Delighted to be reunited

“Men, I haven’t seen many of you for the best part of 50 years” said an overjoyed Jürgen Glinka to his many former Hannover 96 teammates, with whom, in June 1960, he won the first German Amateur Championship. He and 13 others accepted the invitation to take part in the reunion at the NFV-Sporthotel. The organizers, Horst Patzke and Hannes Baldauf were especially pleased with the players who had traveled long distances to be there, for example Manfred Fahrtmann who flown back especially from Fuerteventura, and defender Udo Nix who shortened his holiday in the Himilayas to take his place. “It’s a kind of sports class reunion; there is so much to discuss about old times. It’s a fantastic feeling to see so many of my old companions,” delightedly declared former Bundesliga player Nix.

In his opening speech, 96-boss Martin Kind remembered how amateur football was boosted immediately after Germany’s 1954 World Cup success, and how Hannover 96 won the first title in the amateur division a mere six years afterwards, meaning that the “Reds” were then the best of more than 63,000 amateur teams. Yet that didn’t suffice, and further success was just around the corner. With the foundations already laid due to their first title success, ’96 were able to bring a further two German Amateur Championship titles to the state capital - in 1964 and 1965.

At the reunion, NFV-President Karl Rothmund observed: “The victory in the final of the 1960 German Amateur Championship for Hannover 96 was an important and positive step for football in Lower Saxony.”

True to the motto “Football is our life”, the former 96ers started their goodbyes by watching the German national team at a Public Viewing event, where they were thrilled with Germany’s 4-0 victory over Argentina in the World Cup quarter final.

- Daniel Moore