Zone championship

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As Zone Championship is called sports competitions for obtaining the highest title in the after the Second World War established zones of occupation in Germany . In individual sports and in individual countries (such as rallycross sports in Europe and fistball in Switzerland) there are different definitions of the term zone championship .

General

According to the political division of Germany after the Second World War west of the Oder-Neisse Line into four occupation zones (apart from Saarland and about 10 other separate small areas), many sports, such as athletics , soccer , handball and ice hockey , Championships held in individual zones.

In detail, there were the following zone championships :

  • the British Zone Championship, sometimes referred to as the Northwest Zone Championship
  • the American Zone Championship, sometimes referred to as the South Zone Championship / South Zone Championship or Southeast Zone Championship
  • the French zone championship, sometimes also referred to as the southwest zone championship
  • the Soviet Zone Championship, commonly referred to as the East Zone Championship
  • the Berlin city ​​championship in the former and present capital, which is divided into four sectors (partially limited to the three western sectors)

In some sports the zone championships deviated spatially from the administrative zones, but in any case took place without the Soviet zone (excluding East Berlin). The term south zone championship was not used exclusively as a synonym for a championship in the American zone (see above), but sometimes also for the joint championship of the American and French zones. A bizone championship is a joint championship with representatives from the British and American zones.

The city of Bremen (American zone) like the rest of the state of Bremen (until December 1945 and again from April 1, 1947 American zone) predominantly took part in the British zone championships.

The periods of time for zone championships fluctuated depending on the type of sport and zone. Incidentally, the GDR championships were also mentioned as the East Zone Championship in individual West German media for decades.

Soccer

In football, the competitions for the individual zone championships began between the 1945/46 season and the 1947/48 season. Following the zone championships in 1947/48, the first German championship after the Second World War was held, for which the master of the Soviet zone SG Planitz was qualified, but did not receive a travel permit at short notice.

American zone

In the American zone, the football Oberliga Süd was introduced in the 1945/46 season , which encompassed the entire zone and whose champions thus de facto won the American zone championship.

Zone masters were:

French zone

The situation in the French zone was similar to that in the American zone - with the difference that the Southwest Football League , which was founded in 1945 and was later called the Southwest Football League, initially played in two tracks (north and south, corresponding to the geographical division of the zone) and the southern season was in the first season even divided into several seasons ("groups"), so that finals for the French zone championship were necessary. Although Saarland was spun off from the French occupation zone in January 1946 and became an autonomous region as the Saar protectorate with its own citizenship from 1947 , the Saarland clubs continued to play in the league system of the French zone up to and including 1947/48.

Zone masters were:

British zone

Relatively more difficult than in the American and French zones was the restart of football in the British, where the first football zone championship was held a year later. In 1946/47, the champions and runners-up of the six previous state championships (Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony including Bremen, Westphalia, Middle Rhine and Lower Rhine) - i.e. 12 clubs - took part in the final round (including an upstream qualification round); in 1947/48 the Four first place each of the newly introduced Football Oberliga Nord and Football Oberliga West .

Zone masters were:

Berlin

In the four-sector city of Berlin, the league game began as early as 1945/46 - initially in several seasons, so that a final round was necessary to determine the city champions. From 1946/47 there was a single-track Berlin city league (which is incorrectly sometimes referred to as the Oberliga from 1946/47). Up to and including the 1949/50 season, the league included clubs (initially: municipal sports groups) from all four Berlin sectors.

Overall Berlin city champions were:

Soviet zone

The first Eastern Zone Championship was only held at the end of the 1947/48 season. 10 teams were each qualified: the national champions and runner-up; The knockout system is the mode of execution. Sometimes the national champions and runners-up had to be determined in a knockout system competition.

Zone masters were:

See also

For the details of the individual years see:

See also: Berliner Fußballmeister Section: 1945–1950: Overall Berlin Championship

Handball

British Zone, Berlin a. a.

In three handball disciplines - men's field handball (large field), men's indoor handball and women's field handball (large field), title fights were held in the knockout system from 1946 and from 1947 (in men's indoor handball), the winners of which were the title "Deutscher Meister" was awarded, but they themselves are referred to differently as u. a .: DAH Championship , Zone Championship , British Zone Championship , German Championship , Interzone Championship . De facto, used terms such as open British zone championships or open championships in the British zone are also the most accurate: clubs from Berlin were also able to participate in the championships (with the exception of the Brandenburg clubs, which - such as Sparta Bernau - initially after the Second World War on Berlin games took part), the Bremen clubs and clubs from individual regions of the American and French zones (such as the two-time runner-up (1947 and 1948) and bizone champion 1946 of the men in the SV Waldhof Mannheim large field ) start.

The 1946/47 season was organized by the “German Working Committee for Handball in the British Zone” (DAH, DAHBZ) founded in Hamburg in autumn 1946 , and the following championships were organized by the “German Working Committee for Handball” , which was set up in Kettwig in August 1947 as a successor organization “(DAH).

The zone master titles in indoor handball for men are only considered unofficial German championships because the German Handball Federation (DHB), founded in 1949, did not recognize them and do not include them in its statistics. In contrast to the indoor handball titles, the DHB lists the DAH field handball championship titles for men and women from 1947 to 1949 in its statistics without any special note as "German champions", and also assigns these titles to the corresponding clubs ( THW Kiel German champions 1948, 1950) . In contrast, it says on the pages of Handballdaten.de/bundesligainfo.de that these titles are not recognized by the DHB.

There was a run-up to the open championship in the British zone in large field handball as early as autumn 1946. The Sportring 33 Gevelsberg defeated the Flensburg TB 11: 7 in the final of the (purely) British zone championship . In the final of the subsequent bizone championship, the zone master of the American zone SV Waldhof Mannheim won against the Gevelsberger 11: 4 (October 13, 1946). In 1947, in addition to the open British championship, a separate British zone championship took place exclusively with clubs from the British zone.

Master :

Field handball men (large field):

Indoor handball men:

Field handball women (large field)

American zone

An American zone championship in men's large field handball took place (at least) in 1946. The winner SV Waldhof Mannheim then played the bizone championship against the British zone master (see under "British zone").

Master:

South Zone Championship

In parts of the American zone and the French zone (southern region) there was (at least) a southern zone championship in large field handball, at least for men, in 1946. In the finals, TSV Rot-Weiß Lörrach defeated the opposing team from Tübingen away with 8: 6 (April 25, 1948) and at home with 7: 4 (May 2, 1948).

Master:

French zone

In the French occupation zone, a separate zone master of the French zone was played out in large-field handball following the southern zone championship (see above). The south zone champion TSV Rot-Weiß Lörrach lost to SG Haßloch on May 9, 1948 with 11: 7 and played on May 16, 1948 at home against Haßloch 11:11. Haßloch was thus qualified for participation in the DAH championship in 1948 (see above), but did not receive a participation permit.

Master:

Soviet zone

From 1947/48 onwards, men's full-field handball championships were held in the Soviet occupation zone in the eastern zone using the same format as in football:

Master:

See also

ice Hockey

Bizone

In ice hockey, bizone championships were held by clubs in the British zone and the American zone (at least) at the end of 1946. There are contradicting information about the exact status of the bizone championship and, above all, a so-called German championship held at the end of 1946 - again only among clubs of the bizones (winner: SC Riessersee ). There are indications that the German ice hockey championship in 1947 was planned at least as a bizone championship , possibly also started as such in the preliminary rounds and possibly ended as an open bizone championship - in addition to representatives from the bizones only the Berlin city champion SG Eichkamp and the EC took part Schwenningen from the French zone of occupation. With the remark that it was a bizone championship, the Krefelder EV and the Düsseldorfer EG refused to compete in the northwest preliminary round against the Berlin city champions.

Master:

Berlin

The Berlin city championship was (at least) held in 1946/47 and 1947/48.

Master:

  • 1947: SG Eichkamp (equivalent to the Berlin ice skating club )
  • 1948: SG Eichkamp

Soviet zone

In the Soviet Zone there was a single Eastern Zone Championship in ice hockey in early 1949:

Master:

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. DHB website: German field handball champions men and German field handball champions women in contrast to German championship indoor handball men
  2. ↑ for the men here
  3. ↑ u. a. on the following pages: 1946 , 1947 , 1948 and 1949