The Bezirksliga Main-Hessen was the highest association football league in the German state of Hesse and the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from 1923 to 1927, when the league was replaced by the Bezirksliga Main-Hessen.
Overview The league was formed in 1923, after a league reform which was decided upon in Darmstadt, Hesse.History of the Offenburger Fußballverein (in German) Page 5, accessed: 23 July 2008 It replaced the Kreisliga Nordmain and the Kreisliga Südmain as the highest leagues in the region. Apart from clubs from Hesse, with the Viktoria Aschaffenburg, the league also included one club from Bavaria.
The Bezirksliga Main, named after the river Main, started out with eight teams, playing each other in a home-and-away round with the league winner advancing to the Southern German championship, which in turn was a qualification tournament for the German championship.
The league modus remained unchanged for its first three seasons, 1923–24, 1924–25 and 1925–26. For its last edition however, it expanded to ten clubs. Additionally, the leagues runners-up also qualified for a "consolidation" round with the other runners-up of the southern Bezirksligas. The winner of this round was awarded the third entry spot for the south to the German finals.
In an attempt to bring all Southern German leagues to a similar system, the Bezirksligas were reorganised in 1927. For the Bezirksliga Main, this meant, it joined with the northern clubs of the Bezirksliga Rheinhessen-Saar to form the new Bezirksliga Main-Hessen. In practice, this meant little change for the league as the new Bezirksliga was immediately sub-divided into two independent, regional divisions. Out of the ten clubs in the league, nine went to the new Bezirksliga Main-Hessen - Main division, only the VfL Neu-Isenburg found itself grouped into the Hessen division of the new league.
National success
Southern German championship Qualified teams and their success: 1924: FSV Frankfurt, 5th place 1925: FSV Frankfurt, 3rd place 1926: FSV Frankfurt, 3rd place 1927: Eintracht Frankfurt, 3rd place Bezirksliga-runners-up round FSV Frankfurt, 3rd place
German championship Qualified teams and their success: 1924: none qualified 1925: FSV Frankfurt, Final 1926: FSV Frankfurt, Quarter final 1927: none qualified
Founding members of the league The league was formed from eight teams: FSV Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt FC Hanau 93 Helvetia Frankfurt Kickers Offenbach SC Bürgel Viktoria Aschaffenburg SpVgg Offenbach
Winners and runners-up of the Bezirksliga Main SeasonChampionsRunners-Up 1923–24 FSV Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt 1924–25 FSV Frankfurt Kickers Offenbach 1925–26 FSV Frankfurt FC Hanau 93 1926–27 FSV Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt
Placings in the Bezirksliga Main 1923 to 1927 Club 1924 1925 1926 1927 FSV Frankfurt 1 1 1 1 Eintracht Frankfurt 2 5 4 2 FC Hanau 93 3 4 2 6 Helvetia Frankfurt 4 3 8 Kickers Offenbach 5 2 3 3 SC Bürgel 6 8 Viktoria Aschaffenburg 7 7 9 SpVgg Offenbach 8 Union Niederrad 6 5 8 VfR Frankfurt 7 Germania 94 Frankfurt 6 7 Rot-Weiß Frankfurt 4 VfL Neu-Isenburg 5 Viktoria Hanau 10 Source: The Helvetia Frankfurt and VfR Frankfurt merged in 1926 to form Rot-Weiß Frankfurt.
References
Sources Fussball-Jahrbuch Deutschland (8 vol.), Tables and results of the German tier-one leagues 1919–33, publisher: DSFS Kicker Almanach, The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine Süddeutschlands Fussballgeschichte in Tabellenform 1897-1988 History of Southern German football in tables, publisher & author: Ludolf Hyll
External links The Gauligas Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv German league tables 1892-1933 Hirschi's Fussball seiten Germany - Championships 1902-1945 at RSSSF.com