The Cup final was a drama rarely seen not only in Denmark. Esbjerg had really great season – second in the championship and Cup finalists. No doubt, they were eager to win something. But so were their opponents of Frem. One of the traditionally successful Danish clubs, now down on their luck… mid-table was probably hearting and in need of remedy. Good or bad, strong or weak, neither opponent was giving up. The final, played in front of 12 700-strong crowd, finished 1-1. A replay… now the audinece dropped to… 1 807 fans. One of the reasons replays were becoming increasingly unpopular was just that: people were not showing up to see a replay. As for the game, it also finished 1-1. A third match was scheduled, leaving the problem with replays wide open – the gates improved to 2 300, but this was nothing near the attendance of the first match. Drama and suspence were rether tiring for the fans… and drama it was to the very end… 6-5 after overtime and penalty shoot-out.
BK Frem won. Very old club, founded in 1886, and relatively strong in the past, but the Cup was not their forte. So far, they had won it only once – in 1956. After that year Frem went into a long dry spell, winning no trophy. At last they won again – their second Cup.
The squad is typically anonymous, but the club managed to win the dramatic final. The victory may have been important in another aspect – Frem had quite a few rivals in Copenhagen (B 1901, B 1903, B 93 played in first division as well as Frem) and success almost surely meant survival – in a long term, literally: none of those names exists today. Frem went into bankruptcy too… Yes, it looked fine at the moment – the Cup more or less ensured that the jeans makers ‘Lee Cooper’ will continue to use Frem’s jerseys for their adds, but how long even Copenhagen was able to support old-fashioned clubs with small fan base? As it was, 1978 was almost the last gasp of Frem – from the distance of time, the Cup winners should be more appreciated perhaps.