EXETER CITY 1 (Gordon)
KICKERS OF OFFENBACH 1 (Lotz)

Played at St James's Park, attendance 2,500.

Friendly under floodlighting.

Thursday March 1st 1962.

Exeter City:- Jones; Hudson and MacDonald; Mitchell, Harvey, and Sullivan; McMillan, Rees, Brown, Gordon, and Jenkins.

Kickers of Offenbach:- Groh; Schultheis and Kleinboche; Wade, Nuber, and Sattler; Lotz, Conc, Kraus, Kaufhold, and Gaast.

Referee:- Mr F.J.Bricknell of Exminster.
Linesmen: Messrs Edworthy and Kennett

To view the programme click here 

Grecian Chatter
by  Maurice GOLESWORTHY 

Never before has St. James Park enjoyed so much football of an international flavour as we are having this season.

Back in October we had a visit from C.A.R. La Paz, a South American team whose home is nearly 5,000 miles away in Bolivia; the following month O.F.K. Belgrade came here from over 1,000 miles away in Yugoslavia; and this evening we are being treated to a visit from one of the leading West German sides and it gives us great pleasure to say "Guten Abend und Willkommen" (Good evening and welcome) to Kickers Offenbach F.C. The name Offenbach has long since been made world famous by the German French composer, who incidentally, was really named Eberst but adopted the name of his birthplace.
The town is situated on the Main, about 5 miles East of Frankfurt. Noted for the manufacture of fancy leather goods Offenbach is a shade larger than Exeter with a population of a little over 100,000. 

There is no national league in Germany but the leading clubs are split into five regional groups. Four of these each contain 16 clubs and the fifth, West Berlin, now has 12 clubs. Offenbach play in the Southern Region. This arrangement will be coming to an end this season for it has recently been agreed to re-organise the 76 clubs for season 1962-63 into one first division and three regional second divisions.

However, to return to the present set up, the system of deciding the German Championship which has been in vogue since the war is for the top two teams of each of the regional leagues to play off with the champions of Berlin in two qualifying groups on a home and away basis, the ultimate winners taking part in the championship final.

Such a programme is a severe test of the qualities of any team and it is worth noting that our visitors were Championship runners-up in 1950 and 1959.

In that more recent season Kickers Offenbach finished runners-up to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Southern Regional competition, losing only three of their 30 matches.

These two sides subsequently emerged from the strenuous five-week long qualifying competition and when they met for the final in Berlin it was the first time two clubs from the same regional league had competed for the German Championship trophy.


Offenbach Player profiles 
Our Visitors F.C. Kickers Offenbach's side this evening will include most of the following players.

GROH, Ottmar (Goalkeeper). Born 1933. One of the best goalkeepers in the South German League. Has played in "B" Internationals as well as representing South Germany on several occasions.



SCHULTHEIS, Alfred (right-back). A powerful, strong-tackling defender. Born 1936.

SATTLER, Helmut (left-back). Born 1934. Made several appearances in the West Germany Under-23 team.

WADE, Ernst (right-half). Has played in the German Under-23 side and in a "B" International. Born 1934.

NUBER, Hermann (centre-half). Acknowl edged as one of the finest pivots in South Germany. Has played in Under-23 and "B" Internationals.



KLEINBOEHL, Helmut (left-half). Gained international honours as an amateur before joining his present club. 23 years of age.

LOTZ, Oskar (outside-right). Made to appearances in the German "B" team last year. Only 21, he is the youngest of the regular first team and is noted as a winger with a powerful shot.

CONC, Vladimir (inside-right). Joined the Kickers from Dynamo Zagreb, one of the big three clubs of Yugoslavia. He has been capped in eight games for that country. Born 1930.

KRAUS, Engelbert (centre-forward or outside-right). Born 1934. Currently one of the best wingers in Germany, he has been selected for his country's World Cup team in Chile. Has played in three "B" Internationals and five full Internationals.

KAUFHOLD, Gerd (inside-left). Born
1928. Captain and most experienced player of the side. He was outside-right in the West Germany team which lost 3-1 to England at Wembley in December 1954.



GAST, Siegfried (outside-left or centre forward). A speedy winger who is also noted for his accurate shooting. 22 years of age.

PRAXL, Dieter (inside-forward). Was with V.F.B. Stuttgart before joining the Kickers two years ago. 25 years of age.