“The round must go into the square”

While the games of the European Championship are still resonating in our minds, memories of times gone by are also returning. FC Magdeburg is celebrating a special anniversary this year: on May 8, 1974, the team defeated AC Milan 2:0 in Rotterdam! FC Magdeburg was the only GDR club ever to win the European Cup. But the enthusiasm for soccer was also evident in Friedensau. In the 1970s, meetings were organized in Friedensau to play soccer, volleyball and table tennis matches. While the games of the European Championship are still resonating in our minds, memories of times gone by are also returning.

The first cup match seems to have taken place on October 7, 1969, which Friedensau won. Certificates, match reports, line-ups and photos on display still allow us to relive some of the excitement of the games back then. Over the years, Joachim Grellmann (teacher in Friedensau and pastor, later in Magdeburg) acted as referee, and the Berlin selection even includes (here for 1972) captain (Horst Kaulfuß from Finsterwalde), coach (Peter Jandriasevič), masseur (Guntfried Reinhold, who also acted as linesman) and supervisor (Gotthard Reinhold).

The match on May 1, 1972 is won 3:2 by the Berlin-Märkische Vereinigung. Friedensau took the lead through Helmut Krause, but Horst Kaulfuß immediately equalized with a free-kick goal, meaning the game went into the break tied. Lars Rose played around two players and was able to give Berlin the lead after the restart. The equalizer for Friedensau was scored by "Mixer" Matthias Kutzschbach, who put the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal from close range in a hullabaloo in the Berlin penalty area. Wolfgang Fröh scored the winning goal for the Berlin team around three minutes before the final whistle with a very sharp volley into the top left-hand corner of the goal. Despite a save, goalkeeper Gerald Hummel was unable to defuse the ball and Berlin emerged victorious. The ten documented games show a slight advantage on the Friedensau side: They manage to win six games, with 29:25 goals documented for Friedensau.

These games were a sporting event, but also a social one. Memories were made that we will look back on with pleasure. If you would like to share your memories and pictures, please write to: "> - we look forward to hearing from you!

Text: Bernd Müller, Director of the Historical Archive of the SDA in Europe

Playing soccer at the Ihle

Eckehard Tulaszewski (retired mayor of Bad Düben), a participant from back then, remembers:

On the evening before October 7, the Berlin team met at the Wachtelburg, as is tradition, before taking the bus to Friedensau with waving flags. In the dining hall, both teams introduced themselves to an expectant and enthusiastic audience and then Brother Joachim Grellmann (Teacher in Friedensau) asked both teams to join him for a short prayer. He was an expert and decisive referee.

The game was also attended by the entire prominent teaching staff. Eckehard Tulaszewski, who later took over from brother Grellmann as referee, played as a defender in a Berlin team that fought with self-sacrifice and successfully defended the narrow victory against a strong Friedensau team until the last minute.

Gerald Hummel (once a student, later a lecturer and pastor in Friedensau, now in Dresden) reports:

Until Friedensau was awarded university status, the timetable included two sports sessions, always the last lesson before lunch. There were various sports instructors; for many years it was Wolfgang Hartlapp until he was replaced by Gerald Hummel in 1985. Fistball, volleyball and, above all, soccer were mainly played by male students.

Outside of school, football was still played on Friday afternoons. You could sense that there was a strong need for sporting activity to compensate for all the frustration and to relieve the tension caused by the busy weekly schedule and everyday study life.

Lothar Scheel (once a student, later a pastor and board member of STA and AWW, Dresden) adds:

Soccer was also an important secondary subject in Friedensau. Sport was a compulsory subject and soccer was the boys' sport, while others preferred volleyball or fistball. Hardly a Friday afternoon went by without a game of football, whatever the weather and whatever the season. The start of the Sabbath was well deserved and they could even take a hot shower, provided the ladies on the "sister wing" hadn't already used up all the hot water ...

Once a year there was the Friedensau Champions League, when Adventist soccer teams came to Friedensau on May 1st to compete with us. The girls from the youth groups were the hooligans who cheered on their teams. Sometimes it went like this and sometimes like that. There was also the odd injury. But it was always a welcome change from everyday life in Friedensau ...

Currently, soccer matches are mainly held at the start of the Week of Cultures in May each year. The big soccer tournaments of the 1970s on May 1 or October 7, which I remember from my own experience and the Fan Mile, have not been preserved; they have been replaced by new playing opportunities. But the soccer pitch is still on the Ihle ...  (Text: Andrea Cramer | Image Rights: Friedensau Adventist University | AAE).