Been at ZSC for 50 years: Material Manager Schrag once even made the line-up

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Peter Schrag (76) leafs through an album and looks at old articles about him and the ZSC. His wife Käthi lovingly cut them out and collected them. The materials manager started at the ZSC in August 1973. He will be honored on Tuesday before the home match against Biel. And it’s not the only 50th anniversary. He and Käthi will celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in October.

The well-organized professional operation of today cannot be compared to Schrag’s early days, when there were only three training sessions a week and he still visited the players’ houses. The ZSC was poor and fluctuated between Nati A and B. Titles only came 27 years later.

In the beginning, the former FC Thalwil football goalkeeper had to take care of everything. He bought the first washing machine himself and with the Bernina sewing machine, from his wife’s trousseau, he still meticulously ensures that there are no holes in his stockings. A matter of honor.

Schrag received a penalty twice

The trained painter is usually the first in the stadium when he starts his work at 6:30 am. However, he has long left the work at away games to his colleagues Michael Rüetschi and Stefan Julmy.

Nowadays ‘Schräge’, as almost everyone calls him, often watches home games on TV. “You can see it better there,” he says. “It always makes me more irritated.” In the past, when he was still standing next to the bench, he would express his anger loudly or with gestures and wave him off if he didn’t like a decision. “I got a penalty twice. Once in Kloten and once in the Hallenstadion,” he remembers. The referee was the same twice: Brent Reiber.

The referees also responded verbally when Schrag shouted “Scandal!” called out. shouted. Danny Kurmann, who was his friend, countered: “Have d Schnurrä, Schräge!” Schrag emphasizes that he has always had a good relationship with the referees. To this day, he still prepares everything in the referee’s locker room and takes care of their well-being.

Players have also had to listen to a lot from the gnarled institution over the years. “When I get a goal between my legs, I know that Schräge is the first person I hear from,” said the now retired three-time champion goalkeeper Lukas Flüeler (34), who had the equipment manager immortalized on his mask 2020. Former Nati defender Edgar Salis (53) threw a water bottle at Schrag during a match when it became too much for him. This has not affected the good relationship. Salis, later a successful sports director and now youth director of the Lions, and Schrag still smoke together in front of the arena.

In the old covered stadium, Schrag smoked his Brissago in the catacombs. This is no longer possible in the Swiss Life Arena. “There are smoke detectors everywhere,” says the man, who usually has a straw in the corner of his mouth.

“I still have something to do”

Schrag was often referred to as a secret trainer. “That’s what it was always called,” he says dryly and tells with a smile that he once changed the line-up – and won the ZSC 3-1. Coach Lasse Lilja (†1998) obviously didn’t feel like it. Schrag allegedly said to him: “Don’t get angry. I’ve been in the Hallenstadion longer than you anyway.” In the next game, the Swede again put together the line-up himself, the ZSC lost. And Schrag was right: after Christmas 1978, Lilja was released from the B league team – and Arosa led it to the championship title next season.

Lilja wasn’t the only one he crossed swords with. Hans Zach (74) did not like that Schrag was puffing in his room and, according to Schrag, had an unfounded suspicion that players were treating themselves to a beer there before training. Schrag chased the ‘Alpine volcano’ from his realm.

Although he says the players have become “mimosas” and are treated for every bruise, Schrag is not one to mourn the past. He also likes the new arena in Zurich-Altstetten very much. Stop? No. “I still have something to do,” he says. The ZSC would no longer be the same club without the man with the hard shell and the soft core.

Source : Blick