Willi Preschle

Willi Preschle (born April 14, 1920 in Mannheim ; † March 29, 1989 ibid) was a German soccer player who was active as a striker at the Mannheim district club VfL Neckarau from 1937 to 1955 in the Gauliga Baden , Oberliga Süd , Landesliga and 1st Amateur League North Baden has been. In the 1940/41 war round , the five-time selection player from Baden with Neckarau won the championship in the Baden area class and took part in the final round of the German football championship. Overall, the attacker is led with 61 rounds and 83 goals for Neckarau in the Gauliga. In the championship round 1940/41 Preschle won the top scorer's crown in the Gauliga Baden with 25 goals. After the end of World War II, the veteran from 1946 to 1952 also played in 127 association games in the Oberliga Süd for the blue-whites from the Altriper ferry , in which he scored another 49 goals.

Athletic career

Gauliga Baden, 1937–1944

A month before his 17th birthday, the VfL youth player Willi Preschle made his debut on March 14, 1937 in an 8-1 defeat against SV Waldhof in the Gauliga Baden. The eleven around Otto Siffling won the championship with four points ahead of local rivals VfR Mannheim and Neckarau just managed to stay in the league. In the following round, 1938/39, the young hopefuls were used in two games against FV Offenburg (3: 2) and SV Waldhof (0: 4). Seasoned Gauliga players like Fritz Hack , Siegfried Hessenauer , Georg Lutz, Willi Roth and Hermann Veitengruber successfully defended their regular place in the VfL attack.

Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, the championship games 1939/40 could not be held again until the end of November 1939. The Gauliga Nordbaden was limited to a group of six, which included Neckarau and took fourth place. From this round onwards, the two-footed attacker, gifted in combination and also known as a header specialist in the end, was an indispensable regular player in VfL's attack. In nine round games Preschle scored 10 goals. In the second round of the war, 1940/41, VfL Neckarau celebrated with goalkeeper Otto Diringer and field players such as Karl Gönner , Georg Lutz, Hermann Klostermann, Theo Wahl, Richard Wahl, Gottfried Sälzler , Hermann Veitengruber, Richard Mannale, Kurt Gärtner, Oskar Benner, Gottfried Wenzelburger, Oskar Wilhelm and striker Preschle won the championship in front of VfB Mühlburg, SV Waldhof and the teams VfR Mannheim and Freiburg FC with equal points. In 16 games, the champions scored 27: 5 points with a goal difference of 46:17. With 25 goals, Preschle won the top scorer's crown in the Gauliga Baden. He excelled in the games against 1. FC Pforzheim (3: 2) and Freiburg FC (4: 2) with three goals each, as well as against old champions Karlsruher FV (7: 1) with four goals. Neckarau allowed the opponents only two wins in the entire round: On the third first round match day, October 20, 1940, VfL lost 1-0 to their toughest rivals for the title, the Karlsruhe district club VfB Mühlburg, and completely surprisingly on December 1, 1940 at the old master Karlsruher FV with 1: 2. At the end of the round, the KFV finished last with 4:28 points. After the defeat in Karlsruhe, Neckarau started an impressive series with nine wins, including the successes against Waldhof (1: 0, 4: 2), VfR Mannheim (1: 0) and, above all, the second leg on March 2, 1941 against Mühlburg with 4: 1.

In the following group games for the German soccer championship, Preschle played all six group games against Rapid Vienna, Munich 1860 and the Stuttgarter Kickers and scored three goals in the six games. The Baden division champion landed level on points with Stuttgarter Kickers, both teams had 4: 8 points to show, in fourth place in the group.

As defending champion Neckarau came in second behind master SV Waldhof in 1941/42; Preschle confirmed his outstanding class as a top scorer with 17 goals in ten games. When in 1942/43 VfR Mannheim won the title with 36: 0 points with the outstanding goalscorer Walter Danner (58 goals), Neckarau with 15:21 points and 40:35 goals finished the round far behind in 8th place, Preschle showed again with 22 goals his class as a goalscorer. Also in 1943/44 in KSG VfL / 07 Neckarau, he led the internal scorer list with 9 verifiable goals in a reduced six-man group as the northern relay. In the last round of the war, only the deployment on September 2, 1944 against SV Waldhof (0: 2) for Preschle is recorded. In total, Preschle played 66 Gauliga games with 87 goals.

Oberliga Süd, 1946 to 1952

Since Neckarau was not eligible to start in the Oberliga Süd for the 1945/46 season, the blue-whites had to compete in the Landesliga Nordbaden after the end of World War II . With 30: 4 points, with a seven point lead over runner-up VfB Knielingen from Karlsruhe, they won the championship and rose to the top division. Neckarau started in the 20-man league 1946/47 on September 29, 1946 with a 3-0 away win against FC Phönix Karlsruhe. The Preschle, who returned from American captivity in October 1946, ran for the first time on November 3, 1946 in a 2-2 away draw against Karlsruher FV for VfL in the Oberliga Süd. The first home defeat was received by Preschle and colleagues on January 12, 1947 with a 1: 2 in the local derby against VfR Mannheim. The new star striker Fritz Balogh had equalized VfR's early 1-0 lead by Karl Striebinger in the 29th minute , but center forward Otto Bardorf scored the winning goal for VfR in the first half against VfL goalkeeper Diringer. Only with the 3-2 away win - a goal by Preschle - on July 13, 1947 near Munich 1860, Neckarau was able to secure relegation as 16th at the end of the round.

In the second league year, 1947/48 , the attacker was on the field in all 38 rounds for his VfL, but his seven goals could not prevent relegation to the amateur camp. Preschle spent two rounds with Neckarau in the then second-class Landesliga Nordbaden, before the league return was successful with the championship 1949/50 and the 3-0 win in the decider against TSG Ulm at the end of the promotion round. In the year of the league return, 1950/51, the former Gauligatorjäger showed once again that he had the tools to score goals in the Oberliga Süd: Preschle scored 20 goals in 33 league appearances and Neckarau was 11th with 32:36 points . However, all of this faded with the tragic accidental death of Fritz Balogh on January 15, 1951, on the way home from the away game against Bayern Munich. In 1951/52 Preschle scored 12 goals in 28 league games, but VfL Neckarau was relegated from the league with 17:43 points. Preschle played his last league game on April 26, 1952 in a 0-2 away defeat at FSV Frankfurt. Overall, he is listed in the statistics with 127 league games and 49 goals.

The path of VfL went through the following relegation from the 2nd League South to the 1st Amateur League North Baden , where Preschle ended his playing career in the summer of 1955 at the age of 35 after a hip joint injury.

Private

Professionally, the successful striker of VfL Neckarau was employed at BBC-Stotz-Kontakt in Heidelberg-Pfaffengrund, initially as an industrial foreman and later in the calculation. At VfL Hockenheim, he was a coach in the lower amateur area from 1953 to 1956.

literature

• Andreas Ebner: When the war ate football. The history of the Gauliga Baden 1933–1945. Publishing house regional culture. Ubstadt-Weiher 2016. ISBN 978-3-89735-879-9 . Pp. 388/389.
• Werner Skrentny (Ed.): When Morlock still met the moonlight. The history of the Oberliga Süd 1945–1963. Klartext, Essen 1993, ISBN 3-88474-055-5 . Pp. 117-121.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Andreas Ebner: When the war ate football. P. 388
2. ↑ Werner Skrentny (ed.): When Morlock still met the moonlight. P. 210