Turn- und Sportverein Helene 1928 e.V. Essen-Altenessen, to offer their full title, is a football club based in the Altenessen district of the West German city of Essen that was formed in 1928 with a close connection to the nearby collieries at Amalie and Helene.
After starting out in regional football, prior to German football being divided into sixteen top tier divisions under the rule of the Third Reich from 1933. Helene were placed in the second level Bezirksliga Niederrhein.
The team ended top of Gruppe 1 in 1939-40 play-offs to win promotion to the Gauliga, which they won at the first attempt in 1940-41 but didn’t progress any further in the Deutsche Fußballmeisterschaft, German national championship.
August Berst was the star striker of the day at Stadion Bäuminghausstraße as the team ended as runners up of Gauliga Niederrhein in 1942-43 before finishing third twelve months later. 1944-45 was the final season of the competition. Helene ended in fourth.
The club temporarily dissolved at the end of the War before coming back as VfR 1928 Essen playing in Bezirk Ruhr of Bezirksklasse Niederrhein in the 1946-47 season to decide which level clubs should play in the following year.
VfR were placed in the second tier Gruppe 3 of Landesliga Niederrhein, finishing in third place in 1947-48 at which point the club returned to the title of TuS Helene Essen as they ended as runners-up of Gruppe 2 in 1948-49.
In Gruppe 1, Helene finished third in 1949-50 prior to a return to Gruppe 2 in 1951-52 and then Gruppe 3 twelve months later in which the team ended in third place, which was repeated in 1953-54.
The team remained in the Landesliga in 1956-57 although the competition had dropped down a level following the introduction of Verbandsliga Niederrhein. The club began to struggle as the local mining industry gradually diminished.
Future famous head coach Otto Rehhagel began his career at Helene as a junior before progressing the first team and then to Rot-Weiss Essen. He would later manage the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Bayern München before taking Greece to the Euro 2004 title.
The club continued in Gruppe 3 of the then fourth tier Landesliga after the formation of the Bundesliga right throughout the 70’s until dropping down further to Kreisliga football. However, Helene would battle back in the 1980’s.
Promotions were won in 1980-81, 1981-82 and 1982-83 as the club returned to Verbandsliga Niederrhein. The team consolidated and improved from tenth place to end sixth in 1984-85 under head coach Werner Moos.
Alense were crowned as champions in 1985-86 as Oliver Vössing led the scoring charts leading to promotion to Ruhrbezirksliga where the team struggled as Wolfgang Priester took over as coach.
The relative success didn’t continue as the club found itself being relegated three times, as Jürgen Zupanc coached the side in Kreisliga A in 1991-92 before Moktar El-Karoui took over team affairs. Grigorios Ntinopolous was next in the hot seat for the 1993-94 campaign.
The club continued to look for success with the appointment of Gerd Hohrein as head coach in 1994-95 who was succeeded by Dietmar Klinger. The side climbed a level to the Bezirksliga with coach Jürgen Lucas taking his side to runners-up in Gruppe 4 in 1999-00.
The same position was achieved the following season before they lifted the title in 2001-02 with Gordon Ribnikar leading the scoring. Helene put together two mid-table finishes in Landesliga Gruppe 1 prior to former player Vössing taking over as head coach.
His side was relegated in 2006-07 but the club kept faith and were rewarded as the team bounced back to lift their Bezirksliga title at the first attempt. After a fifth place finish Helene were relegated in 2009-10 as Sascha Fischer replaced Vössing.
A season of consolidation was followed by a disastrous 2011-12 campaign when the club went through three coaches as the team were relegated in bottom place to drop down to the eighth tier Kreisliga A.
Olaf Rehman’s side failed to lodge a challenge for promotion before he shared duties. The policy ended in 2016-17 as Helene were relegated to Kreisliga B as Sven Schmiedel had a solitary season in charge of the team.
The team finished fifth in the Gruppe 1 2018-19 campaign which saw four different coaches try their hand. The duo of Markus Traud and Mehmet Cetin had their spell in charge of the team trying to escape the ninth tier disrupted by the Coronavirus pandemic.
TuS Helene Essen will play in Kreisliga B Gruppe 2 Essen in the 2020-21 season.
Friday 28th August 2020
My brief trip to Western Germany was going swimmingly well with my first ever visit to the city of Essen throwing up some pleasant surprises. I had a few hours to kill before heading south to Köln to meet up with friends for some evening football.
I’d got up early after a good night sleep at GHOTEL hotel & living feeling adventurous and trying to seek out some of the larger football venues in the city. Or at least those with a Wikipedia entry, as that generally meant that they were either a club of substance or with an interesting history.
It threw up my first choice of BV Altenessen from where I managed to grab some photos from over the fence in the pretty Kaiser-Wilhelm-Park before I had a walk south towards Stadion Bäuminghausstraße along Altenessener Straße. I saw the home of Helene from the busy crossroads by Altenessen U Bahn station.
I headed along Hövelstraße hoping to find a way inside the stadium which had a couple of artificial pitches inside the complex as well as the main arena. One gate was open where groundsmen were carrying out their tasks inside. I decided to go for it while they were at the other end.
No damage was done as I walked up the steps to see a fine old arena with its running track and fine main stand which had grabbed my attention when deciding whether a visit was worth it or not. Three sides had banked terracing, while the pitch was set up with posts for American Football.
I departed and walked round past a sign directing football traffic to Stadion Essen just over a mile away. Going along Bäuminghausstraße I came across the open main gates and several disused ticket office hatches. Further up was the Helene clubhouse.
My walk continued a few minutes to the Bäuminghausstraße U Bahn station from where I headed back to Essen station to grab some food before boarding the train to enjoy some sightseeing and refreshments in Köln.
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