Eimsbütteler TV

Football club infobox
clubname = Eimsbütteler TV


fullname = Eimsbütteler Turnverband
nickname =
founded = 12 June 1889
ground = ETV-Sportcenter Hoheluft| capacity =
chairman = Stefan Thoren
manager = Holger Podein
league = Bezirksliga Hamburg-Nord (VII)
season = 2007-08| position = 2nd
pattern_la1=_borderonwhite|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=_borderonwhite
leftarm1=CC0000|body1=CC0000|rightarm1=CC0000|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=ffffff|body2=ffffff|rightarm2=ffffff|shorts2=ffffff|socks2=ffffff

Eimsbütteler Turnverband is a German sports club based in Eimsbüttel, Hamburg. Apart from football, the club also offers a variety of other sports, like basketball, volleyball, and fencing.

History

The beginnings

The roots of the association lay in the 12 June 1889 formation of the gymnastics club "Eimsbütteler Turnerschaft". This club broke up within a month when a number of members left to form "Eimsbütteler Männerturnverein". On 1 May 1893 the two groups were re-united as "Hamburg-Eimsbütteler Turnverein", while a new association using the name "Eimsbütteler Turnerschaft" was established 28 December the same year. This club in turn joined "HETV" to create "Eimsbütteler Turnverband" on 19 February 1898 with the goal of constructing a common sports hall. [Grüne, Hardy (2001). Vereinslexikon. Kassel: AGON Sportverlag ISBN 3-89784-147-9] The facility was completed in 1910, under the direction of the chairman Julius Sparbier.

A football department was established within "ETV" on 12 May 1906 and the footballers took up play in the "A-Klasse Hamburg", the highest league in the city. They sent their first representative to the national side in 1910 and won their first city title in 1915. The team went on to make several appearances in the playoff round of the country's northern regional league in the late 20s and early 30s. In 1926, they lost the final of the regional Nordpokal (North German Cup) to "Holstein Kiel" by a score of 1:3.

The club's golden years

The Eimsbütteler side enjoyed its greatest success playing in the "Gauliga Nordmark", one of sixteen top flight divisions formed in the 1933 reorganization of German football under the Third Reich. The team captured titles there in 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940 and 1942, often in close contests with better known club "Hamburger SV". These "Gauliga" titles qualified "ETV" for participation in the preliminary round of the national championship where they scored victories in matches against eventual champions "FC Schalke 04" in group play in both 1934 [ [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesd/duithistpre45.html#34 Germany - National play-offs 1934] RSSSF.com, accessed: 31 May 2008] and 1935 [ [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesd/duithistpre45.html#35 Germany - National play-offs 1935] RSSSF.com, accessed: 31 May 2008] . Their best result came as an advance to the 1942 quarter finals where they were put out by "Werder Bremen".

"ETV" made several appearances in the opening rounds of the Tschammerpokal tournament (1935-37, 1939-42), predecessor to today's German Cup, and also saw four different players capped through the 1930s and 40s.

World War II forced play across the country to become more local in character and the "Gauliga Nordmark" was broken up into three separate leagues after the 1941-42 season. "ETV" became part of the new "Gauliga Hamburg" where they were able only to earn lower table results. The club's sports facilities were, like most of Hamburg, heavily damaged in air raids. From 1948, under the leadership of Robert Finn, the "ETV" started to rebuilt its facilities.

Postwar

Post-war play in 1945 in the "Stadtliga Hamburg" saw the "ETV" continue as a mid-table team. A fifth-place finish in the 1946-47 season was not quite enough to qualify for the new Oberliga Nord, one of five new first division circuits within the country, which admitted the top four finishers from Hamburg. "ETV" won its way to the Oberliga the next year on the strength of a campaign that saw the team capture its division by winning seventeen and drawing one its of eighteen matches.

The "ETV" spent the next eight seasons at the Oberliga level until being sent down to the "Amateurliga Hamburg" after a sixteenth place finish in 1956. The team suffered through two consecutive poor seasons, narrowly missing relegation to the third tier. After recovering to win the division title in 1959 they were unable to advance further after doing poorly in promotion round play. They earned lower table results over most of the next several seasons and with the establishment of the Fussball-Bundesliga in 1963, the second division "Amateurliga" became a third tier circuit where "ETV" continued to struggle against relegation. A last place finish in 1965-66 dropped "Eimsbüttel" to the Verbandsliga Hamburg - Germania-Staffel (IV).

The club generally finished in the upper half of the Verbandsliga table until declining in the latter half of the 70s. They earned a second place result in 1980-81, but were eventually relegated to the Bezirksliga (V) in 1985 after a fifteenth place finish. In the face of frequent league restructuring, "ETV" avoided slipping deeper into lower tier football through timely promotions. In 1989, they moved up to the "Landesliga Hamburg" (V), and then made a quick advance in the late 90s, winning their way to the "Verbandsliga Hamburg" (V) in 1998, and then into the "Oberliga Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein" (IV) the following year after a second place finish.

The club was overmatched in Oberliga play and struggled against relegation for four seasons, only avoiding demotion by the voluntarily withdrawal of other teams facing financial and license problems. Their turn in the Oberliga came to an end in 2003, when the "ETV" was unable to avoid being sent down to the Verbandsliga (V).

Current

The club's decline continued with a descent through the Landsliga Hamburg (VI) in 2005, to the "Bezirksliga Hamburg-Nord" (VII) in 2006. "ETV" enjoyed a successful 2007-08 regular season, finishing second on equal points with league winner "Rahlstedter SC". This entitled the team to take part in the Landesliga promotion round where they finished fourth in the four-team competition [ [http://www.fussball.de/fussball/servlet/content/70?next=%2F0708%2F013%2F042%2F010%2F031027&tag=50001 Relegation BL in LL] Fusball.de, accessed: 10 June 2008] .

The club has a large youth section in its football department, both for girls and boys with nearly forty teams in all age-groups [ [http://www.fussball.de/fussball/servlet/content/70?next=/0708/000&tag=03000045#loop Eimsbütteler TV football teams] Fussball.de. accessed: 10 June 2008 ] .

German championship

The most successful time in the clubs history was most certainly the "Gauliga" years when the "ETV" qualified for the German championship finals five times:

* 1934: Finished last in its group out of four teams, but managed to defeat FC Schalke 04 3-2 in Hamburg after Schalke lead 2-0, Schalke went on to win the championship.
* 1935: Finished third in its group out of four teams, again defeated FC Schalke 04 in Hamburg, who won the championship again.
* 1936: Finished third again in its group out of four teams.
* 1940: Finished second in its group out of four teams, missing out on the semi-finals to Dresdner SC who went on to lose the final.
* 1942: Lost to Werder Bremen in the first round of the knock-out finals, losing 2-4 in Bremen.

Departments

The club consists of various sports departments, these being:

* Archery
* Baseball
* Basketball
* Beach Volleyball
* Boxing
* Canoeing
* Dancing
* Fencing
* Fistball
* Football
* Handball
* Hockey
* Inline Skating
* Judo
* Karate
* Kickboxing
* Kung Fu
* Swimming
* Table tennis
* Tennis
* Track & Field
* Volleyball

Honors

*Association Football
** Gauliga Nordmark (I) champions: 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1942
** Stadtliga Hamburg (II) champions: 1948
** Amateurliga Hamburg (II) champions: 1959
** Landesliga Hamburg-Hansa (VI) champions: 1998

*Fistball
** German champions (Men): 1928, 1929
** German champions (Women): 1934

External links

* [http://www.nordfv.de/cms/index.php Northern German Football Assocciation (NFV)]
* [http://sport-dienst.de/oberliga/hamburgsh/2004/ Oberliga Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein at fussballdaten.de]

ources

* [http://www.etv-hamburg.de/ Official "ETV" website] (in German)
* [http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2006/05/05/559597.html 100 Jahre Fussball im ETV] (in German) Article on the clubs 100th anniversary in the "Hamburger Abendblatt"
* [http://www.f-archiv.de/ Das deutsche Fussball Archiv ]

References