“Anno ’51 the cow really flew here!” The SC players listen to the mayor (May 14, 2023)
When the Bundesliga started its first season on August 24, 1962, Preußen Münster was one of the founding members. But they were immediately relegated – and have not returned to the upper house to this day. After all: In the coming season, the Prussians are at least back in the 3rd division. At the weekend, fans and team celebrated the rise, which of course had been certain for a long time.
After the final whistle of the neighborhood duel against Rot-Weiß Ahlen, which was won 3-0, the time had finally come: Captain Mark Lorenz was proud to raise the simple championship trophy of the Regionalliga West. Almost exactly three years to the day after the bitter relegation from the 3rd division. At that time, no spectators were allowed in the stadium, corona pandemic. On Saturday, just over 12,000 people celebrated their team in the Preußenstadion on Hammerstraße. Preußen Münster had marched through the league in a superior manner, which was well occupied with the former Bundesliga clubs Wuppertaler SV, Fortuna Köln, Alemannia Aachen, Wattenscheid 09 and Rot-Weiss Oberhausen. Added to this were the secondary representations of Schalke 04, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Mönchengladbach and 1. FC Köln. In the end, the Münster team had a whopping 13 point lead.
On Sunday the party continued downtown. The players drove to the Prinzipalmarkt in the red double-decker bus, where thousands of fans were already waiting. There was a dense crowd, but there wasn’t as much hype as in June 1951. At that time, the Münster team returned from West Berlin after an unfortunate 2-1 defeat as runners-up. “I never want to miss these weeks. The city was over the moon,” said innkeeper Ulrich Heitmann in 2020 Munster newspaper. He was there as a stroller in West Berlin. »The players were received like kings. As if they had really become German champions,” Heitmann recalled in a club documentation in 2021. His pub was where the team ate dinner after games in the 70s and 80s.
With their legendary »Hundred thousand mark storm« about the football philosopher Alfred »Adi« Preißler (»It is crucial on the pitch«) they had made hell hot for the Red Devils from Kaiserslautern in front of 100,000 spectators, those with Eckel, Liebrich, Kohlmeyer and the Walter brothers Fritz and Ottmar called up five players who were involved in the »Miracle of Bern« three years later.
Prussia striker Felix “Fiffi” Gerritzen almost belonged to it, but he was injured shortly before the start of the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. He has four international matches to his credit. There could have been more, but a certain Helmut Rahn played in his position. Gerritzen, who died in 2007, is still a legend in Münster today. Although AC Turin wanted to lure him to Italy with a hand money of 80,000 DM, he remained loyal to Prussia, even though there was less to be earned there. It can’t have been due to the Westphalian food either. »After training we got a bottle of milk and a sausage with potato salad. That cost 1.90 DM and that was also deducted from our contract player’s salary until we went on the barricades,” said Gerritzen. The city named a street after him next to the Prussian Stadium. The curve in which the active fan scene is located also bears his name.
Incidentally, the coach of the Münster team in 1951 was Willi “Fischken” Multhaup. But his heyday was yet to come, he became champion with Werder Bremen, won the European Cup with Borussia Dortmund and won the DFB Cup with 1. FC Köln. Sascha Hildmann has been on the sidelines in Münster since 2019.
The next season in the 3rd division will be a big challenge: the notoriously cash-strapped Munsters will have one of the smaller budgets in the league. Two fathers of the rise will leave the club: Playmaker Nicolai Remberg is drawn to Holstein Kiel. With an estimated market value of 250,000 euros, the 22-year-old homegrown player is one of the most valuable kickers in the Regionalliga West. Crowd favorite Henok Teklab can even hope for heated European Cup evenings. The left winger joins Belgian runners-up Union Saint-Gilloise on a free transfer. With twelve assists and six goals, Teklab leaves a large gap in the Prussian attack. Torgarant Gerrit Wegkamp and defender Thomas Kok, on the other hand, have extended their contracts. “We want to increase the quality,” said sports director Peter Niemeyer on May 2nd Kicker. So far, however, nothing has been announced about the new signing.
A clear competitive disadvantage is the stadium where the club has played since 1926. It once held over 30,000 spectators, but the ravages of time have visibly taken their toll on the venue. »You get your new stadium!«, the then CDU Mayor Jörg Twenhöven promised the fans in the summer of 1989 in the triumphal frenzy when the club was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga for the last time. Prussia Münster is still waiting for the fulfillment of the full-bodied promise. In the meantime, even the west curve had to be demolished due to dilapidation.
In 1994 an investment by the ECE Group failed. It should build a stadium for 22,000 spectators and a large shopping center next to it. The project called »Prussia Park« failed due to the resistance of the influential merchants in the city centre. In 2018 it seemed as if the club had finally found a suitable property in Send-Bösensell, 16 kilometers away. But when a local citizens’ initiative began to resist violently, the owner of the building plot apparently got cold feet.
Now the current stadium is to be rebuilt bit by bit by the 2027/28 season, the reported Westphalian News on Saturday. Capacity: up to 20,000. Coach Sascha Hildmann didn’t want to think about the uncertain future after the last game of the season: “I want to celebrate first,” he said Responsive sport. The next season will be hard enough.
