Derby Day in (East) Berlin…

by Paul Scraton

(Editorial Note: Guest writer Paul Scraton is a Liverpool fan resident in Berlin. Many thanks for this essay!)

It is Sunday the 21st August 2005. All eyes in England are on the early season 'title-decider' between Chelsea and Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. In Germany the Bundesliga sides have entered the cup, and village teams dream of giant killing. But in Berlin there is only one game that matters: an Oberliga North-East North derby between 1.FC Union and BFC Dynamo.

The sky is blue and a relentless sun is beating down on the city. It is great early season football weather, but the police and the football authorities are nervous. It is less than a year until Germany hosts the World Cup, and already preparations have been marred by refereeing scandals and crowd trouble at a recent Germany - Slovenia friendly match. The powers that be are dreading any more negative press, but today they have every right to expect it. To put it simply, Union and Dynamo don't like each other very much.

Today's game may be taking place in the lowly confines of the fourth tier of the German football pyramid, but in East German times Union were arguably (East) Berlin's most popular club, although as any Newcastle supporter will tell you, fanbase does not always mean trophies. Union's solitary honour was winning the East German Cup in 1968, seven years after the Berlin Wall was built. BFC Dynamo on the other hand were the exact opposite, with success in the East German Oberliga coming thick and fast, including ten straight championships between 1979 and 1988.

Problem was, the majority of football fans in East Germany found little to admire about Dynamo. Like many teams sharing that name throughout Eastern Europe, Dynamo was the team of the secret police, which in East Germany meant the Stasi. The head of the Stasi was a nice chap by the name of Erich Mielke, and when he wasn't co-ordinating one of the most thorough spying operations by any nation against its own population he was enjoying the football. Mielke liked to win, and there wasn't a player in East Germany that Dynamo couldn't 'afford' or a referee that couldn't be bribed. Need a penalty in the last minute, Erich? No problem. Now, how about that travel visa? Of course, bribes were not always necessary. Even Mielke's staunchest critics could appreciate that Dynamo had the best players. It was just, when the best wasn't good enough, there was a helping hand behind the scenes, pulling the strings.

It would have been hard for Dynamo to lose in those circumstances, and the corruption was so blatant (and in any case the Stasi connection would have been enough without it) that most football fans were less than enamoured by the team they nicknamed 'the Eleven Shits'. There wasn't much they could do about it of course, but they haven't forgotten, sixteen years after the wall came down. Union fans, who can also add city rivalry in amongst the list of grievances shared by East German football fans in general, absolutely hate Dynamo.

Dynamo lost their 'sponsor' when East Germany collapsed and took the Stasi with it, but Mielke's favourite club gained something else during the 1990s: a bunch of supporters that make old school British hooligans look tame. 'No-one likes us, we don't care' could have been written for the drunk, shaven-headed, neo-nazi (allegedly) thugs that are waiting with us for a train at Alexanderplatz station. A section of society that is vilified by the rest of Germany couldn't have chosen a better club to identify with. They revel in the animosity, baiting opposition fans and the police alike.

They are out in force today, no doubt because it is nearly five years since they've had a confrontation with the old rivals Union. That was for a cup match and there was fighting both inside and outside of the stadium. Add the decades of injustice in the minds of the Union fans to these unsavoury characters, thirty-five degrees sunshine and litres of beer and there was a potentially explosive few hours ahead of us. No wonder the police were nervous.

As were we, standing on the platform, afraid to catch the eye of one of the tanked up meatheads in BFC shirts. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all. One of our party is late, so we let the first train go by. Our friends from Dynamo all get on and an entire station gives out a collective exhale of breath. Thankfully no more materialise by the time the next train arrives and we manage to make the twenty five minute journey in peace, as we pass through various Berlin neighbourhoods to Köpernick, home of Union, in the south-east of the city.

At Köpernick station the police are out in olive-green force, and doing their best to separate the two sets of fans at the bottom of the stairs in order to send them along different routes to the stadium. Union fans and the rest of the general public are sent to the right. Dynamo fans and anyone with a skinhead are sent to the left, which at least shows that the Berlin police have got a sense of humour.

We walk along a tree-lined avenue into the park where Union have their stadium, much more at ease despite the heavy police presence, which includes armoured vehicles and water-cannons. The atmosphere is relaxed, pleasant.

Closer to the stadium and there is a definite buzz in the air. This game is an event, more than just three points and a good start to the season. It is like a cup final and promotion playoff rolled into one, mixed in with history and politics and all the attendant baggage…for the Union fans around us it is clear that this is the most important game of the season.

These are tough times for 1.FC Union. Three seasons ago they were in the Bundesliga 2, jostling for a place at the top table of German football. But two successive relegations have them playing in a league with teams that attract home gates of a couple of hundred, the majority of which are clubs in and around Berlin that most people in Germany's capital don't even know exist.

Indeed, these are tough times for teams from the former East Germany in general. The last remaining representative in the Bundesliga 1, Hansa Rostock, were relegated last May. The top flight has kicked off without a representative of the former East German states for the first time since reunification. The German Football Federation called a crisis meeting but there is not much that can be done. Tough times indeed.

Today however, the level of football is unimportant. 14,000 fans have packed into Union's picturesque 'Alten Försterei' stadium, an increase of 8,000 from their previous home game a fortnight ago. That was another Berlin derby, and there will be a lot of them this season, against a team by the name of Berliner AK 07, but that was nothing compared to this. A couple of characters seem as distinctly shady as the guys we had encountered earlier at the train station, similar hairstyle and tattoos, but in the main this is a mixed crowd, undoubtedly for Union, with a fair sprinkling of day-trippers such as ourselves who have come to check out what all the fuss is about.

Inside the stadium we come face to face with the mass ranks of Dynamo again, around two thousand behind one goal, fenced in from the front, back and sides, surrounded by coppers. It is big game for the Dynamo fans as well, a public act of defiance from the despised. They stand against the railings and send macho gestures out towards their opponents, across the expanse of terracing that Union have sensibly left free. The Union fans, the hard lads at least, reciprocate. Newspaper reports tell of ticket applications for the Dynamo end from other eastern cities, such as Chemnitz, Dresden and Leipzig. Even the Dynamo fanclub is bemused. 'Why do they want to come,' a spokesman is quoted as saying, 'and where are these guys normally?' The thousand-strong police force at the game is probably asking the same question.

Kick-off is scheduled for 2pm, the sun is high in the sky, and there is no roof or other means of shade. It is roasting, and to add to the tension the kick-off has been delayed. Everyone is not in the stadium yet. The terraces fill up but the delay continues, well beyond the ten minutes that were initially announced. We can see the Union players at the mouth of the tunnel and a cheer goes up, but they disappear again. The Dynamo fans have unfurled a huge banner that says 'Berliner Fussball Club Dynamo - Censored' and have all sat down on the terraces. It is uncomfortably hot now, and there is nothing to distract people from the heat. In an attempt to entertain us, and possibly alleviate the tension that has been building all day, the DJ elects to play a steady stream of eighties metal, Nirvana, and Rammstein. Good choice.

A rumour goes around that the delay is being caused by a protest from Dynamo. Apparently the police raided a fanclub event the night before and arrested over a hundred people. The club are upset as the fans are still locked up and won't be released until after the game. The delay continues. Tomorrow we will discover that although the raid story is true, and 180 'known troublemakers' were kept behind bars for the duration of the match, the reason for the delay was much more comedic. Dynamo forgot the shorts for their away strip, and the referee wouldn't let them play in their home ones. The kitman had to drive across Berlin to get them, and got caught in the Saturday traffic.

Eventually the players, all in correct, non-clashing shorts, appear on the field and the game can begin. From the off it is a tetchy, scrappy affair. The first thing you notice at this level is how much slower the pace of the game is, although it could also have a lot to do with the heat. Not much happens for the first quarter of an hour. The players engage in misplaced passes and hopeful punts. The fans trade insults. Then, with 16 minutes on the clock, Union remember that sometimes playing the ball to feet can pay great dividends. Their first fluid move of the match cuts through Dynamo's defence with a series of quick, accurate passes, that leaves goalscorer Mattushka six yards out with an easy finish into the bottom corner. Twelve thousand fans go wild. Two thousand sit down on the terraces again.

Union dominate the rest of the half, and the few breaks that Dynamo can manage do not even threaten the goal. On 34 minutes Union add a second, that is almost identical in its approach as the first, and whenever they get the ball on the ground they cause havoc in the Dynamo defence. Just before halftime though and Union haven't managed to add to their two goals. Dynamo have a freekick on the edge of the area after the lineman adjudged that Union's goalkeeper handled it just outside. It is a good chance, but a goal would be wholly undeserved. Luckily for footballing justice the ball flies over the bar into the grateful arms of the Union spectators, and the referee blows for halftime.

No doubt plans are afoot in the Dynamo dressing room, probably about containment, patience, and how to get back into the game. They came out with purpose, and for two minutes they manage more completed passes than the whole of the first half put together. Sadly they are caught on the break, and with 47 minutes on the clock they have gone three behind. Dynamo heads go down, and what follows is a collapse so complete and total it reminds you of the East German regime following the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Goal after goal thunders into the back of the Dynamo net, and with each strike the levels of delirium amongst the Union fans increases. The songs and chants get louder and louder, mostly directed at the Dynamo fans rather than for their own team. Of course there are regular outings for the club standard, 'Eisern Union' ('Stay Strong Union'), but the two most popular, for today at least, are 'Scheiß Dynamo' (which the Union fans have also printed onto thousands of cards which they wave at regular intervals) and the amusing 'Without Mielke, You've Got No Chance'.

For a while the Dynamo fans try and counter but as the goals pile up they quickly grow disillusioned. Four, five, six - a sweet strike from ex-Germany international Jörg Heinrich - seven, eight…the Union fans are in absolute heaven as their heroes on the field rack up an 8-0 scoreline against the old enemies. Without Mielke, it seems, they really do have no chance.

Unlike in most routs, where the players and fans often get bored of the ease of victory and hardly celebrate the seventh or eighth goals, here at Union each goal is cheered even louder than the last. They came to the stadium today hoping for a victory against the hated Dynamo, and not only were they getting it, the archrivals are being humiliated.

The passion is impressive, if slightly un-nerving. One man, a middle-aged, academic-looking chap has spent most of the game chatting amiably to his equally respectable looking friends. But with each goal he climbs the crush-barriers and for a moment or so launches an impressive volley of invective across at the Dynamo fans. This has nothing to do with the players on the pitch, but everything to do with history, with long-held feelings about Dynamo and everything they have stood for. After he has exhausted his supply of swearwords and turned slightly purple he climbs down to resume his chatting with his pals, until the next goal, and the next unloading of distaste and disgust that the intended recipients can't even hear.

We are enjoying the game, cheering every goal along with the locals, enjoying the entertainment, but with the full time whistle comes a sense of trepidation. The Dynamo fans understandably don't look best pleased. The train ride home could be interesting. Thankfully, as we wouldn't want to run into these guys when they were happy let alone after an eight-nil drubbing, they are kept in the stadium, and by the time they finally let them out we have long gone. The Union fans, on the streets and on the train are understandably happy. They are singing, '8-0, 8-0,' as if they can't quite believe it. They have started the season well, two wins and a draw. Maybe their stay in the fourth league will be a short one.

For Dynamo on the other hand this is a third straight loss to start the season. The Chairman gives the embattled manager a vote of confidence, which if wasn't ominous enough, is followed up with a 'we'll see how the next few results go'. For the German football authorities there is relief as the evening passes without further incident. It also turns out that it is the police that need to do the apologising for the events of the night before. Heavily criticised for their actions in the nightclub when they rounded up Dynamo fans, an apology was not enough, and as more details emerged from what had happened it became clear that had Dynamo protested, it would have been well justified.

The 'hatred of generations', as one Berlin newspaper describes the match the next morning will no doubt continue, in the return match at Dynamo and beyond. But for Union fans the 21st August 2005 offers a new story to add to the memories of stolen championships and bribed officials, a chapter in their shared history where Union came out on top, even if it was an Oberliga North-East North match that most of Germany didn't even know was happening…

'Do you remember the day we beat Dynamo - spit - by eight to nil?'

Date:		21.08.2005 (Sunday) 
Time:		14:00 
Attendance:	14,020 
Stadium:	An der Alten Försterei 

1. FC Union Berlin: 
Glinker - Ruprecht, Heinrich, Kurbjuweit (46. Wunderlich), Kaiser, Bönig, 
Mattuschka (85. Kovulmaz), Grubert (71. Prokoph), Benyamina, Bergner, Persich
 	
BFC Dynamo: 
Brändike - Lenz, Rudwaleit, Dehnert, Zöphel, Schmele (66. Brychzy), Benthien, Jarling, 
Manteufel (66. Marjanovic), Lau, Jakowitz (77. Kayser)

Referee:	Helmut Bley (Sehmatal) 
Linesmen:	Lutz Rosenkranz, Jens Oehme 
Yellow cards:	Glinker, Mattuschka, Grubert - Jarling, Manteufel, Lau 

Scoring:	1:0 Mattuschka (16.), 2:0 Mattuschka (33.), 3:0 Grubert (47.), 4:0 Grubert (68.), 5:0 Benyamina 
(77.), 6:0 Heinrich (80.), 7:0 Benyamina (82.), 8:0 Benyamina (89.) 

Berlin Diary

By Kenny Legg

Note: OK, it's not exactly William Shirer's classic. Kenny Legg is an Englishman and Weymouth fan who decided to take a trip to Berlin to check out some iof the action. Here are his impressions of lower league Berlin football...Many thanks!

My geeky trip began with an excursion to the far south western reaches of the S-Bahn map into the suburbs of Berlin to watch the Oberliga Nord game between Tennis Borrusia (TeBe) Berlin and SV Babelsberg 03. TeBe were a team I had seen during the golden days of 2.Liga on DSF satellite television but who had since fallen on hard times financially. SV Babelsberg were new to me, but a look at Kicker showed them to be in line for promotion to the Regionalliga. I followed a group of Babelsberg fans, wearing the obligatory denim jacket and multiple scarf combo that any self respecting German football fan wears, via a well trodden pathway through a wooded area towards the distant floodlights of the Mommsenstadion.

I am one of the first to arrive at the stadium, which is a large athletics stadium with one covered stand and more police officers on patrol than people at this stage, I pay my 6 Euros entrance fee and I make my way straight to the clubhouse. Refreshingly the bar was populated by the usual assortment of oddballs that populate football club bars in the hours before kick, a mixture of eccentric old people and younger people who are just killing time before they turn into eccentric elderly people. My favorites are the old couple who are dressed head to toe in the latest TeBe sportswear, despite being around 70 years old and having little chance of playing in tonight’s match, no matter how financially threatened TeBe are. It is at this point that a certain realization hits home that even though these people are maybe a little eccentric they haven’t traveled half way across Europe to watch this match and won’t be writing some poorly written article documenting their night out.

The programme reveals, surprisingly, 1 player that I am aware of and seen in the flesh before. Rene Tretschok, who scored against Man Utd in Dortmund's way to the victory in the 1997 Champions League, was in the Babelsberg squad and also scored twice for Cologne in the first German football match I ever saw; a 5-3 win against Wolfsburg in 1997.

A few hundred people are now in the ground, with around half from Babelsberg, with the hilariously self titled ‘TeBe Party Army’ now in attendance and setting up their banners and flags and singing chants led by a man in his early 20’s sporting a purple string vest. As the teams file out from under the main stand the Babelsberg fans reveal a banner celebrating their teams’ imminent escape from the Oberliga and wave a series of giant hands. The Party Army respond by waving some flags around for a while, sadly the match then gets underway and it soon appears that it is up to the Party Army to entertain us.

The Party Army have an array of chants “du kannst zu Hertha gehen” (after a wayward shot from a Babelsberg attacker) and then a series in English, “1 team in Berlin…”, “walking in a TeBe wonderland”, “Come on TeBe”, culminating in a version of God Save The Queen that became “God Save TeBe” that in times gone by would have led to a mass beheading of the Party Army. After 28 minutes TeBe take the lead, flags are furiously waved and then vanish as the Party Army see this as the ideal moment to make the long walk to the toilets.

A rather dull 2nd half is played out, the score remains the same, the Party Army throw a load of toilet roll, wave the flags some more, sing a TeBe-ised version of ‘Caravan of Love’, a flag emblazoned with the slogan “TeBe - Ulster loyal” appears, the match finishes, both teams do that linky arms “Ola” thing in front of their fans that all German teams are required to do not - matter the result and how badly they have played - and then everyone slowly drifts away.

On Saturday I turn up in the town of Köpenick to watch 1. FC Union Berlin play Fortuna Düsseldorf. Köpenick is known for an incident in 1906 when a member of the public, wearing a captains uniform, commandered some army troops, occupied the town hall and then vanished with the money in the building. (Der Hauptmann von Köpenick, theme of a famous play by Carl Zuckmayer and at least 7 film versions, the first in 1906, soon after Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt - the real Hauptmann - pulled off his caper in the first place. - ed.) The town was picturesque and baking in the spring sunshine, but despite this everyone seemed to be sporting scarves with the red and white stripes of Union Berlin, making my printed directions to the ground completely irrelevant.

After another meal of beer and bratwurst I make my way, again, through some woodland to the Alte Försterei, home of Union Berlin and built in 1923. This giant steep sided stadium is flanked by numerous beer and sausage stands, a token fish baguette stand and a German football programme seller with whom I had a rather excited conversation the previous day. I avoided contact in order to try and suppress my nagging suspicion that that man may be a glimpse at my future self.

Once inside and in place on the dilapidated stone stepped, cigarette butt covered terraces of the Stadium it became apparent of a clear sense of community amongst the Union supporters. Handshakes are numerous and everyone seems to know everyone else, this sense of community was no doubt strengthened in the GDR era when a fierce rivalry with the Stasi sponsored BFC-Dynamo developed and being seen as a Union fan could be seen as a small act of defiance. The Union fans are vociferous in their support of their team with almost constant chants of Eiserne, Eisern Union (Iron, Iron Union) and I enjoy the friendly nature of the terraces here.

The match itself was very similar to the previous night’s efforts, with the heat playing a mean defence which suppressed any goal mouth action, or indeed anything more than a gentle jog from both teams. Again there was only one player I was previously aware of with Jörg Albertz, formerly of Glasgow Rangers coming on as a sub for Fortuna and in yet another synergy there is only one goal, which arrives straight from a free kick that deceives the Fortuna keeper. The attendance was a respectable 6,516 which puts Union near the top of the average attendance table, although this is a league in which the amateurs of the top 2 Leagues play in front of tiny crowds.

The inclusion of amateur sides from the top clubs was one that was floated earlier in the season, in a rare moment of consensus between Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho, as a way of letting squad players gain experience of competitive matches, with Germany cited as an example of where this system works well. The reality is very different as many German clubs aren’t happy with the system. Games are played in largely empty stadiums, with the home games of the amateur teams frequently getting less than a thousand spectators, resulting in stadiums with little atmosphere which make it difficult to broker TV deals for lower league coverage. This resentment is highlighted by the banner displayed by Rot Weiss Erfurt fans at my 3rd match of the weekend, hosted by Hertha Berlin II, which called for a separate league for amateur sides.

The match is played at the Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark and not at the usual ground for Hertha II games near the Olympic Stadium. The 30,000 all seater stadium , in Prenzlauer Berg, was used by the DDR to host 10 international games, and as with all the grounds I'd been to there was little escape from the sun - which was a major dissapointment to me as I was still a shade of red that only an ill prepared Brit who has spent too long in the sun can morph into.

The crowd itself is very sparse, Kicker tells me there was 733 people there, which is frankly rubbish for a 4th division match. The crowd is probably split 60:40 in Hertha’s favour and, as usual, there are the array of flags and over excited kids supporting the team. They even had their own songs for the amateur side, although a lot of the match is spent protesting against the management of Hertha Belin by Dieter Hoeness, who must be quacking in his boots at the disapprovement of around 20 teenagers. Fair play to them though, they’ve made some flags, they’ve turned up to support their team and continue to offer encouragement even though the game is dire. The match finishes 1-1, I rejoice at seeing a whole 2 goals in 1 game.

All in all I saw three particularly dull games, which is a little dissapointing, but the fan culture I experienced more than made up for it. I enjoyed watching the TeBe Party Army, the camaredarie on the terraces at Union and even the commitement of the Hertha II fans. I paid roughly the same to watch the 3 matches in total than I would have done to watch my beloved Weymouth FC (5th level), where I would have been charged ridiculous prices for food, been deemed to irresponsible to be allowed a beer in the stadium and forced to sit down and only being allowed to stand up to leave the ground. German fans are treated with a lot more respect than English fans, there isn't an overbearing sense of commercialism at the games I saw, maybe this exists in the Bundesliga but I don't get that feeling. I'm off to Germany again soon and have re-arranged my flights so that I should be able to take in the Regionalliga Nord game between 1.FC Magdeburg and FC. St Pauli. Auf gehts Magdeburg schiess ein Tor…..

The glorious season: Wuppertaler SV 1974-75

Ah yes, the glorious years! I remember them well, as if it was just yesterday. Well, at least as well as I can remember yesterday when I wake up with a hangover after downing shots of tequila and bottles of Mexican beer. But the memory of that wonderous season will last forever!

1974-75, a year full of hope for Wuppertaler SV and the fans. Of course, the legend really began in 1971-72, when WSV crushed the opposition in the Regionalliga West, coasting to a record finish in the old 2nd division. That season our star forward Günter Pröpper scored 52 goals in only 34 league matches, arguably a greater feat than the famed Dixie Dean's 60 with Everton back in Jolly Ol' England in 1927. (BTW, the same year Ruth bopped his legendary 60; must have been a good year for that number.) And then WSV swept through the promotion playoffs, mercilessly destroying the feeble attempts of other hopefuls to offer resistance to WSV's overwhelming superiority. The Lions won every match, a feat never achieved previously nor afterwards...

The first Bundesliga season, 1972-73, was quite a relevation for the top division clubs. Although Bayern München was at the height of it's powers, with the famed Franz Beckenbauer, Paul Breitner, Sepp Maier and Gerd Müller, and was basically untouchable at the top, the many other strong clubs were in for a surprise. WSV put up an enormous effort, and sensationally finished 4th, qualifying for the UEFA Cup. The next season was not quite as successful, but for the 3rd year, 1974-75, with a new coach and some additions, we were ready to make a run at it.

The main question of course had to be: who can stop Bayern? The machine had already won 3 titles in a row, and were fully expected to run the table again. In the first Bundesliga season, WSV had given the Bayern all they could handle, but last year Bayern notched up both wins, as WSV could generate no offense.

WSV brought in some new players to help out. Youngster Franz Gerber came from St.Pauli, to help out legendary Pröpper up front. Also coming were two Hungarian internationals, defender Tamas Krivitz and forward Antal Nagy, along with Janos Bedl to replace the geriatric Horst Buhtz as coach. Of course, the nucleus of the successful squad was still there, of course Pröpper, captain Manni Reichert, Gustl Jung, Kohle, Lömm, Kremer, Stöckl etc. - the base of the squad that had played together so successfully for many years. Also an addition from the previous season, ex-German international Willi Neuberger helped out to strengthen the defense.

The season

So on August 24, it was ready to go. Almost 16,000 fans streamed into the Zoo to see WSV take on MSV Duisburg. We were all standing and cheering, but things did not start out the way we planned on this beautiful day. In fact, that Zebra scumbag Herbert Büssers took advantage of a momentary breakdown in our usually solid defense and snuck in a goal after only 13 minutes. God damn! Bayern is probably already crushing those assholes in Offenbach. (Damn Offenbach cheaters, they should have been kicked out along with those scum in Bielefeld for the Bundesliga-Skandal!) WSV regrouped and viciously attacked those crap Zebras. Finally, after about 35 minutes, veteran Willi Neuberger had moved up front and scored in a scramble after a corner kick. Even! Yeah, we're rolling now! But that was it. Those perennial bottom feeders from Duisburg had managed to hold WSV scoreless for the rest of the match. But there was some consolation over the loud speaker at the end: stunning news from Offenbach: Bayern had gone down in flames! So no losing ground on day 1...

In the next few matches, our defense was solid on the road, at enemies Essen and Düsseldorf. At home, We managed to score a lone goal to see us through in a tough match with traditional enemy Bochum (some of our fondest memories of the 2.division include kicking Bochum's ass in key matches, and pelting their obnoxious flag-waving fans with crap. Not on my watch, buddy!!)

OK this HAD to be it. Face to face with the evil empire from Bavaria. The 3-in-a-row German champion Bayern München comes to town. They were in form too, having won all their matches since the opening loss, even putting 6 past Köln, a strong club that would end up qualifying for UEFA again. Meanwhile, WSV's defense had been solid in the last three games, but we couldn't afford to lose any ground to the Lederhosen.

A large crowd of 23,000 filled the Zoo in a tense match. Why did we have to play in white? That sucks, just because the champs can play in their red? What about our red-blue? Favoritism if you ask me. The match began tense, but soon we were pushing back those crappy Müncheners. Then it happened: 18th minute, "Meister" Pröpper rises high above that bum Schwarzenbeck and lifts a header over that Weisswurst-eater Seppl Maier. 1-0 for WSV!!! The stadium is rocking! What thinks you about that, Herr Beckencrapper?! Meanwhile, Willi Neuberger was having a fierce battle with the Bomber der Nation, Gerd Müler, who had scored over 100 goals in the last three seasons. A raucous first half ended with WSV holding that slim lead. In the 2nd, things got off with a bang, as youngster Franz Gerber slipped through to blast another past der Seppl, 2-0 after 50 minutes! We could not be stopped now, and Georg Jung (no, not Gustl's brother) put in the coup-de-grace only 10 minutes later. The only thing the oompah-musiker could answer with was a lucky shot by Uli Hoeness, now known as the obnoxious Bayern General Manager or something. Who cares? WSV wins brilliantly 3-1 over Bayern, and we're back in the hunt!

The next few matches were tough, as we had a couple of smash-and-grab goals away in Offenbach and Stuttgart, and sandwiched in a great defensive battle against powerful Hertha BSC, shutting them out. Bayern meanwhile lost in Braunschweig, so we inched ever closer. Still, we were on a run of seven straight, but Bayern was keeping pace. Finally, it was getting critical. A couple of days before Xmas, a very cold, miserable day in the Zoo. And the guest was that crap Berlin squad, Tennis Borussia. Hey, we don't play pansy sports here! TeBe was basically 2nd to last. We just HAD to crush them! But only about 7,000 braved the crap circumstances, and we suffered throughout. Why weren't we banging them in? TeBe was obviously watching Serie Ha-ha highlights from Italy, learning catenaccio. We couldn't score. Finally, with only 15 minutes left, Franz Gerber came on for Herbert Stöckl. A third outright forward to go with Pröpper and Gustl Jung. And it worked sensationally. Gerber couldn't even have been warm, and he scored, putting us up! Then a few minutes later, a sigh of relief, as Gerber scored a 2nd to give us the 2-0 victory. We muttered about our poor performance, but at least we got a decent Xmas to look forward to. And we had somewhat mixed emotions as we heard on the loudspeaker that Bayern had won again. It didn't hurt as much, since they kicked the ass of hated rival Fortuna Düsseldorf 4-0...

Well, the return round was beginning with the snow still all around. Travel up to Duisburg to those damn Zebras that had given us so much trouble in the opener. Yeah, even in Meiderich they don't like their club, as only 8,000 bothered to show up against the mighty WSV. Hell, we can take this town! And yet those crap Zebras do it again. This time only 3 minutes in and Lehmann scores. We're down 0-1. But this affront is immediately answered by Gerber (again! Maybe they should name some baby food or something after him?). Less than 60 seconds later it's 1-1. Take that! Now WSV is coming out and playing with full confidence. On the half-hour mark, Jürgen Galbierz scores a rare goal and puts us in the lead. We'll never trail these suckers again! And as we cheered our great performance, we heard another shocker: Bayern had lost, at home, once again to Offenbach. We're creeping up!

Again the next few weeks in prep for the trip to München saw some decent play. Another defensive struggle with Essen, and then the offense got in gear, putting in a couple of goals each against Bochum and Düsseldorf. And the combo was newcomer Lothar Dupke and that man Gerber again. Then the match in the Olympia stadion. We were under pressure, but resisted fiercely. Dupke made it three against Bayern, but that only could blot out Gerd Müller's strike. Well you can't stop der Bomber for ever. Unfortunately, that game I missed due to some inconsiderate relative dying or something.

Our next match was against those fiercesome Offenbacher Kickers, twice conquerers of Bayern. The WSV defense was superb, keeping the clean slate. Those bribing bums were KO...

Nevertheless, the pattern was repeated. We could just not gain ground on Bayern, even a 3 game mini shutout streak against Köln, Hamburg and Schalke, couldn't gain us ground. After a smash and run away goal by Kremer late at Braunschweig (hey, Jägermeister sucks!), we also put in braces against Bremen, Gladbach and Frankfurt. And of course, we wrapped it up by easily shutting out those worthless damn tennis players in Berlin.

So it all came down to the final match. WSV would host tough Kaiserslautern, and Bayern was at home to Hamburg. The cards didn't seem to be in our favor, but nevertheless, thousands of Wuppertalers streamed into the Zoo-Stadion to see the fight. And once again, it was my hero, Franz Gerber, who opened the scoring after only 10 minutes. But FCK was giving us trouble, and their superb Swedish international Ronnie Hellström was one of the best keepers in the league. But at halftime, a great roar went up from the crowd. Bayern was trailing 0-1 to Hamburg! This gave WSV a 2nd set of lungs, and we threw caution into the wind. Fired on by the massive crowd, the Lions attacked in waves. After about an hour, once again it was Lothar Dupke that put in our second. Then finally, it was complete: with only a few minutes left, everybody's favorite in the 'Tal, veteran Günter Pröpper, scored the team's last goal of the season, his 39th. WSV had done it! And when the loudspeaker announced that Hamburg had indeed held on against the fierce Bayern attacks, we left the stadium in exhaustion, stunned but happy as we knew we had witnessed an truly extraordinarty campaign.

Epilogue:

OK, I lied. Well, not really. If you get technical, everything I wrote in this article is TRUE. The only slight criticism that you could level is that I neglected to point out some minor details which led to the following: WSV FINISHED DEAD LAST! Yep, look at the table:

Bundesliga 1974-75 

 1. Borussia Mönchengladbach     34  21  8  5  86:40  +46 	50-18
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 2. Hertha BSC Berlin            34  19  6  9  61:43  +18 	44-24 
 3. Eintracht Frankfurt (P)      34  18  7  9  89:49  +40	43-25 
 4. Hamburger SV                 34  18  7  9  55:38  +17 	43-25 
 5. 1. FC Köln                   34  17  7 10  77:51  +26 	41-27
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 6. Fortuna Düsseldorf           34  16  9  9  66:55  +11 	41-27 
 7. FC Schalke 04                34  16  7 11  52:37  +15 	39-29 
 8. Kickers Offenbach            34  17  4 13  72:62  +10 	38-30 
 9. Eintracht Braunschweig (N)   34  14  8 12  52:42  +10 	36-32 
10. FC Bayern München (M)        34  14  6 14  57:63  -6 	34-34 
11. VfL Bochum                   34  14  5 15  53:53   0 	33-35 
12. SC Rot-Weiß Essen            34  10 12 12  56:68  -12 	32-36 
13. 1. FC Kaiserslautern         34  13  5 16  56:55  +1 	31-37 
14. MSV Duisburg                 34  12  6 16  59:77  -18 	30-38 
15. SV Werder Bremen             34   9  7 18  45:69  -24 	25-43 
16. VfB Stuttgart                34   8  8 18  50:79  -29 	24-44
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17. Tennis Borussia Berlin (N)   34   5  6 23  38:89  -51 	16-52 
18. WUPPERTALER SV	     	 34   2  8 24  32:86  -54 	12-56 

But once again, soccer reporting is viewed through the prism of rose-tinted glasses...