May be even stranger, considering who bested Dukla: a club never winning the championship before. It was close race – Dukla won 19 out of 30 championship games. Their rivals – one less, but they lost 5 matches. Dukla lost 8 and the title by 2 points. Dukla had deadly attack, scoring 73 goals. Their opponents scored 64, but had better defense – the only team in the league with allowing less than a goal per game on average. Small differences, deciding the title at the end. The new champions hailed from the city of Brno.
An old club, although not among the oldest in Czechoslovakia, it was found in 1913 and was internationally fairly well known club before the Second World War. The name was SK Zidenice, already lost in time. After the war the country became Communist and the original name was changed – the fate of almost every old club in a Communist country. The changes were many, slowly shaping into the current name – in 1947 the club was named SK Zbrojovka Zidenice. In 1948 – Sokol Zbrojovka Zidenice. In 1951 – Sokol Zbrojovka. In 1953 – DSO Spartak Zbrojovka. In 1956 – TJ Spartak ZJS. In 1962 the club was fused with TJ Ruda Hvezda (Brno), but the name remained TJ Spartak ZJS. In 1968 came the last change and it was TJ Zbrojovka – the name kept until 1990. And this name most clearly showed the club’s sponsor: it was attached to the arms factory making the famous Zbrojovka rifles and other fiery things. A name better known to people far away from football, but no matter the name changes, the club was closely related to the factory since 1947, if not even before. Money came from the ‘sponsor’ and one should think that a wealthy and powerful sponsor representing the military complex should be able to build mighty team. In reality it was not so – in the whole of its history the club won only one trophy: in the distant 1960 they won the Czechoslovakian Cup. Strong they were – in the 1970s Zbrojovka was constantly among the top, but the title was not exactly a big possibility: no matter what, they were still a provincial club. Until 1977-78, when at last they triumphed.
It was a good squad, led by the best ever player in the club’s history Karel Kroupa. There was a cluster of experienced players, who were not exactly stars, but still solid, reliable, and well known – Pospisil, Klimes, Vaclavicek, Svoboda. Petr Janecka was already a national team material. Kroupa himself was not a national team regular, but was often included in the Czechoslovakian formations. He was at his peak – in 1977 he was voted the player of the year and was the top league scorer in 1978 and 1979. Everything clicked this very season and Zbrojovka won their very first title – the credit must go to their coach, who, combined with one new player, provides curious relation to Dukla. Josef Masopust was famous player of the famous Dukla back in the 1960s – and huge international star. European player of the year, no less. But the great Dukla faded away and Masopust too after retirement. The coach Masopust never reached the fame of the player Masopust – so, to win over his former club must have been sweet. It must have been the same for the defender Karel Dvorak too – a native of Brno, he was recruited early by Dukla and played for them for years. A good, not long ago very promising defender, potential national team regular. He played for Czechoslovakia, but rarely… 11 appearances between 1972 and 1977. Good, but…more like an unfulfilled promise. And the same was on club level, for he was one of those who were supposed to keep Dukla strong and competitive after the generation of Masopust stepped down. Alas, Dukla lost ground for years. Dvorak was still in the champion team of the year before – 1976-77 – and then let go. He moved back to Brno after 9 years with Dukla, nearing 30 years of age. Useless and too old for Dukla, he was valuable addition to Zbrojovka. And in the summer of 1978 he found himself atop his former club, with second consecutive title. In a way, it took Dukla to beat Dukla – Masopust and Dvorak winning over their former club. For Masopust, this season became the pinnacle of his coaching career. For the club – their best ever year. For football in general – it is always great to see new champions, clubs never winning anything before on top. As for the future… Zbrojovka had not the making of a squad capable of long domination. They were most likely to keep a place among the best, but winning a second title was unlikely. One time wonder they were not, though – this squad was good for quite a few years and not over yet, but it was squad of ‘second raters’: it was may be not so much a peak of the team, but rather taking advantage of relative weakness of unfinished yet Dukla’s squad. Experience and even-leveled performance perhaps had more to do with winning the title than some extraordinary form or sudden burst of talent. It was great victory anyway.