1. FC Katowice
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| 1. FC Katowice | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1905 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 2005-06 | defunct | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1. FC Katowice was an ethnically German football club playing in what was Kattowitz, Upper Silesia (now Katowice, Poland) during the inter-war period.
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[edit] History
The club was formed in 1905 by brothers Emil and Rudolf Fonfara as Preussen Kattowitz out of failed predecessor side SV Frischauf Kattowitz. The new club enjoyed immediate success winning Upper Silesian championships in 1907, 1908, 1909, and 1913.
After the Silesian Uprisings in 1921 and a subsequent League of Nations plebiscite, part of the region - including Kattowitz - was granted to Poland and the name of the city was changed to Katowice. The football club was known briefly by the Polish name 1. Klub Pilkarski Katowice, but assumed the German name 1. FC Katowice after a successful court challenge.
In the mid- and late 20s 1. FC was one of the strongest teams in Poland. They finished second to Wisła Kraków in the Polish football league's first season of play in 1927. Katowice lost a crucial match 0:2 at home to Wisła and the team's supporters claimed that referee Zygmunt Hanke had not called a fair match because Polish football authorities did not want to see a German side become national champions.
In the mid- and late 1920’s Katowice was well known for its excellent players: goalkeeper Emil Goerlitz, who was the first footballer from Upper Silesia to play for the Polish national team; defender Erich Heidenreich, regarded as one of the best backs in Europe, who refused to play for Poland citing his German heritage; and forward Karol Kossok, another Polish national who went on to become the top scorer for the clubs Cracovia Krakow and Pogon Lwow). However, the team's most famous player was Ernest Wilimowski, who started his career with Katowice, but was sold to Ruch Chorzów in 1933.
The club faltered in 1929 and was relegated from first division Polish football, going on to play in the Silesian League - the strongest regional league in the country - where they became champions in 1932.
In June 1939 the club's activities were suspended by authorities who accused it of promoting and supporting the interests of Nazi Germany. After the German invasion of Poland which began World War II in the fall of 1939, the team resumed play with German authorities looking to hold up 1. FC as a model side in Upper Silesia.
In 1933 German football had been reorganized under the Third Reich into sixteen top-flight Gauligen and Katowice joined the Gauliga Schliesen for the 1940-41 season. That division was split the following year into the Gauliga Niederschliesen and the Gauliga Oberschlesien, where 1. FC played until the end of the war. The club attracted players such as Ewald Dytko, Pawel Cyganek, Erwin Nyc and Wilimowski to its ranks, but was never able to overtake rival Germania Königshütte, instead struggling as a lower table side whose best result was a third place finish in their first season of play in the Gauliga.
1. FC Katowice ceased to exist in January 1945 with the arrival of Red Army troops in the region.
