In the first instalment of HSV History, we looked at how three clubs from Hamburg were formed, the three being SC Germania, Hamburger SC 1888 and FC Falke 06. Where we left off, the sirens of war had summoned Germany, but just what happened to the three clubs in question?
Starting with SC Germania, the team who had limped into the war after several seasons of poor play and being stripped of any talent by the more established clubs of the NFA (NordDeutsche Football Association). They were relegated from the NFA in 1912, which was hardly surprising at the time but nobody could have predicted it a decade earlier. After all those years of success since their formation, and particularly between 1900 and 1905, it seemed the league was moving on without them, and the war threatened to decimate their very existence.
SC Germania had been so successful that their influence was felt thousands of miles away in the footballing hotbed of Brazil. Hans Nobiling, a former player from the 1890s, had emigrated to São Paulo in Brazil, and set up a football club called SC Internacional. At their time of formation on August 19th, 1899 they were the third oldest association football team in Brazil.
Further to this, he set up SC Germânia of São Paulo on 7th September 1899, who were part of the first official football match ever to be played in Brazil. Both teams mentioned were successful, as Internacional won State Championships (in-city competitions held every year) in 1907, 1928 and 1938, while Germânia claimed titles in 1906 and 1915. Internacional went on to become part of São Paulo FC after a merger with Antarctica SC, while Germânia were renamed EC Pinheiros, meaning the clubs went on to be two of the biggest in the continent.
A former athlete of SC Germania back in Hamburg, by the name of Hermann Friese, emigrated to Brazil just a few years after Nobiling. He went on to be one of the best footballers in the league after joining Germânia, and then became a leading referee.
When the events in Europe escalated to breaking point in 1914 and Deutschland was sucked into conflict (or rather instigated, but thats another debate for another piece), Germania were left with very few players from an already depleted squad. This was the case with a lot of clubs all across Germany, let alone the NFA, so as was seemingly common practice, a “War Association” was set up.
This was the formal term for clubs joining together to continue the sport in whatever way they possibly could while the league was not active. For obvious reasons, the league had suspended its activity at the outbreak of war, as heroes on the field became heroes in the trenches. So, in 1917, Sport Club Germania 1887 joined with SV Uhlenhorst-Hertha von 1911, and a year later, in the final stages of ‘The Great War’, Sport Club Concordia 1907 joined too.
Meanwhile, the newly renamed Hamburger Sport-Verein (formerly Hamburger SportClub 1888) were also having the same problems. They simply could not get enough players together to field a team, and consequently joined a War Association with SC Victoria Hamburg on the 27th of June, 1918. Most of these mergers happened towards the end of the war, and the union of KV Victoria Hamburg (as they became named; KV for short) was actually very competitive.
In 1918/19, Victoria Hamburg got to the final of the North German Championship, following victories against Schwerin FC 1903 (10-0), FC Borussia Harburg (4-1) and Kieler SV Holstein (7-1). In the final, KV triumphed 2-0 against Bremer SC 1891 (of Bremen) to become North German Champions. Just hours after the final, the union dissolved having not lost a game.
On March 21st 1919, members of Hamburger SV 1888 voted against a formal merger with FC Victoria, with whom they had been the best team in North Germany just a month previously. Instead, they waited until May 12th to join with FC Falke 06.
Otto Schwabe was elected as the last ever President of SC Germania in January 1919, because just four days after the HSV-Falke merger, SC Germania also joined the two clubs, creating a brand new club.
The name of that club was Hamburger Sport-Verein, and the official founding date of the club upon registry was June 1st 1888, when Hamburger SC was created. It was not until 1934 that the Hamburger Sport-Verein was changed to September 29th, 1887, the inception of SC Germania.
Red and white were decided upon as the club colours, the colours of Hamburg, while the club crest was influenced heavily by Germania as a black and white diamond on a blue flag. The maritime link to this crest is very prevalent and carries its own history and tradition, but this is something which will be discussed in HSV History: Kits and Badges.
So, HSV as we know it today had been formed, but there were still questions just how successful this team would be in the NFA. SC Germania had been relegated before the war and didn't possess a strong squad, while Falke 06 had always played in the lower leagues. The only real source of hope and optimism was that HSC were involved, the Nord-Deutsche Championship winners from 1919.
The first ever Hamburger Sport-Verein team of 1919/20 contained some strong players, such as goalkeeper Walter Borck, signed from FC Mecklenburg Schwerin, and striker Karl Schneider, who had joined HFC from Karlsruher in 1916. Defenders August Werner and forward Hugo Flick both arrived from the successful Holstein Kiel, who Victoria Hamburg beat on their way to the 1918/19 Championship.
Then, there was Otto Fritz Harder, who had rejoined Hamburger FC seven years previous after brief a return to Eintracht Braunschweig for the 1912/13 season. Born on the 25th of November 1892 in Braunschweig, Harder was 27 years old entering the 1919/20 season, and nobody was expecting what happened in the years ahead.
Despite so much history already, it was nothing but forward thinking for the new HSV, and football in Hamburg was only really just getting started.
In the next instalment, we will be looking football in 1920s Germany and how it boomed, as well as playing under the Nazi regime.
