Exactly 60 years ago, the Bundesliga started its first season. As a founding member: the Karlsruher SC. Rolf Kahn was there for him at the time. In an interview with SWR Sport, the 79-year-old remembers a complicated preparation and a special encounter.
The enthusiasm throughout Germany was huge. 300,000 spectators flocked to the stadiums on August 24, 1963 for the very first match day of the Bundesliga. Of course, the Wildpark Stadium in Karlsruhe was also completely sold out. The eventual runner-up Meidericher SV came to Karlsruhe for the first game. The spectators sat on the cinder track and in the trees, remembers Rolf Kahn, one of the players in the KSC team. The opponents from Duisburg initially only ran behind and so Karlsruhe was already 0:3 behind after 45 minutes. The reason is obvious to Kahn.
Five weeks trip around the world before the first Bundesliga game
“The club sent us on a five-week trip around the world beforehand. It was actually nice for us players, but of course not good preparation,” Kahn remembers with a smile, “because we didn’t just live like athletes. Apart from the stress of travel.” You’ve seen Cairo, been to San Francisco, New Zealand and been to Fiji. Then it was against MSV, today’s MSV Duisburg, with the young coach Rudi Gutendorf, a tactical fox and top motivator.
World champion Rahn storms for Meiderich
Rolf Kahn will never forget meeting the most prominent player at MSV. Because that’s where the now 34-year-old Helmut Rahn, the 1954 world champion, played. “The Boss”, one of the big stars on this first day of the Bundesliga match. “When I was 10, I followed the radio as he shot us to the World Cup,” enthuses Rolf Kahn. “Then I was on the pitch with him. That was the biggest thing for me.” Rolf Kahn did not dare to address the big idol before or after the game and shyly avoided Rahn.
Kahn: KSC “totally underestimated” the Bundesliga level
Appropriately, “the boss” then scored in MSV’s 4-1 win: “We didn’t have a chance and totally underestimated the level in the Bundesliga,” Kahn has to admit today. Four more defeats in a row followed for KSC, who ended up staying up in the league in twelfth place in the table
On Matchday 30, Rolf Kahn scored his first and only Bundesliga goal in a 2-1 draw against Frankfurt. Because of a serious injury, the Bundesliga adventure was short-lived. Overall, he brought it to eleven appearances in the first division.
“I’m proud to be a pioneer right from the start”
“My former teammates from the national school team, such as Sepp Meier or Wolfgang Overath, had a completely different career path than I did,” he says a little wistfully. His son Oliver then managed the big career – as a world goalkeeper, champions league winner and multiple German champion with FC Bayern Munich.
But being on the pitch when the Bundesliga was born in 1963 is worth almost as much to father Rolf Kahn as winning a nice title.
2023-08-24 19:16:25
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