TuS Lipine

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The Turn- und Sportverein (TuS) Lipine was a German-Polish football club from the East-Upper Silesian town of Lipine , which took part in German games as a TuS during the Second World War . Before that, the city and with it the association had changed citizenship and name several times. The city is now part of Poland and is called Lipiny . The club also still exists as a Polish club.

history

Starts as a high school student club

Probably in 1907/08 in the working-class village of Lipine, which was part of the German Empire , the "Spielvereinigung Lipiner Gymnasiasten (SLG)" was founded by young high school students who attended high school in surrounding towns and got to know the soccer game there. This school club had 50 to 60 members and played in the park next to the Protestant church. The SLG was able to enjoy powerful advocates because it was promoted by Mr. Beyer, the boss of the rolling mill. The SLG members paid 50 pfennigs every month for the necessary playground equipment and proudly wore the club badge, the letters SLG on the black-white-red coat of arms. This high school students' club, which - contrary to what the name suggests - also accepted young workers, was not affiliated to an association.

Silesia Lipine

In 1910 the school club became the first “proper” football club in Lipine with Silesia. The new "Silesia" joined the SOFV soon after it was founded, and when it was first mentioned in the 1912 DFB yearbook, it had 48 members. Apparently the association found sympathy with the community. In 1910, they built a large playground between Lipine and Chropaczow (Schlesiengrube), "which helped a palpable need". The sporting activities of the Lipine gymnastics club, founded in 1883, also took place on this playground. The young football club was also seen in business circles: According to the 1913 DFB club list, the chairman that year was a general manager named F. Figiel. But the real link between the various clubs in the Lipin football history up to 1945 is called Joseph Debernitz. He was a co-founder as well as an active player - namely goalkeeper - of the Silesia and was active from the beginning on the functionary level: initially secretary he took over the position of 1st chairman in 1913. Debernitz still held this position after the end of the First World War , and now, after the pre-war period had remained uneventful in this regard , things should also improve in sporting terms. The Silesia, which was now able to provide five senior and six junior teams as well as an athletic group, had found a football connection with the best SOFV clubs in Upper Silesia. But the "bloom" should end again after a short time.

Naprzód Lipiny

In 1920, a Polish association called Naprzód Lipiny (= "Forward Lipine") was founded in Lipine, which two years later, when Lipine became Polish, took over the dominance of the village and immediately demonstrated this: "Shortly after the vote A well-organized group of insurgents marched onto the field in Lipine and clearly showed that the German Silesia was over. " This is what happened a short time later: The new authorities ensured that the two associations were merged. And although two thirds of the membership came from Silesia, the new association was henceforth called "Naprzod". On their own, Germans and Poles built a new sports field together with great enthusiasm. Joseph Debernitz was still in the goal of the first team and stayed with "Naprzod" until 1930, before he left the club "for political reasons" and joined the still existing German gymnastics club Lipine. However, he initially had to forego football there.

Even without Debernitz, “Naprzod” became a fixture in Upper Silesian and Polish football, even if the club was never first class. As a Silesian champion he was on the move several times, but always failed in the promotion round. But the Lipinese were mainly known throughout Poland for having produced three national players, including Ryszard Piec , who had played in the legendary 1938 World Cup game Poland against Brazil (5-6). In his hometown, the 24-time Polish national player was the "King of Lipiny", for whom the tram drivers stopped on the open route when they saw him and asked him if he wanted to go with them. The other two Polish internationals were Ryszard's brother Wilhelm Piec and Erwin Michalski.

TuS Lipine

In September 1939, with the beginning of the Second World War , the Germans were in charge again, which was not without serious consequences for Lipine's footballers. “Naprzod” had had its day and was disbanded by the German occupiers, but a German association was re-established for which the old name “Silesia” was rummaged out of the moth box. But the Nazis did not like that in the long run: in their minds, the old names were synonymous with a defeat of Germans against the Poles - after all, these names had been replaced by Polish ones. In October 1939, "Silesia" became the Gymnastics and Sports Club (TuS) Lipine.

The "TuS" was the successor club of the Lipine gymnastics club, founded in 1883, which in the 1930s had made sports operations almost impossible by the local Polish authorities in Lipine. The association was said to have conspiratorial relationships with the National Socialists ruling in Germany - no wonder, as the club had already decided in 1934 "that the members should greet each other with a German greeting and a raised hand". This gymnastics club has now become the gymnastics and sports club Lipine through the addition of additional branches, including a football department. The management of the football department took over - Joseph Debernitz.

The TuS footballers kicking in blue and white were assigned to the Gauliga Oberschlesien , where they successfully participated. No wonder, as it was the same - Polish - players who had already celebrated successes with "Naprzod". But in order to be allowed to play at all, Lipine's footballers had to belong to at least the 2nd category of the people's list , which was not easy because none of them spoke German. But Joseph Debernitz went to Katowice and took care of all the formalities.

In the cup semifinals

In 1942 the Lipiners achieved the greatest success in the club's history. Although they did not get any weak opponents drawn, they reached the semi-finals in the Tschammer Cup , the forerunner of the DFB Cup . Here, however, the Upper Silesians were defeated in the Bavarian capital by TSV 1860 Munich with 0: 6. Despite the high defeat, they were praised in the press for their committed play and willingness to fight. At the game itself, they caused displeasure because the players only spoke Polish to each other on the pitch.

After the Second World War

After the Second World War it continued as "Naprzód", more precisely as Stal-Naprzód . Because in the course of the reorganization of Polish football, the club was assigned to the zinc smelter "Silesia" as a works association. Quite a few of the players had problems because they had successfully played football as Germans on an equal footing during the German occupation. Ryszard Piec, for example, was arrested immediately after the Red Army marched in and was to be transferred to the Świętochłowice internment camp . On the transport there, however, he managed to escape.

In 1965 another name change was due: after the merger with Czarni Chropaczów, the association was called Naprzód-Czarni Świętochłowice for four years - Lipine had now become a district of Świętochłowice. Meanwhile in one of the lowest classes of the Polish gaming industry, they played from 1969 as GKS Świętochłowice , from 1974 as GKS Naprzód Świętochłowice (Lipiny) and finally since 2000 as ŚKS Naprzód Lipiny (Świętochłowice) .

literature

  • Hardy Greens : Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 7: Club Lexicon . AGON-Sportverlag, Kassel 2001, ISBN 3-89784-147-9 .
  • DFB club list 1913.
  • DFB yearbook 1912.
  • Gleiwitzer-Beuthener-Tarnowitzer Heimatblatt: numerous issues.