The matter, which is now being discussed so much, is particularly tragic for the SG Sonnenhof Großaspach. The team maneuvered itself towards relegation from the Regionalliga Südwest on Saturday – with one of the best performances of the season. The “mistake” that Großaspach made: The 16th table. led against second-placed SSV Ulm too early and too clearly – after 78 minutes 3-0.
That got the table-15. FSV Frankfurt and the top of the table SV Elversberg. The two met at the same time in the stadium in Frankfurt-Bornheim, and when the Elversberg supporters broke out in celebration of the interim result from Aspach, the score was 1-1. That was enough for both teams to achieve their goals – Elversberg for promotion, Frankfurt for staying in the class. And so the constellation led to an agreement that had not been seen for a long time, which was apparently met nonverbally: Elversberg kept the ball in his own ranks, but barely crossed the center line, and FSV no longer attacked. After the final whistle, which was played without any stoppage time, both celebrated extensively.
Now is that a shame? On social media, many were reminded of the famous game between Germany and Austria at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, the “shame of Gijon”. When the score was 1-0, the teams stopped playing football because both had reached the next round. After that, simultaneity for decision games was soon introduced on many levels – which in the case of the regional league constellation from last weekend didn’t help to prevent an alleged shame.
Großaspach’s board member Michael Ferber advises the Elversbergers to check “whether they can still look in the mirror at all”.
During and shortly after the game, the two clubs were obviously not aware of any guilt: FSV tweeted that the ball was being pushed back and forth with supporters cheering them on. “I was speechless,” says Michael Ferber, sports director in Großaspach, who only found out about what had happened in Frankfurt through this tweet, “I don’t know how the club can still carry it to the outside world.” Before that, you stared at the ticker for minutes in the hope that something else would happen.
Ferber advised the Elversbergers to check “whether they can still look in the mirror at all”. Sure, you have “attributed the relegation to yourself” after a bad season, even the professional striker Sascha Mölders from 1860 Munich, who was hastily signed in the winter, was only able to contribute five goals. But the events in Frankfurt leave a “stale aftertaste” in Aspach.
The Saarlanders show understanding for the outrage, but there is already a lot of talk about this topic: “It was our turn for years,” says sports director Nils-Ole Book about the club’s history. Elversberg has been a top team since they were relegated from the third division in 2014, twice they only failed in the promotion playoffs, several players see promotion as the end of a martyrdom. In this context, too, Book speaks of an “enormous pressure” that weighed on the players.
And from a “brutally special situation”: It was a “very competitive game” for around 80 minutes, but with the cheering of the fans and the fact that Frankfurt simply no longer attacked, there was “no motivation at all and no reason at all given more to play forward,” says Book. Before the game, however, no one wasted a thought on such a scenario, after the 3-0 win in Großaspach there was only an order from the bank not to take any major risks.
In purely mathematical terms, Sonnenhof Großaspach has not yet been relegated. Hans-Jürgen Boysen’s team could still save themselves with an 8-0 win over FC Rot-Weiss Koblenz on the last day of the game. But Ferber does not assume a clear victory: Because the Koblenz themselves would suffer, considerable resistance is to be expected.