round. After that, there was a separation again, whereupon two play-offs had to decide on the place in the national league. VfL just won this duel (1-0, 0-0), but had to relegate the following year, whereupon Metzner moved to KSV Hessen in 1949 .

Hessen Kassel, 1949 to 1961

In the first season, 1949/50, Hessen Kassel took third place with the new midfield conductor "Gala" Metzner in the Landesliga Hessen behind SV Darmstadt 98 and Viktoria Aschaffenburg and was thus for the 1950/51 round for the newly formed substructure of the Oberliga South, the 2nd League South , qualified. The leap into the second division was also associated with a change in personnel: the football department led by the old international "Heini" Weber was joined by a number of local young talents who shaped the face of the team in the following years. After a fourth and third place in 1951 and 1952, the 1952/53 season came with the former Schalke Rudolf Gellesch , under whom after five unsuccessful attempts it should finally be enough for promotion: The "Lions" were runner-up in second place League South and rose to the top league together with Jahn Regensburg. One of the red-whites' outstanding players this season was “Gala” Metzner, who had played all 34 league games alongside Karl Hutfles , Toni Hellwig , Karl Schmidt and Alfred Hosung . Under national coach Sepp Herberger , the Kassel crowd favorite even made his debut in the German national team at the end of the first half of the season, on December 28, 1952 .

The tech-savvy playmaker missed his home game debut in the top division round in 1953/54, on August 23, 1953 against Viktoria Aschaffenburg, due to an injury, but Kassel football was flourishing. The 1: 5 home defeat against VfB Stuttgart on October 18th was followed by 30,000 spectators in the Auestadion . There were also 30,000 spectators in the catch-up game on December 13th against 1. FC Nürnberg (2-2), also on January 17, 1954 in the 1-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt, before the last home game on March 21, 1954 against fellow promoted Jahn Regensburg, even 32,000 spectators watched the 5-1 victory with three goals from Günter Siebert and one goal each from Franz Dinger and conductor Metzner in the Auestadion. Metzner played 28 rounds, scored five goals, and the first division newcomer from Kassel managed to stay in the league with 13th place in the table.

Although the team fought against relegation in the major league, the KSV recorded one of the highest audience averages in Germany with an average of 19,200 visitors in the recently completed Auestadion. But already in the second league year followed for the "lions" the descent. Already in late autumn they had lost the connection after eight defeats in a row - after the first half of the season KSV had a point account of 8:22 points and thus held the "red lantern" - and finally had to end the season as penultimate together with FC Bayern Munich move into the second class. On May 1, 1955, only 3,000 spectators watched a 1-1 draw against Schwaben Augsburg, the last league game in the Auestadion for a long time. Metzner had only paused in one round game. Metzner got his popular nickname "Gala" at the time when his games became "Gala" performances.

The ex-national player remained loyal to Kassel in the second division and played there six more rounds, up to and including the 1960/61 season, for KSV. After the direct resurgence was missed, the Lions slipped into midfield of the 2nd League South. In the 1957/58 season , the Hessians were only able to prevent the fall into the amateur camp thanks to four victories at the end of the season. After the Viennese Willibald Hahn took over the training in the 1960/61 round and immediately took fourth place, KSV Hessen returned to the road to success. For "Gala" Metzner, however, with the friendly game on August 5, 1961 against Radnički Belgrade (2-2) after 365 league games - a total of 620 games are noted for him - the active playing career came to an end. The outside runner and half-forward is the club's record player to this day.

He did not say goodbye to football, however: Metzner played for many years in the amateur team and with the “old men” and, in addition to his old love, VfL, also looked after the “Stavo kickers” as a coach and advisor.

Selection teams

As early as March 17-21, 1941, at the age of 18, Metzner took part in a training course for young people from Reich trainer Sepp Herberger of the German national team. Due to the circumstances of the Second World War , however, he was not yet used in the national team, not least because the international match was suspended from 1943 to 1950.

During the Second World War, Metzner suffered a hand injury while working at the front, which handicapped him for a lifetime. When he played for promotion with KSV Hessen Kassel in the II. Division South in the 1952/53 season, he remembered himself as an experienced man with playmaking qualities, fine technique and outstanding passing play at national coach Herberger. On November 23, 1952, he was in the test match of a DFB selection against Saarland in Homburg / Saar as a left wing runner. He convinced Herberger and was a substitute for the international squad on December 21 in Ludwigshafen against Yugoslavia. Eight days later, on December 28, 1952, twelve days before his 30th birthday, Metzner played his first international game in a 2-2 draw in Madrid against Spain ; He came on in the 27th minute for the injured Ottmar Walter , and in exchange Fritz Walter moved to the center-forward position and the debutant into the role of the left half-forward. In May and June 1953 he took part in viewing games of the DFB selection against the Bolton Wanderers and the Berlin city eleven. He had his second official DFB assignment on June 14, 1953 in the B-country team , when a 5-2 win against Spain was achieved in Düsseldorf . Ulrich Biesinger , Herbert Erhardt , Paul Mebus and Hans Schäfer also made their debut in the B-Elf . Metzner's second appearance in the senior national team followed on October 11, 1953 in a 3-0 win in the World Cup qualification against Saarland . He formed the attack of the German team with Helmut Rahn , Max Morlock , Horst Schade and Hans Schäfer. In the B-country eleven, he was able to prove himself again in an international match on April 24, 1954 in Offenburg against Switzerland before the World Cup . After the final World Cup course in May / June in Munich-Grünwald, he was part of the squad of World Champions Germany at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland , but was not used. After the World Cup he was part of the international team in the two international matches on September 26, 1954 in Brussels against Belgium and on October 16, 1954 in Hanover against France, but was not used and then ended his international career.

Next to the sports field

The Gala-Metzner-Platz in Kirchditmold in winter

Metzner, who lived in Kirchditmold all his life, was employed as a technical draftsman at the Federal Railroad. A square in Kassel has been named after him since 2004, the Gala-Metzner-Platz in the Kirchditmold district near the sports field and the club house of his former club VfL Kassel .

Awards

• Silver bay leaf , 1954
• Silver plaque of honor of the city of Munich, 1954
• Golden badge of honor of the DFB, 1955
• Ring of Honor of Hessen Kassel
• Golden sports plaque of the city of Kassel, 1994

literature

• 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. ↑ Werner Skrentny (ed.): When Morlock still met the moonlight. The history of the Oberliga Süd 1945–1963. , Klartext-Verlag, Essen 1993, ISBN 3-88474-055-5 , p. 62.
2. ↑ ksvhessenkassel.de: 2nd League South, season 1957/58 ( Memento from May 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
3. ^ Horst Biese, Herbert Peiler: Flanks, goals and parades. 100 years of football in Kassel. , Agon-Sportverlag. Kassel 1993, ISBN 3-928562-37-1 , p. 181.

Web links

• Entry by Karl-Heinz Metzner in the Löwen Archive ( memento from October 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (ksvhessenkassel.de)