Bielefeld. The Bundesliga scandal in 1971 not only shocked Bielefeld. The entire republic was stunned by the unscrupulousness of officials and players who sullied the top German league with previously unimagined game manipulation and also put it in a bad light worldwide. In one of the top: Arminia Bielefeld.
The protagonists from back then had largely sworn in dealing with the scandal and have since died. Albrecht Lämmchen, who celebrates his 85th birthday on Friday, December 13th, can still remember the events of 1971 well. He is and has always been close to the events of the Arminen. Lämmchen's membership in the DSC with number 255 is dated August 1, 1957. The war refugee who came to Bielefeld with his parents in 1946 immediately became involved with the DSC as a supervisor for students and youth.
From 1962 to 1983 he worked as a stadium announcer on the Alm before heading the press conferences after home games for 25 years. Lämmchen was also a founding member of the board of directors and a board member from 2002 to 2009. Professionally, he was employed by the Gerling insurance group for 46 years. “It was a career from apprentice to managing director,” he says with justifiable pride.
Birgitt Gottwald, Arminia's former board member Lämmchen and Jörg Fritz talk about deals and bribes that are supposed to keep the club in the Bundesliga in the “OstwestFalls” podcast of the “Neue Westfälische”. They discuss how a tape from 1971 reveals the various tactics of manipulation.
The Bundesliga scandal – the case at a glance
- In 1971 there was a serious bribery scandal, at the center of which was Arminia Bielefeld. Just a year after the Arminen fought their way into the top division for the first time, the team is in serious danger of relegation.
- In a desperate attempt to stay in the league, the club chooses unfair methods. This is how bribes flow, three of the last four games are bought.
- On the last matchday against Hertha BSC, Arminia beat the Offenbacher Kickers' offer, invested 250,000 marks and remained first class.
- Horst-Gregorio Canellas plays an explosive tape at his 50th birthday party. The Offenbach president is exposing a web of corruption in football in which even national players are entangled. The German sports world is shocked.
- The DFB imposes final penalties. The manipulations result in Arminia's license being revoked. The DSC is going down to the regional league.
Arminia is the number one candidate for relegation
In the early summer of 1970, the Arminia fans, the city of Bielefeld and a large part of the region were extremely proud of their footballers. For the first time in the club's history they achieved promotion to the Bundesliga. The politicians were generous and invested 2.5 million marks to expand the alpine pasture. A new floodlight system was also built. The unanimous tenor in a lively city: the Bundesliga is important for the image. Bielefeld is not just Oetker and Seidensticker.
From the start, the Arminen were considered the number one candidate for relegation. 15 of the 18 Bundesliga coaches predicted an immediate return to the regional league. After 24 of 34 match days and the 5-0 defeat in Offenbach, relegation seemed sealed. Wilhelm Stute, president from September 1969, called a strict crisis meeting because the politicians got cold feet and feared for their millions in investments. Stute ran a bookstore on Niedernstrasse and was a highly respected merchant in Bielefeld society.
Former Arminia coach Egon Piechaczek had the idea of buying games. | © imago images
The inner circle also included Franz Greif, a former general staff officer, as well as furniture manufacturer Wilhelm Pieper as football chairman and cloth merchant Walter “Tinnef” Röhe as managing director. Not to forget coach Egon Piechaczek, a former Polish sports officer who abandoned his wife and child to seek his fortune in the West. The coach, who was decried as a tough dog, provided the solution: “We have to buy games. Everyone does it.” Close employees in the club, such as Albrecht Lämmchen, had no idea what was being cooked up in secret. Until then, honorable citizens were sidelined.
40,000 marks for an Arminia victory
In the absence of alternatives, the coach's plan was accepted. The “mother” of the Bundesliga scandal is considered to be the party on matchday 28 between Schalke 04 and Arminia Bielefeld on April 17, 1971. Arminia won 1-0 with a goal from Gerd Roggensack. A Bielefeld delegation led by Stute, Pieper and Piechaczek had visited Schalke's President Günter Siebert and Treasurer Heinz Aldenhofen a week earlier. Their offer: 40,000 marks for a Bielefeld victory.
The clever Siebert told his colleagues another way. He doesn't want to know anything about it. His advice was to negotiate it directly with the Schalke players. No sooner said than done. Arminia's player Waldemar Slomiany and ex-soldier Greif handed over the negotiated sum to Schalke professional Klaus Senger before kick-off. Eight Schalke players were inaugurated. Just not keeper Dieter Burdenski, who came into the starting line-up at short notice for the injured Norbert Nigbur. Burdenski held like a world champion. But he was powerless against Gerd Roggensack's goal.
Lämmchen himself was there live in the Glückaufkampfbahn during the scandalous game against Schalke. “At no point did the other fans and I have the feeling that Arminia could have bought the game.” Goalkeeper Burdenski held up outstandingly. And in the front attack they hit the crossbar or post at least twice. After the final whistle we were really happy about the two points we won.”
Arminia buys two games at once
Two games followed (1-0 win against Cologne, 1-4 defeat in Bremen), which were probably spelled correctly. A deal that had already been negotiated with Braunschweig's goalkeeper Horst Wolter was canceled at short notice by the national goalkeeper. Braunschweig won 1-0 on the Alm. The next Bielefeld financial offensive is also going wrong. Gerd Kentschke from Duisburg was given 60,000 marks for a draw. Since the MSV striker only told three teammates, the plan didn't work. Arminia lost 1:4. The honorable Kentschke paid back the bonus, less his own expenses of 2,500 marks.
Before the final two games against Stuttgart and Hertha BSC, prices in the Bundesliga increased. Arminia was pretty empty. President Stute remembered building lion Rupert Schreiner, who was his customer in the bookstore. “They were pleasant literary conversations,” said Stute later. Schreiner, who hoped for good business with Arminia (new construction projects) in the future, provided money. At VfB, the players Hans Arnold, Hartmut Weiß and Hans Eisele were each paid 15,000 marks per Arminia. The business took off. Arminia won 1-0.
Last match day. Now it was really expensive. There was bargaining everywhere. On June 5, 1971, Arminia was active in two venues. It's like an auction. Hertha was to receive 220,000 marks for a defeat against Arminia. Furniture manufacturer Pieper was supposed to handle this business. Baulöwe Schreiner was supposed to use 120,000 marks as a prize in Braunschweig to prevent Oberhausen from winning there.
Arminia saves itself on the last match day
Eintracht played poker and wanted 170,000 marks. The negotiated compromise, 100,000 marks before the game, 40,000 marks after the game, did not materialize. The party ended 1:1. Schreiner took the well-filled suitcase back home with him. In addition to the Bielefeld offer, Hertha also had a second offer. Offenbach's President Horst-Gregorio Canellas had offered a prize of 140,000 marks. Hertha opted for the higher dirty money from Bielefeld, lost 1-0 and even got paid 250,000 marks. Goalscorer like Gerd Roggensack in the Schalke war. The consequences after the 34th matchday: Kickers Offenbach and Rot-Weiss Essen were relegated from the Bundesliga.
Offenbach's president Horst Gregorio Canellas (Kickers Offenbach) played an important role in the Bundesliga scandal. | © imago images
In Bielefeld there was great joy about staying in the league. “We were all thrilled that we were able to experience another season of first division football,” remembers Albrecht Lämmchen. His impression was that there was absolutely no sign of any bad premonitions that evening.
In the second episode of the Bundesliga scandal, Albrecht Lämmchen remembers a magnificent non-relegation celebration in Travemünde, the discovery of the manipulations at a party in Offenbach, endless tall tales, the punishment of the people and clubs involved and the processing of the scandal to this day.
