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50 years of football at the WSV Unterammergau - historical and curious

2020-04-05T13:45:46.386Z


The party has to be canceled due to the corona virus. There is still enough to tell. The football players of the WSV Unterammergau celebrate their 50th anniversary. A review.


The party has to be canceled due to the corona virus. There is still enough to tell. The football players of the WSV Unterammergau celebrate their 50th anniversary. A review.

Unterammergau - You love to celebrate, the Unterammergau footballers. Anyone who has been lucky enough to spend their evening in the parlor there after a home game of the WSV knows what it is all about. "It can take a long time for us," says Ludwig Hutter. The mischievous smile of the sports director reveals more than any word could. But there is also a party break in the Ammertal. Keyword Corona. Not even the anniversary of the football department changes that. This Sunday she will be 50 years old - without any popping champagne corks. "It's a shame. This event should have deserved it, ”emphasizes Hutter, who has always shaped the WSV as a player and later as a board member. Time to look back.

How it all started

Winter sports club - the name says it all. Those who practice sports in Unterammergau go sledding or skiing. There is peace in summer. That was the case with the WSV - at least until April 5, 1970. There Sepp Spindler drummed all the soccer players in the village - until then they usually played in either Oberammergau or Bad Kohlgrub - in the Café Buchberger. With a flaming speech, he campaigned to finally create his own team, not only to run for the neighboring clubs. Spindler's words worked. A board was elected the same evening. With Georg Mitterer as chairman, Hans Löffler senior as treasurer and Josef Wiedl as secretary. The soccer department of the WSV Unterammergau was born.

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Kick-off: A cup game between the juniors of WSV Unterammergau and SV Wessobrunn is the first home game in the history of the football department. The WSV loses 0-3.

© WSV Unterammergau

Build, build, build

A humpback meadow converted into a soccer field. In front of it a small wooden hut with two rooms. Flowing water or electricity - none. The beginnings of the WSV kickers can be described as adventurous. The guest teams changed in one room, while in the other not only the Unterammergauers and referees were accommodated, but also the kiosk. "When the coach made his half-time speech, beer and sausage rolls were sold through the window behind him," says Hutter. Not the only oddity. When the game was over, both teams drove to the local elementary school to take a shower. It was like that for 24 years. "Then it was time to change something." A new club house was needed. With great support from the then mayor Matthias Speer, Hutter pushed the construction of a wooden log house as department head in 1994. It contained a host room, toilets, three cabins for the home, guest team and the referee as well as showers. "A milestone for the club," emphasizes Hutter. This was only possible due to the great cohesion within the WSV. In 4500 working hours, the soccer players stamped their new piece of jewelry out of the ground by hand. "A huge achievement by everyone." So the costs were kept within reasonable limits with 160,000 Deutschmarks. After the main and the training area were renovated for a proud 190,000 Deutschmarks in 1995, it was quiet for a few years. “There was not much going on in the till,” says Hutter. It was only seven years ago that the Unterammergauers regained their drive. Under the leadership of today's department head Leonhard Gansler, an elaborate addition to the clubhouse was built with even more cabins and renovated showers. "Really fine," says Hutter. "Now we have everything we need." Incidentally, the spartan wooden hut from the early days is still standing. Today it serves as an equipment room.

The lions are coming

It is the highlight game in WSV history: In May 2002 the Bundesliga team of TSV 1860 Munich came to Unterammergau. Hutter, a die-hard lion fan, created the benefit game in a conversation with 1860 President Karl-Heinz Wildmoser. In the end it is 16: 1 for the professionals. But be it. The experience stays forever. And even the best saying lands a Unterammergauer. When the then Bundesliga top scorer and striker Martin Max WSV defender Martin Erhart asked when he was running in whether he was fit, he just smiled briefly and replied: "It'll be enough for you."

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Maintain the Corona distance: (from left) Sporting director Ludwig Hutter, department head Leonhard Gansler and second chairman Lukas Spindler.

© Simon Nutzinger

Present and Future

It would have been too good to be true. Both the first and second teams and the juniors were in first place before the outbreak of the corona pandemic. A triple promotion for the 50th birthday including the first time in the district league - it was possible. Nobody at the WSV can believe that anymore. "The season will probably be canceled," Hutter predicts. Of course bitter, that's for sure. But health comes first for the sporting director. "If you see how many people in the world are suffering right now, our missed climbs are totally irrelevant." Of course, if football starts up again at some point, Hutter will attack again. He sees the conditions for this as given. "The club is well positioned," says Hutter. "Both sporty and from the board side." The next 50 years - you can come to the WSV.

Source: merkur

All sports articles on 2020-04-05

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