Leo Konopczynski

Leo Konopczynski , also in the spelling Konopczinski (born February 1, 1927 in Freyming , Lorraine , † March 13, 2003 in Bad Oeynhausen ), was a German football player .

The left defender grew up in Eschweiler and played there for Grün-Weiß . When his father, a miner , moved to the Ruhr area when the war broke out , the Filius tied his football boots one after the other at Union Recklinghausen (1939-1941), SV Sodingen (1941/42) and in Wetter (1942-1946). During this time he received training in coal mining and found shortly after the war a permanent job in the coal mine Mont Cenis in Herne , where he was a slinger for the loading and unloading of the conveyor basket was responsible.

14 years with the same club

Since the Glück-Auf stadium of SV Sodingen was located directly on the colliery site and several of Konopczynski's colleagues played football for this club, he too joined the Green-Whites - at that time a matter of course because the company, district and club formed almost one unit and was instrumental in the rise of this " Knappenelf ", which took up from 1950 in the 2nd division and from 1952 in the Oberliga West . With this team, about which Sepp Herberger said because of their uncompromising kick-and-rush style and the unconditional commitment of all actors, they were "the only German team that plays English" , Leo Konopczynski achieved second place in the 1954/55 Oberliga and the subsequent participation in the final round of the German championship . Here, too, he was on the pitch in the qualifying match against SSV Reutlingen as well as in the six group matches (against 1. FC Kaiserslautern , Hamburger SV and BFC Viktoria 1889 ).

The highlight was the encounter against the Lauterer, who competed with all their “ Bernese World Champions ” on May 22, 1955; Due to the expected rush of visitors, the home game had been moved to the Schalke Glückauf-Kampfbahn , where chaos arose hours before the start of the game because around 80,000 people crowded into the stadium, which only had 40,000 seats. At kick-off, around 55,000 of them had found admission, who - although the game had to be interrupted several times because the spectators were meters on the field - saw a highly dramatic game with a rather unfortunate outcome for Konopczynski's men (2: 2). In the end it wasn't enough to make it into the final, but Sodingen was a respectable third party with 7: 5 points behind 1. FCK (9: 3) and HSV (8: 4) and the name of the suburban club was well beyond the Ruhr area also become a household name.

In the period that followed, there was a change of guard in Herne: the "bourgeois" Westfalia overtook the workers' association and in 1959 even became West Master. In the same year, SV Sodingen had to move into the 2nd division, but a club change was out of the question for Leo Konopczynski; instead, he helped the club to return to the Bel Etage of West German football after just one year . At the beginning of the 1960/61 season, the iron-hard defender was injured so badly that he played his last league game for his green-whites in September 1960 and had to end his career at the age of 33, in which he had and also made a total of 169 first division games could score a goal.

International assignments

"Konop" was appointed to the German B national team twice by national coach Herberger in 1956 (0: 1 against Holland ) and 1957 (2: 2 against Hungary ) . a. also at the side of his Sodinger club mates Savitzki and Harpers .

Life after football

Leo Konopczynski, who in the meantime no longer worked underground , remained loyal to SV Sodingen : he was part-time employed in the club's office for many years. In 2002 he was guest of honor at the 90th anniversary of SV Sodingen with the players from the league team who were still alive (including Johann Adamik and Josef Marx ). The following year, at the age of 76, he died in a clinic.

literature

• Hans Dieter Baroth : Boys, Heaven is yours! The history of the Oberliga West 1947–1963. Klartext, Essen 1988, ISBN 3-88474-332-5 .
• Hardy Greens : Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 1: From the Crown Prince to the Bundesliga. 1890 to 1963. German championship, Gauliga, Oberliga. Numbers, pictures, stories. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 1996, ISBN 3-928562-85-1 .
• Hardy Grüne, Lorenz Knieriem: Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 8: Player Lexicon 1890–1963. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2006, ISBN 3-89784-148-7 .
• Harald Landefeld, Achim Nöllenheidt (ed.): Helmut, tell me dat Tor ... New stories and portraits from the Oberliga West 1947–1963. Klartext, Essen 1993, ISBN 3-88474-043-1 .
• Günter Mydlak: Boy, those were little torches . 75 years SV Sodingen. Verlag Gronenberg, 1987. ISBN 3-88265-143-1 .

Web links

• Site of SV Sodingen with photos by Konopczinski and others