It was a crazy development: TSV Böbrach, based in the Regen district, has been considered the most unsuccessful football club in Bavaria for years, but that’s exactly why it has achieved cult status. Once the Böbracher lost a game with 0:27, they seldom conceded less than ten goals. Last season they scored just four goals in the A-Class Viechtach. And that despite the fact that some fans on the sidelines, with their fingers in beer bottles, had great advice ready: “You just have to play more forwards.”
It’s no wonder that there was great jubilation when Böbracher, who are usually only superior on the field in terms of weight, gross motor skills and hip stiffness, sensationally won 3-2 in a friendly last weekend. Signs and wonders happen in amateur football.
For years, the Böbrach footballers had been fighting for goals and points without being noticed, then they suddenly became an attraction. In that season of all things, when they played worse than ever before, a hype arose. Media from all parts of Germany arrived, the grandstand was full of spectators, shirts were sponsored, energy drinks with the TSV logo came onto the market, shirts signed by the players were auctioned. In Böbrach everyone seemed happy.
“Of course we celebrated our victory with a bang,” says Chairman Dennis Günthel. “We’ve finally experienced what success feels like.” But the euphoria quickly evaporated. Because the TSV Böbrach plague greater worries than ever. There is already talk of an impending insolvency. “If this continues, then the club will go under,” says Günthel. The club was still on solid financial footing last year. In the Böbrach case, of course, a general problem of amateur football is reflected. Running a club costs a lot of money, there is a lack of young people, loyalty to the club is no longer a guiding principle. And some players also complain that the constant media interest was too much for them.
“We’re simply losing revenue,” says Günthel. And that with annual fixed costs of 15,000 euros. The misery is also based on the fact that the club has recently had acceptance problems. “We have a bad reputation in Böbrach,” says Günthel. That’s because, like everywhere else, people are human. At the request of many players, a new board of directors made up of young people was installed last May. The detachment was jerky.
“You disgusted the old board of directors, we’re not interested in you anymore,” complained a number of people from Böbrach. 50 members left and no longer pay dues, “we’re missing a chunk of money now,” says Günthel. And it got even worse. The people of Böbracher also stay away from those events that used to bring money into the till. Only a few people from outside showed up for the Christmas tree auction and the Oktoberfest.
“When almost the entire board is from abroad, it’s difficult for you,” says the old chairman Alfons Drexler, who doesn’t believe in the downfall. “In my early days the club was doing a lot worse but we fought our way out of it.” At that time, however, the players all came from the village, today most of the TSV Böbrach players also come from abroad, while the kickers from Böbrach all work for other clubs. It’s strange.
So at TSV Böbrach, after a short euphoric upsurge that made the club popular, the gray, worrying everyday life is back. The grandstand is empty for home games, the table shows more than 100 goals conceded again, and nowhere is there any significant income in sight. The worst football club in Bavaria urgently needs a sense of achievement if it also wants to survive this crisis.