Status: 29.01.2023 05:00
In 1966, Günter Ahlers based the Handewitter SV handball division. Without him, SG Flensburg-Handewitt wouldn’t exist right this moment. Today, the 88-yr-previous man is the primary honorary citizen of the society.
This was when there was nation life on the Handewitter Inn. “The firemen, the agricultural ladies’s affiliation, the taking pictures membership – everybody got here right here,” remembers Günther Ahlers. So he additionally sat at one of many tables in 1966. He had solely not too long ago moved into what was then an agricultural neighborhood. In Kiel, he performed discipline handball with Holstein and practiced boxing in his youth. Only violets from boxing didn’t succumb to business coaching.
In 1966, ingesting beer in a resort…
When Handewitter SV was based solely in 1960, there was no handball division. Then Horst Andresen, the brand new instructor of the village, got here to the corridor. Ahlers knew that she performed handball: “Then I had a lightning bolt of thought. I mentioned Mr. Horst, let’s make a group. A number of days later, the Handevites invited the troopers from the barracks in Flensburg-Weiche to a sport. In this sense, there was a reference to the district from the very starting. Most registered instantly. Ahlers additionally gained some gamers from the handball groups of the Flensburg tax workplace. “The mayor was appointed thrice,” mentioned Handwitter, who labored within the company’s discipline service on the time.
Tournament Spontaneous Handshake: SG is born
Handevitt gained the large corridor in 1975, the premier league group in ETSV Weiche. With the syndicate, each golf equipment have been ready to be a part of forces.
Through his work, he acquired to know many rich residents of Flensburg. This community would later play an necessary position find sponsors and supporters. “HSV” was nonetheless small in handball, the promotion to the district league was simply completed. But in 1974, Handevitt constructed a big gymnasium, which was later known as “Vikinghalle”. Flensburg-Weihe performed within the Oberliga. “But there have been no spectators!” Ahlers brought one another collectively: on the youth discipline handball district championship within the neighboring village of Weding, he proposed to Manfred Werner from ETSV Weiche to kind a syndicate with the handball groups of the 2 golf equipment. Shaking palms SG. marked the delivery of Weiche-Handwitt.
Gusumers “Handwitt time and again!” sang a tune.
The corridor was at all times full. Spectators sat on platforms up to the sting of the sphere. East stand added. Officially it’s: 2000 viewers. In reality, there have been 2,500 of them, says Gunter Ahlers right this moment. During this time, he organized so much, gathering gamers from everywhere in the area, from Sylt to Kappeln. The viewers got here with him. Later, a spotlight for him was going to an area derby in Husum. When he appeared by likelihood, Husum followers chanted “Immer wieder Handewitt!” It stuffed him with delight, “I nearly cried! We did it!”
Offers from the south – gratefully rejected
But all this was doable solely with the exhausting work of volunteers. He himself was by no means there full-time. There have been golf equipment in southern Germany with massive budgets making an attempt to purchase gamers and administration, he says. He additionally obtained presents. “But these golf equipment solely danced for one summer season,” says Günther Ahlers.
Yellow Alert: Hints within the Viking Hall
Then, initially of 1980, there was a particular match within the historical past of Handewitter: a world match between Poland and the Soviet Union in Vikinghalle as a part of the Baltic Sea Cup. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan two weeks earlier than the sport. Ahlers nonetheless remembers how he supplied safety to stop riots: “My army coaching within the Bundeswehr was good for me. Then I arrange discipline posts right here with the Funk Club from Handewitt and the Schaeferhundverein from Weiche.” Of course, the police have been there too. Then the fireman insisted on retaining the door open and triggered issues. “So I brought the pinnacle of the division and he got here [der Feuerwehrmann] on the spot. But at first I used to be indignant, – mentioned Ahlers, who noticed the sport earlier than the suspension. Günter Ahlers has confirmed himself, confirms Horst Fleischmann from the present administration of Handewitter SV. He nominated Ahlers for honorary citizenship: “Günther Ahlers is a man who is aware of what he desires first. When he has an thought, he tries to implement it.”
750 DM for TV rights
A reward for a few years of growth work: In 1984, Günter Ahlers (centre) was ready to have a good time the promotion.
Then got here the advert sport. In 1984 SG performed away towards TuS Griesheim. When it turned clear that SG could be within the first division, Günter Ahlers and the group all of the sudden confronted a flash of photographers. Gradually, he understood what skilled enterprise is. He had a little bit of a hunch three years in the past when he first negotiated the TV rights. Each membership obtained 750 DM from NDR when SG missed the primary try for promotion. In the years that adopted, Ahlers traveled throughout Germany to set up contacts that have been essential to the sports activities enterprise.
A everlasting fixture on the Flens Arena
After the merger with TSB Flensburg in 1990, SG Weiche-Handewitt turned SG Flensburg-Handewitt. The group’s house video games have been held in Flensburg since 1995. Meanwhile, SG is coping with tens of millions. Günter Ahlers took a again seat due to his well being. At Flens Arena, it will likely be in a everlasting place beneath the sponsor’s room at each house sport.
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