The game of their lives
Friday 13 July 2007
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Memories of a glorious past are being revived at Hanau (©FC Hanau 1893)
It is the game fans have been waiting more than a century to see. Berlin's BFC Viktoria 1889 and FC Hanau 1893 from near Frankfurt will meet over two legs in the next fortnight to finally decide the German title - of 1894. "It's going to be the game of our lives," Hanau chairman Thomas Tamberg told uefa.com.
Before the DFB
The first official championship recognised by the German Football Association (DFB) is that of 1902/03, with VfB Leipzig taking the honours following a 7-2 win against DFC Prag in the national final. The competition remained a knockout affair for regional representatives until the Bundesliga began in 1963. In fact, it was only in 1900 that the DFB was founded in Leipzig, with both Hanau and Viktoria among the 86 founder members. But, as their full club names suggest, organised soccer did not just suddenly appear from nowhere at the start of the 20th century, and a number of different local organising bodies existed, including the Berlin-based German Football and Cricket Association (DFuCB), set up in 1890.
Default title
From 1892 the DFuCB had organised its own championship, but two years later it decided to inaugurate a national competition. The South German Football Association (SFU) was invited to put up their best team against DFuCB champions Viktoria. In lieu of a tournament of its own, the SFU picked Hanau to challenge the north's finest. There was a problem though - both teams were keen to stage the final, with the 400km journey no small matter in those days. Viktoria, having actually qualified to play on the pitch, were selected, but Hanau were unable to raise the funds to travel to Berlin. So the capital club, who in those amateur days used to fine their players for every defeat, were awarded the title by default.
Decline
However, those heady days have proved hard to recapture for either side. Viktoria did win DFB-sanctioned championship in 1908 and 1911, but went into decline, missing out on the formation of the Bundesliga. They currently play in the fifth level of German football. Hanau, once tantalisingly close to the national title have fallen even further. Prior to World War II they were champions of Southern Germany, they had a revival in the late 1970s to make the 2. Bundesliga South, but now languish in the seventh-tier Bezirksliga Hanau. In October last year the idea was born to finally play that much-postponed showdown of 1894, and both clubs were persuaded to take up the challenge.
Enthusiasm
"After 112 years, we have now saved enough money to make the trip", said Tamberg. "We now want to decide matters on the pitch." His Viktoria colleague, Sven Leistikow, was equally enthusiastic. "We have been trying for years to get that match started, but have never received an answer from Hanau," Leistikow said. "The losers will respect the winners as the moral champions of 1894." In keeping with the historical nature of the fixtures, the games will be played with an original hand-sewn leather ball, and players will don old-style jerseys and knickerbockers. But that is not to say that the matches will be taken lightly. "We will respect the dignity of the final of the first German football championship and try to do justice to the incredibly long tradition of German football and our clubs," pledged Leistikow.
Media interest
However, neither club could have predicted the interest their encounter would spark, generating coverage that would far eclipse whatever may have been garnered had the match been played as originally scheduled. Media have clamoured to cover the event, with television crews coming from as far afield as Brazil, and the DFB has added its backing. "I think it's a great idea to find moral winners for that match after such a long time," said DFB president Theo Zwanziger. "This final once again underlines the great tradition of football in Germany."
Clamour for tickets
Tamberg, whose club usually play in front of 50-100 fans, are ready for a crowd far in excess of that in their Herbert-Dröse-Stadion for the first leg on 21 July a week before the return at Berlin's Friedrich-Ebert-Stadion. "It is a big chance for the clubs, a once in a lifetime event for members, fans and players alike," Tamberg said. "We are expecting anything between 3,000 and 5,000 spectators at our stadium. We have so far sold 1,200 tickets and that's even before we have started really promoting the event. Five thousand people would be crazy, but it could happen." However, Tamberg's cheeky suggestion that the victors receive a UEFA Champions League berth might not…
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