1906-07: More scandals


The prognosis was for the best championship ever, but it was not to be - despite conditions being so promising. The regional organizations continued to consolidate so that better representation was expected.

The first surprise was that Freiburger FC knocked out favorite Karlsruher FV in the southeastern regionals, and then defeated 1.FC Nürnberg to gain the southern title. The northern champion, Hamburg, sailed through to the final rounds, opening with a 20-2 pasting of Schwerin, and wrapping up the title with a dominant 6-1 over Eintracht Braunschweig. Düsseldorf was the new champion in the West, and a combined Berlin city champion was crowned for the first time since 1899, with Viktoria once again taking the honors. Defending champion VfB Leipzig once again prevailed over stiff competition in the Central regionals.

However, it soon became clear that the DFB was still unclear on the concept - the quaterfinals only consisted of two matches, and two byes were handled out. Apparently figuring how to get 8 qualifiers still proved to be too difficult. The results themselves were not too suprising, as Berlin won the battle of the Viktorias, and Freiburg pulled the upset win over Leipzig.

The final turned out to be a merry affair. Fresh in the mind of the Berliners was their outrage over the referee in the semi-finals, and as it turned out, the chosen referee, Mr. Otto Eikhof, was from Hamburg. So the Berliners refused to play unless a new referee was found. After much arguing, with the 3,000 specatators on the verge of a riot, a new referee was agreed upon: one of the spectators in the audience agreed to run the match!!!

After Josef Glaser had brought Freiburg into a surprise lead via a hand penalty, the new referee sprung into action. He called a penalty in favor of Berlin. Freiburg's GK, Gilly Goldberger, took 4 steps before punting the ball downfield. According to the rules of the time, no more than 2 steps were allowed, so the opponent should have been awarded an indirect free-kick. But the new ref, Mr. Bohne from Bremen, decided to award a penalty instead. The match degenerated into lots of fouling and roughhouse play. However, the Freiburgers proved to be the cleverer team (at least 5 future PhDs were in their ranks) and managed to score a couple in the 2nd half to win the match.

 
Qtr finals:
Düsseldorfer FC 89   -   FC Victoria Hamburg	1:8 (1:2)
Viktoria 89 Berlin   -   SC Schlesien Breslau	2:1 (1:0)

Freiburger FC, VfB Leipzig receive byes

Semi-finals:
Victoria Hamburg     -   Viktoria 89 Berlin	1:4 (1:2)
Freiburger FC        -   VfB Leipzig 		3:2 (2:0)

Final: (Mannheim)
Freiburger FC 	     - Viktoria 89 Berlin	3:1 (2:0)

1:0 Glaser (30.)
1:1 Röpnack (43.)
2:1 Burkhardt (57.)
3:1 Burkhardt (?)

Attendance: 3,000


(c) Abseits Guide to German Football