West Germany was recognized as having the best league football already and the turning the new decade was met optimistically. After the end of the season optimism would be cemented with European title, won by exciting national team. Yet, not everything worked as well as desired. The professional second division was problematic – it was clear by now that most participants were really small ones, not able to compete for promotion. The second division became somewhat predictable – former members of the Bundesliga were stronger than the rest, but they were not getting stronger. So far, only one promoted from second division club disrupted the status quo – Wuppertaler SV. It was a meteoric rise, followed immediately by a fall: Wuppertaler SV was relegated right after winning medals and by the end of the 1970s they were among the outsiders of the second level. Few cities were represented by more than one club – Hannover had 3: Hannover 96, OSV Hannover, and Arminia Hannover; Koln -2: Viktoria and Fortuna; Freiburg – 2: SC Freiburg and Freiburger FC; and Ingolstadt – 2: ESV and MTV – but instead of the lure of a derby, those teams only showed characteristic weakness of West German football. Peculiarly, West Germany was unable to produce 2 strong clubs in one town. The closest to that happened in the mid-60s, when TSV 1860 and Bayern were equally good, but TSV 1860 quickly faded after that. At best, a city was able to support one strong clubs and one in second division, way weaker than the first. The teams mentioned above suggested only one thing: cities unable to keep even one decent club and perhaps dispersing their resources too much to have descent football at all. A great division was already formed: about 20 strong and well organized professional clubs and huge number of small, insignificant clubs, better suited for semi-professional existence. The Germans were thinking of reforming the second division – and did that shortly after the end of this season. This year the original format only confirmed the problems: only 2 clubs competed for promotion in the Southern group and the Northern group was one-team show, without any rival.
Same with the outsiders at the bottom of the tables: Wuppertaler SV was last with 16 points in the Northern group.
Wuppertaler SV. From playing the UEFA Cup in the early 70s to starting the 80s in third division.
Arminia (Hannover) was next to last with 17 points. One last look at a club practically unknown today.
OSC Bremerhaven – 18th with 27 points. Far stronger than the last two, yet, way weaker than the rest of the league – the 17th, SC Herford finished with 31 points. Then money… the last three were relegated, as the rules stipulated, but they were joined by the 11th placed DSC Wanne-Eickel, which lost its professional license, because it was unable to meet financial requirements.
Brave season for the small club, but there was no future – not among the professionals anyway. One of the reasons in favour of reducing and reorganizing the second division: most clubs were too small to be financially stable. Playing in professional league often meant playing hide and seek with bankruptcy.
The league was gradually spread up to 4th place – Viktoria (Koln) topped the bulk of fairly equal teams, divided by a point or two. They finished with 46 points, same as SG Wattenscheid 09, but for better goal-difference. Nothing special – 3rd place was never an option this season.
Hannover 96 finished 3rd with 52 points. Obviously, way stronger than the league. But never coming aiming at first place either – Hannover 96 competed with Rot-Weiss (Essen) for second place, and lost it by 2 points.
Like Hannover 96, Rot-Weiss was a former Bundesliga member, thus, much stronger than purely second division clubs, but also not strong enough for winning the championship. Second, with 54 points, still gave them a chance: they were going to the play-off between the second division silver medalists for the third promotional spot.
Arminia (Bielefeld) dominated the championship from beginning to end. Outstanding season, really – they lost only matches, tied 6, and won 30, scoring 120 goals in the process. Amazing scoring achievement, but defense was not neglected either – Arminia allowed 31 goals, which is less than 1 goal per match.
Judging by the numbers, Arminia was seemingly experiencing a revival – the last time they were heard of was as a prime culprit in the infamous bribing scandal of the early 70s. Arminia was badly wounded by it, even looked like crushed forever. Now they were coming back, but their rise was viewed skeptically: Arminia were smallish club and their fantastic season was not that much because of great new squad, but because of generally weak league. Promotion was fine, but Arminia was expected only to battle for mere survival the next year.