Rudolf Noack

Rudolf "Rudi" Noack (30 March 1913 – 30 June 1947) was a German footballer who played as a forward and playmaker. An attacking player for Hamburger SV, he participated in six Northern German championships between 1932 and 1945. As a wartime guest player with First Vienna FC, he won the Tschammerpokal in 1943 and two Austrian championships in 1943 and 1944. In HSV's official statistics from 1931 to 1945, Noack is credited with 193 league appearances and 233 goals.

Early life

Noack grew up on the "Mopsberg" in Harburg, on the then Elisenstraße (today Baererstraße), where he played street football with neighbourhood children, including future HSV teammates Richard Dörfel and Friedo Dörfel. He came from a working-class background; his father was a labourer at the Phoenix rubber works. He began his youth football career at the ATSB club Herta 09 Harburg before moving to Rasensport Harburg and then, in 1931, to SV Harburg.

On his debut for SV Harburg, he scored five goals in a 6–4 victory over Victoria in the Northern Championship. This exceptional talent quickly became the talk of the city and a topic of interest at the Rothenbaum (HSV's home ground).

In May 1932, he played his first two of an eventual 23 German football championship final-round matches (in which he scored 16 goals), appearing against VfL Benrath (3–1) and FC Schalke 04 (2–4). In June 1932, unemployed at the time, he and Richard Dörfel joined Kölner CfR. They returned in November 1932, but the Western German Football Association imposed a ban on both former Cologne players until April 1933. While Dörfel was released early and able to resume playing for HSV from 27 November 1932, Noack remained suspended until November 1933, only receiving an amnesty in time for the start of the 1933–34 season.

The Fußball-Lexikon Hamburg records a remark attributed to Ernst Happel, who had seen Noack play several times as a wartime guest player for Vienna: that apart from Matthias Sindelar, Austria's most famous footballer of all time, Noack was better than the stars of the celebrated Wunderteam.

Suspension (1940–1941)

In April 1940, Noack was expelled from the National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise (NSRL) for unspecified personal misconduct. He was barred from competition for the entirety of the 1940–41 season and managed only three league appearances (two goals) in 1939–40, returning to the HSV first team during the course of the 1941–42 season. Four months earlier, with the same side, he had finished fourth in the final round of the 1942–43 German football championship. In total, he played six final-round matches for Vienna across the 1943 and 1944 championships, scoring three goals.

International career

Noack won three caps for the Germany national football team, scoring one goal. He made his debut on 14 January 1934 in Frankfurt, in a 3–1 victory over Hungary, alongside fellow debutant centre-forward Edmund Conen. It was Germany's last match before their World Cup qualifier against Luxembourg on 11 March.

Noack died in captivity on 30 June 1947, aged 34, at Rakitianka near Orsk in the Urals.

Honours

Hamburger SV Northern German football championship: winner (multiple, 1932–1945)

First Vienna FC (wartime guest) Tschammerpokal: 1943 Austrian championship: 1943, 1944

Nordmark regional select Reichsbundpokal: 1938