After the 2014 title, SV Hönnepel-Niedermörmter experienced a special highlight. In the test it was against Ajax Amsterdam with the coaching team Frank de Boer and Dennis Bergkamp.
In 2013/14, SV Hönnepel-Niedermörmter experienced the best season in the club’s history. After finishing 14th in the previous year, Georg Mewes led the team to the championship in the Oberliga Niederrhein. Nevertheless, promotion to the Regionalliga West failed to materialize.
“We didn’t get promoted because of the infrastructure. We would have fulfilled all the licenses. You can see what kind of team we put together in three years. That was really good,” says the former coach, looking back on that time.
At that time, his team caused a sensation with its offensive soccer: “We always wanted to score goals, so we didn’t play across or backwards, but forwards. But that wasn’t modern. Ball possession soccer was modern, but we scored the goals,” recalls Mewes, who could rely above all on goal scorer Andre Trienenjost, who contributed 29 of Hö.-Nie.’s 80 goals.
Hö.-Nie. shoots down WSV am Zoo
The most memorable match of the season came on matchday 22, when Hö.-Nie. were guests of Wuppertaler SV, who were struggling to return to the Regionalliga following their forced relegation (insolvency). “That’s when we won 5:1 in Wuppertal. They thought they were in the wrong stadium,” laughs Mewes. 3,110 spectators watched Hö.-Nie.’s gala performance at the Stadion am Zoo.
But the real highlight was to follow during the subsequent summer break. Because spontaneously the upper league master was requested for a test play under exclusion of the public against the Netherlands champion Ajax Amsterdam. “There I was called at short notice, because I have a contact in the Netherlands. At 40 degrees in the shade, we had to go to Utrecht at nine in the morning,” Mewes remembers.
“They asked us if we could come by bus. So I explained to them that we didn’t have a bus and that everyone from Oberhausen was going by private car. They just said, “Oh, my God,” laughs Mewes, who was particularly impressed by the Dutch staff. “Frank de Boer was coach, Marc Overmar’s technical director and my favorite player Dennis Bergkamp, who was co-trainer. You can imagine, I didn’t even see the game of us, I only took pictures,” jokes the coach. “These were, after all, idols for me, whom I always watched during Ajax’s European Cup days.”
On a par with world stars
Those idols did not meet Hö.-Nie. from above, however, but at eye level, as Mewes recalls. “Frank de Boer even knew we were champions. I was quite surprised that they had inquired like that, but he said to me `We don’t underestimate any opponent.’ So of course we were all really proud. “
The premier league team also had reason to be proud of its own performance, as the 0-6 defeat was more than respectable. “Up until halftime, we could have been leading 2:1,” Mewes looks back. Daniel Boldt put a shot against the crossbar and forced goalkeeper Peter Leeuwenburgh into a brilliant save on another attempt. Trienenjost also came close twice, while at least at the back the zero held until the 39th minute.
“We had only two men on the bench, while Ajax changed the whole team. There we thought, now we have weathered the storm, the others can not be so good. But then Ace and King came on the pitch again.”
And so the Dutch team pushed the result a little higher – but that couldn’t dampen the mood at Hö.-Nie. on this special day.