Tasmania Berlin-Gropiusstadt


This fabled club has disappeared from view, but might be making a comeback. Bayern's hegemony in the Bundesliga is surely to end...

The storied history begins in 1900, with the founding of Rixdorfer FC Tasmania in the Neuköln district of Berlin. By 1908, they were playing in the quarterfinals of the German Championship, and made a couple more appearances before WWI. In the Weimar Republic and Nazi years, Tasmania (known as Tasmania Neukölln) was mostly just at top flight in local Berlin cricles, but by the 1940s they were in the Gauliga.

In 1949, they began playing simply as Tasmania 1900 and were usually the winner of the (weak) Oberliga Berlin. This performance was continued in the Regionalliga, until the fateful year of 1965.

The LEGENDARY 1965-66 Bundesliga season was a fluke. Since Schalke managed to whine and snivel about getting relegated, the DFB decided to expand the Bundesliga to 18 teams. However, at the last minute Hertha BSC was found guilty of paying their players under the table, and were forcibly relegated. This left the politcos with a dilemna, as it was considered imperative that Berlin have a team. Tasmania had finished only 3rd in Regionalliga, but on the basis of winning last year's championship, they were promoted into the Bundesliga (You wonder whose d*** they had to suck for that to happen?!). Anyway, two weeks before the season started, the Tasmania players were informed instead of exciting derbies against Reinickendörfer Füchse, they would now be in the Bundesliga, joining fellow promotees...Bayern München and Borussia Mönchengladbach. SO the opener in the Olympiastadion against Karlsruher SC created tremendous excitement, and the heroic 3-1 win was watched by 81,000 fans. However, the rest of the season didn't go too well, as Tasmania only won 1 more game (2-1 vs Neunkirchen on the penultimate round). The final record: dead last, 2 wins, 4 draws, 28 losses. 15 goals scored, 108 conceded. Attendance? Try 827 in round 19 vs. Gladbach (although unofficially counted as 2,000).

Tasmania continued as a city powerhouse, and participated in several Bundesliga promotion rounds (usually finishing last) until they finally went bankrupt in 1973. A new club, Tasmania 73 was founded, and had to start way down in the league pyramid. By the mid 1990s however, they were back in regional play. They apparently changed their name again in 2002, adding "Gropiusstadt", probably to avoid the tax-man.

Full Name Sportverein Tasmania-Gropiusstadt 1973 e.V.
City Berlin (Berlin). Pop: 3,388,434 (2002)
The club is based in the Neukölln district. Gropiusstadt is a section created from 1962-75, where all the buildings (some 18,500 quarters) were based on designs by the famed architect Walter Gropius of "Bauhaus" fame.
Address Oderstr. 182, 12051 Berlin
Colors All dark blue with white lettering
Nickname
Stadium Sportpark Neukölln. Capacity: 3,500 (350 seats)
Also known as Werner-Seelenbinder-Kampfbahn from 1945-55. (Seelenbinder was an athlete, Red, and resistance fighter exceuted by the Nazis in 1944. The Cold War forced the name change). Originally built in 1930, it could hold 22,000. The old stadium was torn down in 1984 and the new stadium was built in it's place. In the Bundesliga year 1965-66, Tasmania played in the Olympiastadion, which held 100,000 at the time. (Opening day: 81,000 vs Karlsruhe)
Tickets 6 euros (2004)
Supporters Averaged 112 in 2004 (Verbandsliga). The best year for support was obviously the Bundesliga year, when they played in Olympia and averaged almost 20,000. But those days are long gone.
Friends
Foes
Heroes Horst Szymaniak ended his illustrous career in 1966, and still manged 4 caps (Total: 43 caps, 1956-66). He manged 1 goal in that heroic Bundesliga year. Actually Wulf-Ingo Usbeck was a goal-scoring machine of the Bundesliga year, with 4 netters. Not really a hero, but a good forward Johnny Egbuono from the late 1960s-early 70s was one of the first Nigerians to play in Germany.
Zeroes Well, goalkeepers Klaus Basikow, Hans-Joachim Posinnski, Heinz Rohloff, sort of. If they had kept clean sheets instead of allowing 108, Tasmania might have won the Bundesliga
Beer
Pub Grub
The Net Official site: http://www.tasmania-berlin.de

Recent History:
--------------
		Tasmania 1900 Berlin

1963-64	(II)	Regionalliga Berlin	1st
1964-65	(II)	Regionalliga Berlin	3rd
1965-66	(I)	Bundesliga		18th
1966-67	(II)	Regionalliga Berlin	1st
1967-68	(II)	Regionalliga Berlin	1st
1968-69	(II)	Regionalliga Berlin	1st
1969-70	(II)	Regionalliga Berlin	1st
1970-71	(II)	Regionalliga Berlin	1st
1971-72	(II)	Regionalliga Berlin	1st
1972-73	(II)	Regionalliga Berlin	1st
----> bankruptcy

		SV Tasmania Neukölln 1973

1973-74	(VII)	C-Klasse
1974-75	(VI)	B-Klasse
1975-76	(VI)	A-Klasse
1976-77	(VI)	A-Klasse
1977-78	(V)	A-Klasse
1978-79	(IV)	Landesliga Berlin	5th
1979-80	(IV)	Landesliga Berlin	6th
1980-81	(IV)	Landesliga Berlin	2nd
1981-82	(III)	Am.Oberliga Berlin	9th
1982-83	(III)	Am.Oberliga Berlin	14th
1983-84	(III)	Am.Oberliga Berlin	13th
1984-85	(III)	Am.Oberliga Berlin	7th
1985-86	(III)	Am.Oberliga Berlin	8th
1986-87	(III)	Am.Oberliga Berlin	3rd
1987-88	(III)	Am.Oberliga Berlin	6th
1988-89	(III)	Am.Oberliga Berlin	9th
1989-90	(III)	Am.Oberliga Berlin	10th
1990-91	(III)	Am.Oberliga Berlin	16th
1991-92	(IV)	Verbandsliga Berlin
1992-93	(IV)	Verbandsliga Berlin	5th
1993-94	(IV)	Verbandsliga Berlin	18th
1994-95	(VI)	Landesliga Berlin-2	8th
1995-96	(VI)	Landesliga Berlin-2	1st
1996-97	(V)	Verbandsliga Berlin	1st
1997-98	(IV)	Oberliga Nordost-Nord	6th
1998-99	(IV)	Oberliga Nordost-Nord	16th
1999-00	(V)	Verbandsliga Berlin	19th
2000-01	(VI)	Landesliga Berlin-1	12th
2001-02	(VI)	Landesliga Berlin-2	2nd

		 SV Tasmania Groupiusstadt

2002-03	(V)	Verbandsliga Berlin	2nd
2003-04	(V)	Verbandsliga Berlin	2nd
2004-05	(V)	Verbandsliga Berlin	
2005-06	(V)	Verbandsliga Berlin	2nd
2006-07	(V)	Verbandsliga Berlin	2nd
2007-08	(V)	Verbandsliga Berlin	




(c) Abseits Guide to Germany : www.abseits-soccer.com