Tasmania 1900 Berlin

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Logo of Tasmania 1900 Berlin / Bundesliga 1965-66

Tasmania 1900 Berlin was a German football club based in the Berlin district of Neukölln.

The team was founded on June 2, 1900 as Rixdorfer TuFC Tasmania 1900, changing its name when Rixdorf was re-named Neukölln in 1912. After World War II, the team was dissolved by the Allied authorities. It was reformed in 1946 as SG Mitte-Neukölln before once again taking on the name of the original sports club and becoming Tasmania 1900 Berlin in 1949.

In 1965, Berlin's only Bundesliga side, Hertha BSC, had its license revoked and was relegated for breaking the league's player salary rules. The DFB (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German Football Association) wanted to keep a club in the city for political reasons and this led to one of the strangest episodes in the Bundesliga's history.

Both Karlsruher SC and FC Schalke 04 tried to avoid being demoted by laying claim to Hertha's place. It was decided to suspend relegation for one season and increase the number of teams in the league from 16 to 18 to accommodate the two teams which would normally be promoted from the Regionalligen (the Regional Leagues being the leagues below the Bundesliga at the time). Cold War politics led to a space being held for a team from the former capital city to replace Hertha.

The winner of Regionalliga Berlin, Tennis Borussia Berlin, had failed to advance to the Bundesliga through the regular promotion round that saw Bayern München and Borussia Mönchengladbach move up. After the Regionalliga second place finisher, Spandauer SV, refused an offer of promotion, the way was clear for third-place club Tasmania 1900 to take up the opportunity to represent Berlin in the Bundesliga — just two weeks before the start of the 1965-66 season.

A top performer in the relatively weak Regionalliga Berlin, Tasmania 1900 would find themselves seriously overmatched in the Bundesliga. Despite a season-opening 2:0 win over Karlsruher SC at the Olympiastadion, they would go on to become the worst team in league history — in a 34-game season they won only twice. They scored only 15 goals while conceding 108 and finished the season in last place earning just 8 of a possible 68 points (8:60). The only team not to beat Tasmania was FC Kaiserslautern which managed just two draws (0:0 and 1:1) against them. The 0:0 result at Betzenberg was the only point earned by Tasmania away from their home stadium.

Tasmania 1900 was relegated at season's end and returned to play in Regionalliga Berlin. Although the team made it to the promotion round twice between 1966 and 1973 they never did manage a return to the Bundesliga. In 1973, the Neukölln sports association declared bankruptcy. A successor association, SC Tasmania 73 Neukölln was created, becoming SC Tasmania Gropiusstadt 73 in 2001. Today, the senior side plays in Verbandsliga Berlin (V), while the A-juniors play in the junior Bundesliga.

[edit] Dubious distinctions

Team photo of Tasmania 1900 Berlin in their 1965-66 Bundesliga season.

As the worst team in Bundesliga history, Tasmania 1900 Berlin is the holder of a number of dubious records:

49th and last place in all-time Bundesliga standings (8:60 points under the old scoring method of two points for a win, 10:92 under today's system that allows three points for a win)
fewest wins in a season: 2 (and 4 draws)
most defeats in a season: 28
only Bundesliga team without an away win
longest winless streak: 31 games (August 14, 1965-May 21, 1966)
most home defeats in a season: 12
most consecutive home losses: 8 games (August 28, 1965-December 8, 1965), tied by Hansa Rostock in 2004-05
most consecutive homes matches without a win: 15 matches (August 24, 1965-May 21, 1966)
most consecutive losses: 10 matches, tied by Arminia Bielefeld in 1999-2000, whose fans began to derisively chant "Tasmania Bielefeld!" during the record tying match
worst ever goals for-and-against: 15:108
fewest ever goals for a team's leading scorer: 4 by Wulf-Ingo Usbeck
biggest losing margin at home: 0:9 to Meidericher SV (March 26, 1966); this record was almost tied when Bayer Leverkusen beat SSV Ulm 1846 1:9, Leandro Fonseca scored for Ulm in injury time
until 1993, most minutes played without scoring a goal: 831 minutes (October 2, 1965-December 11, 1965), since surpassed by FC Saarbrücken and FC Köln
smallest ever crowd at a Bundesliga game: 827 (January 15, 1966 against Borussia Moenchengladbach) after crowds of 81,500 at their first home game and 70,000 at their second