During 18 days in June 1991, East German football bleeds to death. Neither trophies nor prayers mattered as the Oberliga clubs played with nothing less at stake than their future. It was all or nothing.
The 1990/91 Oberliga was played in a time of upheaval. The East Germans worried about getting a job and feet their families, not about football. Attendance was sky dropping to about 4.000 in average and the amount of goals scored dropped to the lowest level in over 20 years. 471 yellow and red cards given through the season was a new record. Facilities was outdated, stadiums was in decay and the best player’s knew what they were missing by staying playing in East Germany. The national team wasn’t qualifying for anything. In reality the Oberliga was something of the past.
East Germany had ceased to exist and next in line to finish off and unite were it’s football system. How to do it was the question. The solution became a season in which the Oberliga champion and runner-up went straight into the Bundesliga season of 1991-92 and the next four teams qualified for the 2. Bundesliga. Further two spots was available through playoff. Therefore just six games in 18 days would make the difference between remaining a professional club or sinking into the abyss, that was amateur football.
The Oberliga had it all
It is said of East German football, that the only fair and honest Oberliga-season, was the last one ever played. European success, match fixing, dubious refereeing and close ties between politics and sports was part of the Oberliga from the beginning in 1949. As a fan, you never knew how long your heartclub were in town. Erzgebirge Aue never relocated physically, but were renamed Karl Marx Stadt because they were that good. The regime in East Germany liked football success and the name Karl Marx in the same sentence. In the mid-fifties Dynamo Dresden was moved to Berlin because it suited a capital having a successful football club. Events like that gave life to the strange folklore surrounding the Oberliga.
In a socialist model state there were no professional footballers. It was considered pure western decadence. All players were officially employed at local factories but had the privileged of being relieved for football duties. A modest basic salary got spiced up with payments under the table, benefits and favours. Wolfgang Seguin was part of Magdeburg’s 1974 Cup Winner’s Cup triumph and revealed the secret prize was 5.000 Ostmark and a car without waiting time for each player. For a long time East German football was quality. FC Magdeburg beat mighty AC Milan to win Cup Winner’s Cup in 1974. Carl Zeiss Jena and Lokomotiv Leipzig lost in the final of the same tournament in 1981 and 1987, respectively. East German football was quite capable internationally and Oberliga produced players like Thomas Doll, Ulf Kirsten, Andreas Thom, Mattias Sammer which all went off to great careers in the west and earning caps for Germany.
Head of Stasi, Erich Mielke, was honorary chairman of BFC Dynamo Berlin and a dedicated fan. In 1978 he entered an already celebrating dressing room of newly crowned champions Dynamo Dresden, and terrifying prophetic announced, next year’s championship would end up in Berlin. And so it happened. BFC Dynamo won the next ten championship in a row being totally dominating from 1979 to 1988. Stasi files later revealed how referee’s was called to Mielke’s office for a ‘friendly conversation’ before matches and several of them was working as informants for the Stasi.
The struggle of a man and a club
It should have been the game that changed it all, but 2-2 up on the scoreboard is not enough. Not even close to. The whole season had been a downright nightmare as Dirk Stahmann starts chasing an opponent. Within reach, the FC Magdeburg captain, 6,2 feet tall and close to weighing 202 pounds, puts in a flying tackle from behind. While tumbling to the ground, he gets hold of the ball and throws it in the back of the head of his victim, so hard, the ball bounces back in his hands. Back on his feet he knocks out another opponent trying to get the ball from him. Unaffected by the chaos around him, Stahmann tosses the ball away and signals, let’s play on! A red card flies to the air. Dirk Stahmann, the rock solid defender with the characteristic tousled hair and capped 46 times for East Germany, desperately claps his hands at the referee and walks off. It’s over and he knows it. The East German commentator noted the experienced Stahmann ‘blew his fuse’.
Dirk Stahmann had played in FC Magdeburg his entire career and was already a respected legend within the club. After an international tour with the East German national team, Stahmann grew the beard that became his trademark. His coach at the time got a call from Berlin with an order. Make sure Dirk Stahmann get’s a shave! Stahmann simply refused. By June 1991 he was facing either a continuous of life, perhaps even better, by being professional in the new Bundeliga or experience a massive life change. A draw in the playoff opener followed by a defeat to insignificant Stahl Brandenburg left him and his club at deep water with only four games left. FC Magdeburg’s three national championships, seven cup wins and one European Cup Winner’s Cup underlined the club’s perception of themselves as a giant in East German football. They were close to winning the championship the previous year and the team being the same great ambitions seemed justified. In addition, FC Magdeburg was the first club from the East that got a sponsor agreement. 1.2 million. D-mark, not Ostmark, was sent to Magdeburg from Jägermeister. The alcohol producer made Magdeburg the richest club in the East. On the pitch the success is absent. In reality, the season was a road to disaster and Dirk Stahmann remembers a club in internal chaos. “The board didn’t know how to deal with it. It was brand new territory for them. It was difficult times”. Several Magdeburg players had already signed up with new clubs and were soon gone anyway. “Many had their mind elsewhere. It was like, fuck this situation, I have a contract for next year, so I’m good. That’s how it was.” Stahmann himself knew he was not particularly interesting for the West German Bundesliga clubs with his 33 years of age. He had to secure his career and his family from where he already were. Making sure FC Magdeburg stayed professional “I loved traveling with the national team, but I get sick if I can not see the cathedral. Magdeburg is my home.”
In this crucial season the man trusted with this task, had won eight of FC Magdeburg’s 11 trophies as a player. And coach Siegmund Mewes, knew exactly, what was at stake. With two games left in the playoffs FC Magdeburg had to win them both to qualify. Their opponent, Stahl Brandenburg, didn’t have as much as a tin cup to show for themselves and often fought against relegation. Magdeburg leads 1-0 at halftime. The celebration of the goal is very modest. A nice volley from Wolfgang Janotta makes it 1-1. Stahmann is the last man on the goal line, but he’s without a chance as the shot is destined for goal. Magdeburg takes the lead once again, but are equalised by a Stahl Brandenburg team playing their heart out. When the disaster were a reality a huge banner in Magdeburg said; “We are ashamed of you”. Despite being a legend, Mewes came under heavy criticism and learned who his friends were on the streets of Magdeburg. Siegmund Mewes felt the heavy burden of being responsible of many lost their jobs. From cantine ladies and secretaries to coaches in the youth setup. Stahmann was being realistic and had sent an application for a job before the season was over. He got the job and began selling shiny Mercedes-Benz and BMW’s in a new established car dealership in Magdeburg. It was irony of the fate, that Dirk Stahmann ended up selling examples of why his career as a professional footballer in East Germany had ended. He still lives in Magdeburg and supports his old club.
Epilogue – Bright Light Fright
For the speedy and elegant Hans-Uwe Pilz a future in the West seemed bright. Being picked by Fortuna Cologne, he was part of the first wave of East German star players that hit the West. Others were Andreas Thom, Matthias Sammer, Thomas Doll and Ulf Kirsten. Pilz got a huge contract and was free at last. With money rolling in he got himself a luxurious house and the BMW he had been dreaming of. 13 matches later, nearly three months time, he signed with Dynamo Dresden and went back East. 32 years old, Pilz felt like fish out of water. Surrounding by flashing neon lights Hans-Uwe Pilz felt freezed out as an ‘Ossie’ in the capitalist West. Sometimes lights at the end of a tunnel might be a train coming straight at you.
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