“One who speaks and makes music” – for 30 years

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In the ADS hall, despite the upright equipment, the first highlight took place after the gripping derbies against HSV Gräfrath: promotion to the top division. The coach was Norbert Bothe, and the active heroes included Manfred Brunke, Karsten Düsterbeck and, of course, Norbert Dronsz. “Mister Sportring” died in November 2019 in a tragic traffic accident. “Nonno” was only 54 years old.

He was one of the greats Jens Scheffler was allowed to meet. Like a Bob Hanning who, together with Jörg Föste, sparked the next level of professional handball in Solingen in 1995. “With Bob, the interviews about games also found their way,” says Scheffler, looking back on it – and the now constant technical development in terms of CD players, mixing consoles and boxes.

“Jens was one of the few hall speakers who always withdrew and put the club in the foreground. My appreciation for him does not come from his work as a hall speaker, but from his loyalty, his passion and his always open manner. “
Bob Hanning

The halls: It all started for the Sportring with the August-Dicke-School, with a real start in the Klingenhalle. With the establishment of the Bergisches HC 06, the Sonnborn Bayerhalle advanced to become another home, later also the Wuppertal Unihalle. The BHC played and continues to play other home games in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne and in the Dome in Düsseldorf. A full university hall also offers a great atmosphere, but the answer to the question about Jens Scheffler’s favorite hall has a different answer: “Clearly the blade hall!”

And it provides a reason, the main stand. “Lemgo’s coach Florian Kehrmann once told me at a game in Wuppertal that he was happy not to have to play in Solingen. If you run in front of this wall, it’s really uncomfortable. ”No matter where, he always found“ his ”audience to be objective, sometimes even too nice. They were always “great fans”.

The best time: Scheffler mentions the Bob Hanning era with SG Solingen’s promotion to the Bundesliga in 2000. “It was very familiar. And because of my age, I was more related to the team than I was later, ”says the soccer fan of 1. FC Köln, who celebrated his 50th birthday in November. While he was able to enjoy the Bundesliga time with SG up to the “big bang” of bankruptcy, this of course also applies to those with BHC including the three promotions as highlights. “It’s a terrific leap when you see how everything has developed with the ground, the gangs or the television broadcasts at Sky.”

Scheffler also associates his name with the favorite coach with then and now. It applies to Bob Hanning, who moves a lot in Solingen and to whom the sport of handball owes a lot. On the same level as the current managing director of Berliner Füchse and vice-president of the German Handball Federation: Sebastian Hinze. “Hats off to his performance over the years,” emphasizes the spokesman, who also became a moderator at press conferences.

The favorites: For the players, the choice falls on Michael Hegemann – so it was a curiosity that he was present as assistant coach of Tusem Essen on the evening of the farewell in the blade hall. “Hege has played twice in Solingen, and we also meet privately,” says Scheffler of an extremely pleasant relationship, which he also has on the 2007 world champion Florian Kehrmann (“He always takes time for topics apart from Handballs ”) and Torsten Jansen. And on Dimitri Torgowanow, who, years after his involvement in SG, paid a visit to the Nouvertné car dealership during his time in Essen and brought back his bronze medal from the 2004 Olympics. The intense, beautiful time with BHC long-running Kristian Nippes is another facet of his long-term work.

Another player enjoys special status in connection with his goal: Christian Hoße, who threw Bergische HC with a 24:23 over GWD Minden into the Cup Final Four in 2016 in Hamburg – there, too, the experience with the unfortunate semi-final defeat was after Extension against SC Magdeburg terrific.

The emotions: Anyone who has seen Jens Scheffler live at the season finale with farewell to players knows that the emotional movements are very pronounced. “If it had the chance, the BHC would have to have a squad of 150 players,” he says, saying that he would like to let almost no one go. He lets his tears run free, very authentically. And so it is not at all surprising that the truly sublime moment of relegation to the Bundesliga in 2017 is deep in his heart. “The fact that the entire hall applauded for at least a quarter of an hour and called BHC was legendary. Yes, it was somehow my most moving moment. “

But these also include two other episodes. This was the sporting low point in that Bundesliga season when the planned catch-up race ended in a disaster against Stuttgart after the winter break – eight victories were to follow before the sad homage from Wuppertal just described came.

News that reached Scheffler and the entire BHC during a home game was differently sad – the top referees at the time, Bernd and Reiner Methe, had a fatal accident on their way to the game in Balingen in November 2011. At the time, they were also deeply affected in the Blade Hall, and the press conference, which was actually mandatory, was canceled.

The job: Jens Scheffler has always known his club boss Jörg Föste well, they both played football together at SSC 95/98. Up to eight hours, including preparation at home, can easily be spent on a game, after all you want and have to be well prepared, including the correct pronunciation of guest names. After the merger with Wuppertal (“I was sure that this would work despite the fan reservations”), the father of the family received a brief allowance for the tours in the neighboring town – then it went back to volunteering, as in all the 30 years . Even a foreign offer fluttered into the house during this time, the sender was Frank Flatten from HSG Düsseldorf.

“Jens is a human soul: sportsmanship, fairness and reliability rolled into one. You have to love him – and say thank you sincerely. He shaped an era. Unmistakable and authentic – a legend. “
Jörg Föste

Scheffler also has great memories of his activities in connection with the live broadcasts of Radio RSG. “Whether the promotion game 2011 in Aue or the SG youth games for the German championship years before – that was really great,” he likes to think of the moderations and broadcasts alongside Jörg Bertram, Bernd Hamer, Thorsten Kabitz or Sascha Staat back.

The exit: The explanation sounds plausible: “30 years are enough!” Actually, Scheffler wanted to end his career after the season had ended, but then followed the objection from Löwen managing director Philipp Tychy that one couldn’t stop. When he made his decision for this season, however, no one went further. Jens Scheffler remembers words from an interview with the former BHC goalkeeper Bastian Rutschmann: “He said that it is a nice feeling to leave when many people still think you can do a higher-class job.” And that you just don’t be swept out of the hall. Jens Scheffler is still a long way from that, even after 30 wonderful years of service.

Jens Scheffler

Team: Jens Scheffler has long since stopped doing this technically more complex and demanding job alone. Lukas Krimmel and Oliver Fuhrmann help him with things like music. Scheffler’s successor will be Cedric Pick from Remscheid, who we will be presenting in one of our upcoming issues. As a temporary measure, he will be represented by his experienced predecessor in the current season.

Private: The motorsport fan – from Carrera to Formula 1 – has two children with his wife Anja: Jana Sophie (21), soccer player at TSV, and Fynn Lasse (19), handball player from the Turnerbund. They are all fans of Kirembo, a Rhodesian Ridgeback dog. Professional stations were Mercedes-Benz and the Nouvertné car dealership, today Jens Scheffler works as an expert for the Tüv Rheinland.

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