Next weekend, while walking in Unterhaching’s local park, you can observe something that hasn’t existed in the community for a good 80 years: groups throwing metal plates at a square block of wood. It is clear to those in the know that, despite the similar course of the game, it is not just an angular variant of the park game boule. No, this traditional Bavarian game is more or less well-known under the name “Steckäplattln”. Even the knowledgeable district home nurse for the district of Munich, Christine Heinz, has never heard of the game. This is probably due to the fact that the throwing game is rarely played today, except within a 20-kilometer radius around the Schliersee. The Sauerlach local chronicler Helmut Berthold still remembers that the Steckäplattln was a custom in his childhood, i.e. in the forties and fifties. “Due to the changes in leisure activities and increasing mobility, nobody has been interested in the Steckäplattln since the 1960s,” says the chronicler.
The “Plattl” is a metal plate, ten by ten centimeters in size and one centimeter thick, which is usually made of lead or iron. One of four corners of the launcher is rounded to give the launcher a better grip. The teams consist of four players and try to throw their metal plate as close as possible to the wooden “Steckä” (old Bavarian for stick) 13 meters away. The winner is the team whose Plattl has the shortest distance to the Steckä. To give yourself an advantage, the opposing Plattl can be thrown out. “However, this is much more difficult with the “Stäplattln” than with boules, because the “Plattl” are often stuck deep in the lawn,” explains Klaus Zeitler from 1. FC Plattler from Miesbach. He has been with the club since it was founded in 1991 and since then he has been “platting” once a week with his 15 club colleagues. Around the Schliersee, where the game is said to have originated, there is even the Steckäplattl league, in which the best of the ten teams is determined every year.
The once forgotten game was revived at least regionally, even if it is a niche sport. Therefore, mass production of the throwing device would probably not be very lucrative, the players have to order their plates from the blacksmith. And they are not for untrained limbs: “My Plattl weighs exactly 770 grams,” says Zeitler, who weighed his Plattl for the first time in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung. So it weighs about as much as a decent loaf of farmhouse bread. It doesn’t sound that difficult at first, but over a distance of 13 meters it’s anything but a flyweight. It is therefore not surprising that one of the most important rules from the official Steckäplattler manual is that only in one direction may be thrown. The amateur plattler suspects that the weight combined with the long throwing distance could be a reason for the lack of women in this sport. “The older folks even drill holes in their plates to make them lighter,” he says. “That wasn’t allowed in the past, but today it’s okay.”
Norbert Göttler is the district home attendant and is familiar with the Steckäplattln.
(Photo: Toni Heigl)
What the Tegernsee regional press dubbed the “secret sport of the locals” comes from the old farming days and was probably mostly played by keeper boys, as Norbert Göttler tells us. The special thing about the Steckäplattln is that the original children’s game has also found its way into the everyday life of adults, according to the local curator. “Otherwise, adults tended to be averse to children’s games and they didn’t have much free time anyway,” says Göttler. When grown-ups drank, it was probably for a round of beers or pennies. According to Göttler, it is unlikely that one gambled away one’s fortune at the Steckäplattln because it took place in daylight. “When it comes to Schafkopf or Tarock, it’s more likely that you’ve gambled away your entire yard”. Göttler suspects that the Steckäplattln was popular at the same time as the curling, the counting of which is the same as that of the Steckäplattln. Reason to assume that the Steckäplattln could have been a typical game of the autumn season, which contributed to the amusement of the agricultural population after the harvest season but before the onset of winter. Göttler assumes that the Plattln died out with the end of rural agriculture in the post-war period.
Despite regional resuscitation, there is a big problem with the youngsters today. Most of the players are already over 60, says Zeitler. “We would like to have more offspring.” Because the charm of the game comes from the sociability: “You exchange ideas and drink a glass of beer together,” says the Plattler.
The CSU member of the state parliament appreciates the togetherness at the Steckäplattl tournament.
(Photo: Sebastian Gabriel)
The conviviality punctually at the beginning of the election campaign is probably also the reason why the Unterhachinger CSU invites to the Steckäplattl tournament in the local park next Saturday. The CSU member of the state parliament and former transport minister Kerstin Schreyer has been an enthusiastic platter for over twenty years, ever since she first took part in the annual CSU Plattln in Sauerlach. “I just find this type of game a really nice way of getting together,” says Schreyer, “that’s why I really wanted to organize it in my home community.” She sees an opportunity for young and old to make contact and find a new form of togetherness in the “hopefully post-pandemic phase”. Anyone who would like to plattln themselves can do so on October 15 at 2 p.m. together with the Unterhachinger CSU. If the weather is dry, the meeting point is in the local park in Unterhaching. Afterwards we will have a barbecue together.