The 1972-73 season will go down in history as the most legendary in WSV's not too illustrious life. A dominating march through the 2nd division Regionalliga West was followed by an equally crushing playoff round. WSV had gained promotion to the Bundesliga!

Life in the top flight was expected to be hard, and the main hope of WSV was to avoid relegation...



ROUND 1:	16.09.72
                                                                         
WUPPERTALER SV  2 : 0 (0 : 0) 1.FC Kaiserslautern 

Att: 12.100 

Scoring:
1:0 Kohle (63.), 2:0 Cremer (90.)


 WUPPERTALER SV			1.FC Kaiserslautern
 Erich Miss			Fritz Fuchs
 Emil Meisen			Dietmar Schwager
 Manfred Cremer			Ernst Diehl
 Manfred Reichert		Lothar Huber (79. Günther Reinders)
 Gustav Jung			Karlheinz Vogt
 Jürgen Kohle			Hermann Bitz
 Günter Pröpper			Klaus Ackermann
 Heinz-Dieter Lömm		Jürgen Friedrich
 Bernhard Hermes		Idriz Hosic
 Herbert Stöckl			Wolfgang Seel (65. Josef Pirrung)
 Manfred Müller			Josef Elting

                                               
A struggle against a crap 'Lautern team, but Manfred Cremer's late goal
made everything right. WSV's Bundesliga start was a success. FCK in those
was basically a crap hacker club, far removed from the later powerhouses
that would win the Bundesliga title and figure as a contender. The only
decent players were perhaps Wolfgang Seel and long serving "Sepp" Pirrung.
 
                                              
ROUND 2:	20.09.72

Fortuna Düsseldorf  2 : 1 (0 : 1) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att: 35.000
                    
Scoring:	0:1 Pröpper (24.), 1:1 Budde (78.), 2:1 Budde (88.)

Fortuna Düsseldorf			WUPPERTALER SV
Heiner Baltes				Erich Miss
Werner Lungwitz				Emil Meisen
Werner Kriegler				Manfred Cremer
Egon Köhnen				Manfred Reichert
Klaus Budde				Günter Pröpper
Fred Hesse				Bernhard Hermes
Dieter Herzog				Heinz-Dieter Lömm
Gerd Zewe				Jürgen Kohle
Leonhard Helmreich			Herbert Stöckl
Rainer Geye				Gustav Jung
Wilfried Woyke				Manfred Müller

Hans Schulz for Helmreich (55.)                                               
                                               
A bitter defeat for Wuppertal against our most hated rival. Having ripped
WSV off the previous year to gain promotion (so the WSV fans believed),
now the Fortuna-swine rob a victory from us. Fortuna had lots of decent
players, their star being forward Rainer Geye, who later transferred to
Kaiserslautern. Zewe, Koehnen and Baltes were also decent players.
                                              
                                               

ROUND 3. 	23.09.72   15:30 Uhr
                                                                         
WUPPERTALER SV - VfL Bochum 	3:0 (1:0)

Att: 25.000

Scoring:	1:0 Reichert (22.), 2:0 Jung (73.), 3:0 Kohle (86.)

WUPPERTALER SV			VfL Bochum
Manfred Müller 			  Reinhold Wosab, 
Manfred Cremer 			  Harry Fechner, 
Erich Miss 			  Erwin Galeski, 
Emil Meisen 			  Dieter Versen
Manfred Reichert		  Hans Walitza, 
Gustav Jung 			  Hermann Gerland, 
Jürgen Kohle (87. Ge. Jung) 	  Franz-Josef Laufer (46. Reinhard Majgl
Günter Pröpper			  Michael Lameck, 
Bernhard Hermes			  Hans-Jürgen Köper, 
Herbert Stöckl 			  Hans-Günter Etterich (46. Werner Balte
Heinz-Dieter Lömm (68. Brune)	  Werner Scholz
                                               
A great victory against a bitter enemy from Regionalliga days. As you well
known, those cheating scum from Bochum and Duesseldorf had conspired
against WSV back in 1970-71 to rob us of our just victory and promotion a
year earlier. So it was always nice when we could pund their ass. The fact
that it was Manny Reichert that opened up the scoring makes it all the
more amusing. Bochum's solid team was built around star forward Hans
Walitza, who never quite lived up to the greatness often predicted of him,
although he would have a solid career. The other key player was perhaps
midfielder Michael Lameck.

Round 4:	30.09.72                                                   
                                                                         
Offenbacher FC Kickers  3 : 1 (1 : 1) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att:	22.000
                    
Scoring:	1:0 Schäfer (24.), 1:1 Jung (27.), 2:1 Theis (55.)
3:1 Kostedde (58.)

                    
 Offenbacher FC Kickers			WUPPERTALER SV
 Nikolaus Semlitsch			Manfred Cremer
 Lothar Skala				Emil Meisen
 Hans Schmidradner			Erich Miss
 Herbert Meyer				Manfred Reichert
 Erwin Kostedde				Günter Pröpper
 Winfried Schäfer			Bernhard Hermes
 Siegfried Held				Heinz-Dieter Lömm
 Josef Hickersberger			Jürgen Kohle
 Amand Theis				Herbert Stöckl
 Manfred Ritschel			Gustav Jung
 Fred-Werner Bockholt			Manfred Müller

A disappointing result for WSV, slowing down their start. Offenbach had a
few decent players on their team, international Siggi Held in midfield,
Austrian international Hickersberger, Amand Theis and Erwin Kostedde, who
would also play a few times for the national squad. If he had been born 20
years later, he probably would have ended up playing for the US team, as
he would have qualified since his father was a US GI.                                              
                                               

ROUND 5:	04.10.72

WUPPERTALER SV  1 : 1 (0 : 0) FC Bayern München 

Att: 37.200
                    
Scoring:	1:0 Kohle (49.), 1:1 Dürnberger (79.)

WUPPERTALER SV			FC Bayern München
Erich Miss			Johnny Hansen
Emil Meisen			Georg Schwarzenbeck
Manfred Cremer			Franz Beckenbauer
Manfred Reichert		Paul Breitner
Gustav Jung			Gerd Müller
Bernhard Hermes			Edgar Schneider
Günter Pröpper			Wilhelm Hoffmann
Jürgen Kohle			Franz Krauthausen
Herbert Stöckl			Uli Hoeneß
Heinz-Dieter Lömm		Bernd Dürnberger
Manfred Müller			Josef Maier

WSV really announced itself to the Bundesliga with this match. The
Zoo-Stadion was packed as never before as the legendary Bayern squad came
to town. When Juergen Kohle gave WSV the lead early in the 2nd half, the
stadium exploded. But despite constant WSV attacks, Bayern proved their
mettle and scored the equalizer. With names like Beckenbauer, Mueller,
Breitner, Maier and Hoeness, it's hard to believe Bayern would ever lose a
match anyway, but on this day, they were pressed to the wall.
                                               

ROUND 6:	07.10.72
                                                                         
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen  2 : 1 (0 : 0) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att:	10.000
                    
Scoring:	1:0 Hollmann (55.), 2:0 Jakobs (67.), 2:1 Pröpper (82.)

Rot-Weiß Oberhausen			WUPPERTALER SV
Gerd Wörmer				Manfred Cremer
Friedhelm Dick				Erich Miss
Lothar Kobluhn				Emil Meisen
Reiner Hollmann				Manfred Reichert
Gert Fröhlich				Günter Pröpper
Franz-Josef Tenhagen			Bernhard Hermes
Dieter Heinrichs			Heinz-Dieter Lömm
Werner Ohm				Jürgen Kohle
Ditmar Jakobs				Herbert Stöckl
Willi Mumme				Gustav Jung
Wolfgang Scheid				Manfred Müller
 
Hermann Wilbertz for Fröhlich (67.) Georg Jung for Lömm (72.)
                                    Rudi Neufeld for Kohle (72.)

A crap result for WSV against a perennial bottom feeder. Nevertheless,
Oberhausen was a scrappy club, that managed to hold on with few fans or
resources. Lothar Kobluhn was their leading scorer and perhaps only
"star". Tenhagen later was a decent player for Bochum.

                    
ROUND 7:	14.10.72   15:30 Uhr

WUPPERTALER SV  1 : 1 (1 : 1) Werder Bremen 

Att:	20.000

Scoring:	0:1 Werner Weist (12.), 1:1 Günter Pröpper (18.)

                    
WUPPERTALER SV			Werder Bremen
Manfred Cremer 			Dieter Zembski, 
Erich Miss 			Per Röntved, 
Emil Meisen, 			Rudi Assauer, 
Manfred Reichert		Bernd Schmidt
Günter Pröpper 			Werner Weist, 
Bernhard Hermes			Karl-Heinz Kamp, 
Gustav Jung			Willi Neuberger
Jürgen Kohle, 			Peter Dietrich (76. Mario Kontny)
Herbert Stöckl 			Heinz-Dieter Hasebrink, 
Heinz-Dieter Lömm		Werner Görts
Manfred Müller			Günter Bernard

                                              
Werder was not yet the team that would win a title many years later.
Instead, they were constantly in the relegation battle. This team was
fairly non-descript, missing perennial German international defender Horst
Hoettges, but nevertheless gave WSV fits.


ROUND 8:	21.10.72

Eintracht Braunschweig  0 : 1 (0 : 0) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att:	7.500
                    
Scoring:	0:1 Günter Pröpper (80.)

Eintracht Braunschweig			WUPPERTALER SV
Peter Kaack				Manfred Cremer
Joachim Bäse				Emil Meisen
Franz Merkhoffer			Jürgen Kohle
Wolfgang Grzyb				Manfred Reichert
Jaro Deppe (57. Bent Jensen)		Gustav Jung
Friedhelm Haebermann			Erich Miss
Bernd Gersdorff				Günter Pröpper
Hans-Jürgen Hellfritz			Herbert Stöckl
Alan Michelsen				Bernhard Hermes
Eberhard Haun				Heinz-Dieter Lömm
Bernd Franke				Manfred Müller


ROUND 9:	28.10.72 

WUPPERTALER SV  4 : 1 (3 : 0) Hertha BSC Berlin 

Att:	16.000
                    
Scoring:	1:0 Jung (5.), 2:0 Jung (26.), 3:0 Pröpper (39.),
3:1 Brück (68.), 4:1 Jung (74.)

                    
WUPPERTALER SV				Hertha BSC Berlin			
Manfred Cremer				Michael Sziedat
Erich Miss				Erwin Hermandung
Emil Meisen				Ludwig Müller
Manfred Reichert			Hans Weiner
Gustav Jung				Gerhard Grau
Bernhard Hermes				Johannes Riedl
Günter Pröpper				Lorenz Horr
Jürgen Kohle				Erich Beer
Heinz-Dieter Lömm			Holger Brück
Herbert Stöckl				Peter Gutzeit
Ulrich Gelhard				Thomas Zander

Rudi Neufeld for Kohle (74.) 		Hanisch for Sziedat (46.)
Peter Redder for Hermes (83.)

A crunching victory for WSV over a Berlin squad that only a couple of
years ago had finished 3rd. However, Hertha was somewhat rocked by the
bribery scandals, which caused them to lose such players as Gayer and
Zoltan Vargas. This club had some decent players, such as Erich Beer, who
made a couple of international appearances, and Lorenz Horr, who had come
from tiny SV Alsenborn.


ROUND 10:	31.10.72
 
1.FC Köln  1 : 1 (0 : 0) WUPPERTALER SV 
 
Att:	22.000
                    
Scoring:	1:0 Overath (56.), 1:1 Kohle (62.)

1.FC Köln					WUPPERTALER SV
Hans-Josef Kapellmann			Manfred Cremer
Bernd Cullmann				Emil Meisen
Karl-Heinz Thielen			Jürgen Kohle
Harald Konopka				Manfred Reichert
Hannes Löhr				Gustav Jung
Heinz Simmet				Bernhard Hermes
Detlev Lauscher				Günter Pröpper
Wolfgang Overath			Erich Miss
Heinz Flohe				Herbert Stöckl
Jürgen Glowacz				Heinz-Dieter Lömm
Gerhard Welz				Ulrich Gelhard

Paul Scheermann for Glowacz (78.)	Georg Jung for Meisen (55.)

A great result for WSV against a classic Koeln squad. With playmaker
Wolfgang Overath, they had one of Germany's best ever midfielders. But he
had a decent supporting cast, including workhorse midfielder Heinz Flohe,
forward Hannes Loehr, defenders like Thielen, Kapellmann and Cullmann.
(Kapellmann would turn traitor and go to Bayern.)




ROUND	11:	04.11.72

FC Schalke 04  1 : 2 (0 : 2) WUPPERTALER SV 


Att:	22.000
                    
Scoring:	0:1 Pröpper (13.), 0:2 Pröpper (43.)
1:2 Erwin Kremers (59.)

                    
FC Schalke 04				WUPPERTALER SV
Klaus Beverungen			Manfred Cremer
Rolf Rüssmann				Erich Miss
Klaus Fichtel				Jürgen Kohle
Ulrich van den Berg			Manfred Reichert
Peter Ehmke				Georg Jung
Herbert Lütkebohmert			Bernhard Hermes
Erwin Kremers				Günter Pröpper
Paul Holz				Gustav Jung
Helmut Kremers				Herbert Stöckl
Helmut Manns				Heinz-Dieter Lömm
Norbert Nigbur				Ulrich Gelhard

Hartmut Huhse for Manns (80.)

A great win for WSV against a Schalke squad that almost won the German
title the previous year.

ROUND 12:	11.11.72

WUPPERTALER SV  1 : 0 (0 : 0) Eintracht Frankfurt 

Att:	20.000
                    
Scoring:	1:0 Georg Jung (53.)

WUPPERTALER SV			Eintracht Frankfurt
Manfred Cremer			Jürgen Kalb
Erich Miss			Uwe Kliemann
Jürgen Kohle			Gert Trinklein
Manfred Reichert		Thomas Rohrbach
Gustav Jung			Thomas Parits (76. Thomas Krauth)
Bernhard Hermes			Horst Heese
Günter Pröpper			Roland Weidle
Georg Jung			Bernd Hölzenbein
Herbert Stöckl			Bernd Nickel
Heinz-Dieter Lömm		Jürgen Grabowski
Ulrich Gelhard			Peter Kunter

A good win for WSV against a Frankfurt squad that always had decent
players, but often underachieved. Jurgen Grabowski would be part of the
World Cup winning German squad two years later, Bernd Hoelzenbein was a
many time international. Bernd Nickel retired as one of the longest
serving Bunesliga players, with over 400 games. "Dr. Peter Kunter" was one
of a few goalkeepers with a doctorate of some sort. Also interesting was
giant Uwe Kliemann, one of the better, but lesser known defenders.



ROUND 13:	18.11.72

Borussia M'gladbach  2 : 1 (1 : 0) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att:	20.000

Scoring:	1:0 Danner (38.), 2:0 Heynckes (67.), 2:1 Kohle (72.)

                    
Borussia M'gladbach			WUPPERTALER SV
Hartwig Bleidick			Manfred Cremer
Ulrich Surau				Erich Miss
Berti Vogts				Jürgen Kohle
Rainer Bonhof				Manfred Reichert
Jupp Heynckes				Günter Pröpper
Shmuel Rosenthal			Bernhard Hermes
Henning Jensen				Heinz-Dieter Lömm
Günter Netzer				Herbert Stöckl
Dietmar Danner				Gustav Jung
Christian Kulik				Georg Jung
Wolfgang Kleff				Ulrich Gelhard

Adalbert Fuhrmann for Jensen (60.)                                               
                                               
A tough defeat for WSV in a hotly contested match. WSV showed no fear in
front of the legendary Gladbach squad, led by brilliant midfielder Guenter
Netzer, tough defender Berti Vogts and goal poacher Jupp Heynckes. Other
players like Bonhof, Kleff and Kulik were often among the best at their
craft. This squad also featured the first Israeli to play in Germany in
Rosenthal.


ROUND 14:	21.11.72                                                   
                                                                         
WUPPERTALER SV  4 : 0 (3 : 0) VfB Stuttgart 

Att: 17.000
                    
Scoring:	1:0 Gustav Jung (13.), 2:0 Gustav Jung (14.),
3:0 Cremer (37.), 4:0 Stöckl (78.)

WUPPERTALER SV					VfB Stuttgart
Manfred Cremer					Manfred Weidmann
Jürgen Kohle					Herbert Höbusch
Emil Meisen					Reinhold Zech
Manfred Reichert				Egon Coordes
Gustav Jung					Wolfgang Frank
Bernhard Hermes					Horst Köppel
Günter Pröpper					Dieter Brenninger
Georg Jung					Karl-Heinz Handschuh
Herbert Stöckl (81. Peter Redder)		Horst Haug
Heinz-Dieter Lömm (77. Rudi Neufeld)		Dieter Schwemmle
Ulrich Gelhard					Gerhard Heinze

An impressive ass-whupping by WSV on the Stuttgarters, who had few decent
players. Horst Koeppel had come from Gladbach with high expectations, but
he pretty much performed as if "past-sell-date". The best of the rest were
Handschuh, a versatile midfielder, and goalkepper Heinze. WSV basically
steamrollered, and even Herbert Stoeckl got into the act                                              
                                               

ROUND 15:	25.11.72 

MSV Duisburg  0 : 0 WUPPERTALER SV 

Att:	23.000

MSV Duisburg			WUPPERTALER SV
Bernard Dietz			Manfred Cremer
Detlef Pirsig			Emil Meisen
Kurt Rettkowski			Erich Miss
Michael Bella			Manfred Reichert
Klaus Wunder			Gustav Jung
Bernd Lehmann			Georg Jung
Ronald Worm			Günter Pröpper
Hannes Linßen			Jürgen Kohle
Rainer Budde			Herbert Stöckl
Rudolf Seliger 			Bernhard Hermes
Dietmar Linders			Manfred Müller

Werner Schneider for Seliger (79.)

A decent result for WSV. Duisburg was usually involved in relegation
battles, but often had some decent players. Guys like Pirsig, Dietz and
Bella played forever, and MSV was also well known in those days for an
outstanding youth programs. Two of their brightest stars were the forwards
Klaus Wunder and Ronnie Worm.                                               


ROUND 16: 02.12.72

WUPPERTALER SV  5 : 1 (2 : 0) Hamburger SV 

Att: 22.000
                    
Scoring: 
1:0 Pröpper (23.), 2:0 Kohle (38.), 3:0 Kohle (51.), 
4:0 Pröpper (65.), 4:1 Zaczyk (73.), 5:1 Schulz (87.) o.g.

WUPPERTALER SV				Hamburger SV
Manfred Cremer				Manfred Kaltz
Erich Miss				Peter Krobbach
Emil Meisen				Willi Schulz
Manfred Reichert			Edgar Nobs
Heinz-Dieter Lömm (70. Geo Jung)	Peter Lübeke
Bernhard Hermes (84. Spannenkrebs)	Klaus Winkler
Günter Pröpper				Georg Volkert (62. Walter Krause)
Jürgen Kohle				Caspar Memering
Gustav Jung				Klaus Zaczyk
Herbert Stöckl				Franz-Josef Hönig
Ulrich Gelhard				Arkoc Özcan

Hamburg was crap, and got their ass ripped by a vicious WSV, led by
Juergen Kohle's brilliant performance. If you look at Hamburg's lineup,
it's not too bad on paper, but they hadn't really got the mix right. When
Kevin Keegan arrived some 7 years later, HSV would scale the heights of
European soccer, and Manni Klatz was one of the top defenders in the
world. But in the Zoo Stadion, he had to change diapers at half-time. Long
time veteran Willi Schultz was long past sell date, Klaus Zaczyk had seen
better days as well. Keeper Arkoc Oczan was one of the first Turks to play
in the Bundesliga.
 

ROUND 17:	16.12.72

Hannover 96  1 : 1 (1 : 1) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att:	16.000
                    
Scoring:	0:1 Pröpper (30.), 1:1 Reimann (32.)

                    
Hannover 96					WUPPERTALER SV
Jürgen Bandura				Erich Miss
Peter Anders				Emil Meisen
Hans-Josef Hellingrath			Manfred Cremer
Ludwig Denz				Manfred Reichert
Willi Reimann				Herbert Stöckl
Rainer Stiller				Gustav Jung
Eckhard Deterding			Günter Pröpper
Peter Rühmkorb				Georg Jung
Hans Siemensmeyer			Jürgen Kohle
Karl-Heinz Mrosko			Bernhard Hermes
Franz-Josef Pauly			Manfred Müller

Pedro Milasincic for Rühmkorb (73.)                                          

A decent result for WSV to end the first half of the season. Hannover was
a perennial crap squad, always struggling against relegation. Perhaps
their best player was Peter Anders. "Charly" Mrosko, a flashy, over-hyped
winger also was fairly well known in those days.
                                               

ROUND 18:	20.01.73

1.FC Kaiserslautern  1 : 1 (1 : 1) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att: 12.000
                    
Scoring:	1:0 Diehl (3.), 1:1 Hermes (38.)

                    
1.FC Kaiserslautern			WUPPERTALER SV
Lothar Huber				Manfred Cremer
Dietmar Schwager			Jürgen Kohle
Ernst Diehl				Emil Meisen
Günther Reinders			Manfred Reichert
Josef Pirrung				Gustav Jung
Jürgen Friedrich			Erich Miss
Klaus Ackermann				Günter Pröpper
Hermann Bitz				Herbert Stöckl
Idriz Hosic				Theodor Homann
Wolfgang Seel				Bernhard Hermes
Josef Stabel				Manfred Müller

Werner Michelbach for Stabel (56.) 	Peter Redder for Gustav Jung (24.)
Georg Jung for Hermes (80.) 

A good road result at the always tough Betzenberg.

ROUND 19:	14.04.73

WUPPERTALER SV  1 : 1 (1 : 1) Fortuna Düsseldorf 

Att:	31.100
 
Scoring:	0:1 Rainer Geye (17.), 1:1 Herbert Stöckl (45.)

WUPPERTALER SV			Fortuna Düsseldorf
Manfred Cremer 			Fred Hesse, 
Jürgen Kohle 			Peter Biesenkamp, 
Emil Meisen (83. Webers) 	Werner Kriegler, 
Manfred Reichert, 		Hans-Georg Kraus
Theodor Homann			Klaus Budde, 
Bernhard Hermes			Gerd Zewe, 
Günter Pröpper			Dieter Herzog
Georg Jung (73. Miss)		Hans Schulz, 		
Herbert Stöckl 			Dieter Brei, 
Heinz-Dieter Lömm		Rainer Geye
Manfred Müller			Wilfried Woyke

Another draw against the bitter rival from Duesseldorf, easily the most
hated team in the Zoo Stadion, even more so than Bochum. Fortuna's star
player was winger Reinhard Geye, who would soon transfer to
Kaiserslautern. The other key player was Gerd Zewe.


ROUND 20:	03.02.73

VfL Bochum  2 : 2 (2 : 1) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att:	25.000

Scoring: 
1:0 Majgl (3.), 1:1 Homann (13.), 2:1 Miss (39., og), 2:2 Pröpper (78.)

VfL Bochum				WUPPERTALER SV
Reinhold Wosab			Erich Miss
Dieter Versen			Emil Meisen
Erwin Galeski			Manfred Cremer
Harry Fechner			Manfred Reichert
Reinhard Majgl			Günter Pröpper
Hans-Jürgen Köper		Theodor Homann
Werner Balte			Gustav Jung (89. Geo. Jung)
Michael Lameck			Herbert Stöckl (77. Webers)
Werner Krämer			Heinz-Dieter Lömm
Hans Walitza			Bernhard Hermes
Hans-Jürgen Bradler		Manfred Müller

Hans-Günter Etterich for Majgl (83.)                                             
                                               
Another tough match against the bitter rivals from Bochum, who figured to
give WSV a tough fight. Majgl's early goal was luckily neutralized by
Homann, but WSV was in serious trouble by the 2nd half.



ROUND 21:	10.2.73

WUPPERTALER SV  4 : 3 (2 : 2) Offenbacher FC Kickers 

Att:	16.000

Scoring:	1:0 Pröpper (11.), 2:0 Cremer (23.), 2:1 Schäfer (26.),
2:2 Ritschel (43.), 3:2 Hermes (53.), 3:3 Theis (65.), 4:3 Kohle (87.)


WUPPERTALER SV			Offenbacher FC Kickers
Manfred Cremer			Herbert Meyer
Erich Miss			Lothar Skala
Emil Meisen			Hans Schmidradner
Manfred Reichert		Egon Schmitt
Gustav Jung			Manfred Ritschel
Bernhard Hermes			Winfried Schäfer
Günter Pröpper			Siegfried Held
Jürgen Kohle			Josef Hickersberger
Herbert Stöckl			Rainer Blechschmidt
Heinz-Dieter Lömm		Amand Theis
Manfred Müller			Fred-Werner Bockholt

A wild shoot out against a fellow Aufsteiger. WSV seemed to be in control
early, but the Kickers came back and seemed to be able to match everything
WSV could throw at them. In the end, Juergen Kohl got the late winner to
send the fans home happy.                                               
                                               

ROUND 22:	17.02.73 

FC Bayern München  4 : 1 (2 : 1) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att:	22.000
                    
Scoring:	1:0 Hoeneß (3.), 1:1 Kohle (12.), 2:1 Müller (16.),
3:1 Dürnberger (48.), 4:1 Hoffmann (65.)

                   
FC Bayern München				WUPPERTALER SV
Johnny Hansen				Manfred Cremer
Georg Schwarzenbeck			Erich Miss
Franz Beckenbauer			Emil Meisen
Paul Breitner				Manfred Reichert
Gerd Müller				Günter Pröpper
Franz Roth				Bernhard Hermes
Wilhelm Hoffmann			Heinz-Dieter Lömm
Rainer Zobel				Jürgen Kohle
Uli Hoeneß				Herbert Stöckl
Bernd Dürnberger			Gustav Jung
Josef Maier				Manfred Müller

WSV put up a good fight in the first half, but eventually they were
overpowered by the champions.                                               
                                               

ROUND 23:	24.02.73

WUPPERTALER SV  3 : 1 (1 : 1) Rot-Weiß Oberhausen 

Att: 10.000

Scoring:	1:0 Pröpper (1.), 1:1 Tenhagen (10.), 2:1 Gu. Jung (59.),
3:1 Pröpper (74.)

WUPPERTALER SV				Rot-Weiß Oberhausen
Manfred Cremer			Hermann-Josef Wilbertz (56. Werner Ohm)
Erich Miss			Gerd Wörmer
Emil Meisen			Lothar Kobluhn
Manfred Reichert		Friedhelm Dick
Gustav Jung (80. Homann)	Hans Schumacher
Bernhard Hermes			Reiner Hollmann
Günter Pröpper			Dieter Heinrichs (81. Friedel Szelmies)
Jürgen Kohle			Franz-Josef Tenhagen
Herbert Stöckl (84. Ge. Jung)	Ditmar Jakobs
Heinz-Dieter Lömm		Willi Mumme
Ulrich Gelhard			Willi Jansen

A rather ho-hum performance by WSV against the worst team in the league.
                                               
Round 24:	10.3.73

Werder Bremen  0 : 1 (0 : 0) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att:	17.000

Scoring:	0:1 Theodor Homann (86.)

Werder Bremen				WUPPERTALER SV
Mario Kontny				Erich Miss
Horst-Dieter Höttges			Emil Meisen
Rudi Assauer				Manfred Cremer
Karl-Heinz Kamp				Manfred Reichert
Willi Neuberger				Gustav Jung (79. Homann)
Dieter Zembski				Bernhard Hermes (88. Geo. Jung)
Werner Görts				Günter Pröpper
Herbert Laumen				Jürgen Kohle
Heinz-Dieter Hasebrink			Herbert Stöckl
Per Röntved				Heinz-Dieter Lömm
Günter Bernard				Manfred Müller

Another good result for WSV, against a desperate Werder team that had
German international defender Horst Hoettges back in the lineup.                                               
                                             

ROUND 25:	17.03.72

WUPPERTALER SV  2 : 1 (1 : 0) Eintracht Braunschweig 

Att: 13.000
                    
Scoring: 
1:0 Jung (38.), 2:0 Kohle (70.), 2:1 Gersdorff (74.)

WUPPERTALER SV		Eintracht Braunschweig	
Erich Miss, 		Wolfgang Grzyb
Emil Meisen, 		Friedhelm Haebermann
Georg Jung		Peter Kaack
Bernhard Hermes		Eberhard Haun
Gustav Jung, 		Ludwig Bründl
Jürgen Kohle, 		Franz Merkhoffer
Günter Pröpper		Hartmut Konschal
Herbert Stöckl		Alan Michelsen (51. Hans-Jürgen Hellfritz)
Manfred Reichert	Klaus Gerwien
Heinz-Dieter Lömm	Bernd Gersdorff
Manfred Müller		Bernd Franke


ROUND 26:	24.03.73

Hertha BSC Berlin  0 : 1 (0 : 1) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att:	35.000

Scoring:	0:1 Gustav Jung (6.)

Hertha BSC Berlin			WUPPERTALER SV
Michael Sziedat			Georg Jung
Ludwig Müller			Erich Miss
Erwin Hermandung		Emil Meisen
Frank Hanisch			Manfred Reichert
Lorenz Horr			Günter Pröpper (65. Webers, 88.Cremers)
Erich Beer			Bernhard Hermes
Gerhard Grau			Heinz-Dieter Lömm
Holger Brück			Jürgen Kohle
Klaus-Peter Hanisch		Herbert Stöckl
Peter Gutzeit			Gustav Jung
Horst Wolter (46. Th. Zander)	Manfred Müller

An excellent result for WSV in the Olympiastadion against the tough
Berliners.


ROUND 27: 	31.03.72

WUPPERTALER SV  2 : 2 (0 : 1) 1.FC Köln 

Att:	28.000
                    
Scoring:                    
0:1 Cullmann (30.), 1:1 Kohle (64.), 2:1 Kohle (69.), 2:2 Miss (74.) o.g.

WUPPERTALER SV			1.FC Köln
Manfred Cremer			Herbert Hein
Erich Miss			Wolfgang Weber
Emil Meisen			Bernd Cullmann
Manfred Reichert		Harald Konopka
Gustav Jung			Hans-Josef Kapellmann (66. Josef Bläser)
Bernhard Hermes			Heinz Simmet
Günter Pröpper			Hannes Löhr
Jürgen Kohle			Heinz Flohe (82. Herbert Neumann)
Herbert Stöckl			Wolfgang Overath
Heinz-Dieter Lömm		Jürgen Glowacz
Manfred Müller			Gerhard Welz


ROUND 28:	07.04.73

WUPPERTALER SV  4 : 1 (2 : 1) FC Schalke 04 

Att: 18.000
                    
Scoring:	1:0 Pröpper (9.), 1:1 Braun (14.), 2:1 Jung (34.),
3:1 Pröpper (55.), 4:1 Hermes (61.)

WUPPERTALER SV				FC Schalke 04
Manfred Cremer			Jürgen Klein
Erich Miss			Ulrich van den Berg (67. Helmut Manns)
Emil Meisen			Helmut Kremers
Manfred Reichert		Hartmut Huhse
Gustav Jung (57. Homann)	Nico Braun
Bernhard Hermes			Klaus Beverungen
Günter Pröpper			Erwin Kremers (18. Manfred Dubski)
Jürgen Kohle			Paul Holz
Herbert Stöckl			Klaus Scheer
Heinz-Dieter Lömm (62. Ge Jung) Peter Ehmke
Manfred Müller			Norbert Nigbur

Yet another laughable performance by Schalke, as WSV kicked their ass all
over the field. The only momentary halting of the steamroller was when
Luxembourgisch international Nico Braun scored for the Blues.
                                               
ROUND 29:	28.04.73

Eintracht Frankfurt  2 : 1 (1 : 1) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att: 10.500

Scoring:	1:0 Grabowski (6.), 1:1 Pröpper (45.), 2:1 Nickel (87.)

Eintracht Frankfurt			WUPPERTALER SV
Peter Reichel				Manfred Cremer
Uwe Kliemann				Erich Miss
Gert Trinklein				Emil Meisen
Karl-Heinz Wirth			Manfred Reichert
Bernd Nickel				Gustav Jung
Jürgen Kalb				Bernhard Hermes
Roland Weidle				Günter Pröpper
Bernd Hölzenbein			Jürgen Kohle
Wolfgang Kraus				Herbert Stöckl
Jürgen Grabowski			Heinz-Dieter Lömm
Günther Wienhold			Manfred Müller

Thomas Rohrbach for Wirth (46.)	Georg Jung for Stöckl (77.)
                                             
                                               
                                                                         
ROUND 30:	05.05.73

WUPPERTALER SV  0 : 5 (0 : 2) Borussia M'gladbach 

Att: 30.000

Scoring: 	0:1 Rupp (12.), 0:2 Heynckes (30.), 0:3 Kulik (46.)
0:4 Heynckes (50.), 0:5 Heynckes (80.)

WUPPERTALER SV				Borussia M'gladbach
Manfred Cremer				Berti Vogts
Erich Miss				Rainer Bonhof
Emil Meisen				Günter Netzer
Manfred Reichert			Heinz Michalik
Gustav Jung				Bernd Rupp
Bernhard Hermes				Christian Kulik
Günter Pröpper (63. Webers)		Jupp Heynckes
Jürgen Kohle (68. Homann)		Herbert Wimmer
Herbert Stöckl				Dietmar Danner
Heinz-Dieter Lömm			Henning Jensen
Manfred Müller				Wolfgang Kleff

One of the worst defeats in WSV history, against a star studded Gladbach
squad that was not having a good season.
As for the game itself, WSV basically attacked furiously, and essentially
ran into the pointed sword of the Gladbach counterattack.                                               
                                               

ROUND 31:	19.05.73

VfB Stuttgart  4 : 2 (3 : 2) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att:	8.500

Scoring:	0:1 Cremer (14.), 1:1 Coordes (20.),
2:1 Brenninger (29.), 2:2 Cremer (42.), 3:2 Ettmayer (45.),
4:2 Brenninger (82.)


VfB Stuttgart				WUPPERTALER SV
Manfred Weidmann			Manfred Cremer
Norbert Siegmann			Emil Meisen
Reinhold Zech				Jürgen Kohle
Egon Coordes				Manfred Reichert
Karl Berger				Gustav Jung
Horst Haug				Bernhard Hermes
Dieter Brenninger			Günter Pröpper
Roland Mall				Herbert Stöckl
Hans Ettmayer				Theodor Homann
Dieter Schwemmle			Heinz-Dieter Lömm
Gerhard Heinze				Ulrich Gelhard

Eckhart Müller for Berger (46.) 	Erich Miss for Jung (56.)
Herbert Höbusch for Mall (71.) 	Detlef Webers for Pröpper (76.)

A tough defeat for WSV at an empty Neckarstadion. Manfred Cremer's
excellent performance is wasted as Brenniner and "Buffy" Ettmayer bring
the victory to VfB.


ROUND 32:	26.05.73
                                                                         
WUPPERTALER SV  5 : 0 (1 : 0) MSV Duisburg 

Att:	9.000                    

Scoring:	1:0 Pröpper (19.), 2:0 Pröpper (59.), 3:0 Pröpper (61.), 
4:0 Pröpper (78.), 5:0 Webers (85.)

WUPPERTALER SV			MSV Duisburg
Theodor Homann			Michael Bella
Erich Miss			Detlef Pirsig
Emil Meisen			Bernard Dietz
Manfred Reichert		Kurt Rettkowski
Gustav Jung			Klaus Wunder
Bernhard Hermes (77. Webers)	Bernd Lehmann
Günter Pröpper			Ronald Worm
Jürgen Kohle (56. Stöckl)	Hannes Linßen (70. Werner Schneider)
Manfred Cremer			Herbert Büssers (70. Jonny Hey)
Heinz-Dieter Lömm		Rudolf Seliger
Ulrich Gelhard			Volker Danner

A brilliant victory by WSV, as Guenter Proepper lit up the Zebras like a
pin ball machine.                                               


ROUND 33:	02.06.73

Hamburger SV  2 : 2 (1 : 0) WUPPERTALER SV 

Att:	10.000

Scoring:	1:0 Heese (36.), 2:0 Volkert (52.), 2:1 Stöckl (63.)
2:2 Reichert (75.)

 Hamburger SV				WUPPERTALER SV
 Manfred Kaltz				Manfred Cremer
 Peter Nogly				Erich Miss
 Peter Hidien				Emil Meisen
 Willi Schulz				Manfred Reichert
 Horst Heese				Günter Pröpper
 Klaus Zaczyk				Theodor Homann
 Georg Volkert				Heinz-Dieter Lömm
 Ole Björnmose				Jürgen Kohle
 Franz-Josef Hönig			Herbert Stöckl
 Caspar Memering			Gustav Jung
 Rudi Kargus				Ulrich Gelhard

Bernhard Hermes for Homann (46.)
Detlef Webers for Lömm (57.)

A nice comeback for WSV, after digging themselves a deep hole.

                    
ROUND 34:	09.06.73

WUPPERTALER SV  0 : 4 (0 : 2) Hannover 96 

Att: 25.000

Scoring:
0:1 Stiller (2.), 0:2 Siemensmeyer (35.), 0:3 Reimann (71.), 0:4 Reimann
(89.)

WUPPERTALER SV				Hannover 96	
Manfred Cremer				Rainer Stiller
Erich Miss				Hans-Josef Hellingrath
Emil Meisen (63. Homann)		Hans-H. Blumenthal
Manfred Reichert			Peter Anders
Gustav Jung				Willi Reimann
Bernhard Hermes				Rolf Kaemmer
Detlef Webers				Roland Stegmayer
Jürgen Kohle				Ludwig Denz
Herbert Stöckl				Hans Siemensmeyer
Heinz-Dieter Lömm (71. Ge. Jung)	Eckhard Deterding
Manfred Müller				Reinhard Dittel

A disgraceful end to a brilliant season, perhaps one that hinted of
further travails to come. The Zoo Stadion corwd came to cheer their
heroes, and instead were treated to the worst performance of the season.
There was even a fear that the bribery scandal might touch Wuppertal,
since Hannover desperately needed this win to stay up.                                              
   

Still, a brilliant season for WSV, and they qualify for the UEFA Cup.

FINAL STANDINGS
                                            
 1. FC Bayern München           93:29   54-14
 2. 1.FC Köln                   66:51   43-25 
 3. Fortuna Düsseldorf          62:45   42-26
 4. WUPPERTALER SV (N)          62:49   40-28
 5. Borussia M'gladbach         82:61   39-29
 6. VfB Stuttgart               71:65   37-31
 7. Offenbacher Kickers         61:60   35-33
 8. Eintracht Frankfurt         58:54   34-34
 9. 1.FC Kaiserslautern         58:68   34-34
10. MSV Duisburg                53:54   33-35
11. Werder Bremen               50:52   31-37
12. VfL Bochum                  50:68   31-37
13. Hertha BSC Berlin           53:64   30-38
14. Hamburger SV                53:59   28-40
15. FC Schalke 04               46:61   28-40
16. Hannover 96                 49:65   26-42
---------------------------------------------
17. Eintracht Braunschweig      33:56   25-43
18. Rot-Weiß Oberhausen         45:84   22-46



Playing stats:
			Start	Sub	Minutes
Manfred Reichert	34	0	3,060
Bernhard Hermes 	33	1	2,987
Herbert Stöckl		33	1	2,976
Günter Pröpper		33	0	2,904
Manfred Cremer		32	1	2,882
Jürgen Kohle		33	0	2,877
Erich Miss		31	2	2,841
Gustav Jung		33	0	2,826
Emil Meisen		31	0	2,728
Heinz-Dieter Lömm	31	0	2,637
Manfred Müller		23	0	2,070
Ulrich Gelhard		11	0	  990 
Georg Jung		 9	9	  944
Theodor Homann		 6	4	  587
Detlef Webers		 1	5	  186
Peter Redder		 0	3	   82
Rudi Neufeld		 0	2	   34
Claus Brune		 0	1	   22
Klaus Spannenkrebs	 0	1	    6

Scoring:

21:	Pröpper
12:	Kohle
11:	Gustl Jung
  5:	Cremer
  3:	Hermes, Stockl
  2:	Reichert, Homann
  1:	Georg Jung, Webers, own goal

Goal keeping:

Manfred Muller	-36	1.565 avg
Ulrich Gelhard	-13	1.182 avg

Attendance:
Home	349.300	(20.547 avg)
Road:	317.500	(18.676 avg)