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How Bayern Munich's rivals have benefited from their brand of football socialism

The German second division table is not the typical that you would check out but nevertheless I h...



How Bayern Munich's rivals...
Soccer

How Bayern Munich's rivals have benefited from their brand of football socialism

The German second division table is not the typical that you would check out but nevertheless I had a look recently.

Mostly, the reason is to see how TSV 1860 Munich are doing this year. Their football section was formed in 1899, just under a year earlier than the birth of their now more illustrious younger city sibling Bayern Munich.

So, while Bayern continue to dominate German football and top the Bundesliga, life could not be any different for 1860.

While the prize cuts of turkey go to Bayern this Christmas, their Allianz Arena flatmates will unfortunately be spending German football's winter dinner chewing over the leftovers as they reside in the relegation zone of 2.Bundesliga.

Having escaped the drop to the third division by dint of a survival playoff last season, they are five points adrift of safety this time, although just two off a promotion/relegation playoff.

Funnily enough, at one time the gap between themselves and Bayern was not so vast. While the five-time European Cup/Champions League winners won a German championship in the 1930s, it was 1860 who first took a Bundesliga title in 1966, three years after the league was established and three years before Bayern would win the first of the 24 they have won so far.

TSV 1860 were also runners-up in 1967, during an impressive decade in which they also won the German Cup in '64, going on to reach the following year's European Cup Winners Cup final which was lost to the West Ham of '66 World Cup winners Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst. 

Indeed, it was 1860 who were invited to the inaugural Bundesliga in '63 ahead of Bayern as the German Football Federation picked a Munich representative for the top flight.

Bayern, with promising future legends like Gerd Muller and Franz Beckenbauer at the age of 21 in their team had to wait until the 1965-66 season to make their first foray into a league which the club would go on to dominate.

But off-the-field is interesting. My Dad, who lived and studied third level in Munich in the late 60s and early '70s, has recounted the political perceptions of the Munich clubs at the time to me before with 1860 often identified with the working class fanbase and left-wing politics, in comparison to the Bayern of the era who were perceived as more associated with middle and upper classes and the right - even if neither club was never truly politicised.

Ironically though, it's Bayern that have displayed socialist principles when it comes to their rivals - well, aside from when they are indulging in their favoured pastime of signing their most potent opponent's players as they did with Borussia Dortmund by snaring Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski in consecutive seasons.

The two captains, Bobby Moore of West Ham, right, and Rudi Brunnenmeier of TSV Munchen 1860, left, shake hands after exchanging flags before the start of the European Cup Winners Cup final at Wembley, London, on May 19, 1965. (AP Photo)

Back when Dortmund were experiencing financial problems a decade ago, Bayern loaned the Westfalien side €2 million to help them survive the threat of bankruptcy and allow them to meet their commitments. It was interest free too.

"When they couldn't even pay their salaries we thought we should help. I'm a big fan of tradition in sport and I think it was the right thing to do," former Bayern CEO Uli Hoeness has since commented - the former Germany and Bayern footballing great has been on day release since January after being convicted of tax evasion.

It's not just Dortmund that have been on the end of Bayern's helping hand as 1860 also benefited when their neighbours bought out their €11 million, 50 per cent stake in the 75,000 seater Allianz Arena in 2006, whilst allowing them to continue to play games there.

The financial boost helped keep 1860 afloat and it is also notable that Bayern have also helped out Hamburg-based St Pauli (a club famed more for its left wing politics than achievements on the pitch) by playing a fundraising game against them in 2003 when the side were in dire straits on and off the pitch.

The help given to 1860 and Dortmund is not socialism by the standard definition of the word, but certainly it is a redistribution of wealth and 1860 might have been in a worse state than their current perilous on-field situation without their wealthy neighbour. 

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