Alois Eisenträger

Alois Eisenträger
Personal information
Full name Alois Bernhard Eisenträger
Date of birth (1927-07-16)16 July 1927
Place of birth Hamburg, Germany
Date of death 10 August 2017(2017-08-10) (aged 90)
Place of death Clevedon, England
Position Inside forward
Youth career
Hamburger SV
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1948 Herne Bay
1948–1949 Trowbridge Town
1949–1958 Bristol City 228 (57)
1958–1959 Merthyr Tydfil
1959–1961 Chelmsford City 42 (20)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Alois Bernhard "Alec" Eisenträger (16 July 1927 – 10 August 2017)[1] was a German footballer who played as an inside forward.[2]

Career

Eisenträger was made a prisoner of war aged 16, spending the rest of World War II at various different POW camps, up to 1949. Ending finally at a POW camp near Trowbridge, England. He started playing for Trowbridge Town and then in 1949 moved to Bristol City, scoring four goals against Newport County in September of that year. Thus, he was the first German to sign professional papers and play for a British team after World War II. Becoming an integral part of a professional British football team, even before the famous Bert Trautmann moved to Manchester City, who had written to Alois asking him to get him a job as a goalkeeper at Bristol City, with the club declining as they had three goalkeepers already. He gained promotion with the Robins to the Second Division in 1955. Until he left for Merthyr Tydfil in 1958 he had appeared in 246 games for Bristol City, netting 57 times.[3] In 1959, Eisenträger signed for Chelmsford City, making his debut in a 2–2 home draw against Worcester City on 22 August 1959, becoming the joint 250th player to represent the club.[4] Whilst at Chelmsford, Eisenträger scored 23 goals in 54 appearances in all competitions across two seasons.[5] Following his spell at Chelmsford, despite numerous offers from other non-league clubs, Eisenträger retired.[6][7]

Personal life

After being surrendered by his commanding officer, previously a World War II officer, on an airfield in Breda, the Netherlands, Eisenträger came to England as a teenager. In the early 1950s, Eisenträger married Olwyn Kenna from Pembroke Dock, Wales, having four children with her. After his football career, they moved to Clevedon, where Eisenträger remained until his death in 2017.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Alec Eisentrager 1927–2017". bcfc.co.uk. 11 August 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  2. ↑ Football League career stats at Neil Brown – Bristol City players
  3. ↑ "Bristol City career summary". Archived from the original on 10 November 2007. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
  4. ↑ "Blog Number 7". The Chelmsford City Historian. 11 July 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  5. ↑ Steven Garner & David Selby (2001) Wheel 'em in: The Official History of Chelmsford City Football Club ISBN 9780954133009
  6. ↑ "City may be unable to meet Germans", Bristol Evening Post, 29 July 1961, p. 27
  7. ↑ "Hamborn match is £100 loss", Bristol Evening Post, 14 April 1962, p. 34
  8. ↑ Streppelhoff, R. (2009). Zwei Deutsche in England: Die Fußballkarrieren von Bernd Trautmann und Alois Eisenträger. SportZeiten. Sport in Geschichte, Kultur und Gesellschaft, p. 44.

Further reading

  • Harris, N. (2006). The Foreign Revolution. How Overseas Footballers Changed the English Game. London: Aurum Press Ltd.
  • Ramsden, J. (2006). Don't Mention the War. The British and the Germans since 1890. London: Little, Brown Book Group.
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