Over the last few weeks, you may have noticed some major professional clubs from around the world visiting the United States on a preseason tour. The biggest names in the game have made a point to come across the pond to market themselves to the burgeoning American soccer crowd and make some quick cash as they prepare for their upcoming seasons.
Premier League giants Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Arsenal have all faced MLS clubs, as will German power Bayern Munich in the upcoming MLS All-Star Game. Even smaller EPL clubs like Swansea City have made the trip, with the Swans’ including a loss to Minnesota United of the NASL. It’s a sign of the strength and the allure of the growing passion for soccer here. But it isn’t new. And it’s something that has a history in western New York.
Back in 1951, several clubs made the trip to North America for a summer tour. The diverse collection of clubs included England’s Fulham, AIK of Stockholm, Sweden, Scotland’s Glasgow Celtic and Eintracht Frankfurt of Germany.
In January of that year, the local German-American club here in Buffalo revealed plans that they were working to bring Eintracht to Buffalo. The game was set for Friday, May 11, 1951 at Civic Stadium in Buffalo (which would be renamed War Memorial Stadium in 1960), and pit the visiting Germans against a team of Western New York All-Stars sponsored by the local Magnus Beck Brewing Company.
The local team was a compilation of the best players in the area. The squad featured Rudy Epperlein, a center midfielder for the Beck’s club team who that year was named to the National Soccer Hall of Fame. They would play a few warm-up matches against some Canadian major league clubs as a tune-up for the big game. A few warmup matches wouldn’t be quite enough.
Eintracht finished the 1950-51 placing 8th of 18 teams in Oberliga Süd, one spot ahead of a little club known as Bayern Munich. Prior to the Bundesliga’s formation in 1963, German clubs participated in regional leagues. The Frankfurters were hardly remarkable at that point, but were trending upward. Their American tour would give them a good experience, as well as some good results.
Five days prior to their Buffalo visit, Eintracht faced the German American League stars at Randall’s Island, New York. The visitors from Frankfurt rolled to a 5-2 victory and headed off to the Queen City. The game itself was not close.
In front of a 3,500 fans on a wet night inside Civic Stadium, where capacity was north of 35,000, the touring Germans put on a show. Eintracht forward Alfred Kraus scored in the third minute to open the scoring. Then he scored again in the fifth minute. Then teammate Kurt Krömmelbein made it a three goal margin in the seventh, only to have Kraus score again. Eight minutes in, it was Eintracht 4, Beck’s 0. That was about as close as it would ever be.
The Frankfurt club would lead 7-0 at halftime, and took the match by a 13-1 final. Buffalo’s squad would have a lone bright moment, as Hans Feldgemacher would break the clean sheet in the 71st minute, beating Eintracht keeper Helmuth Henig. But they did lose. 13-1. Kraus would tally seven goals, Hubert Schieth and Alfred Pfaff scored twice, while Krömmelbein and Joachim Jänisch each netted one. After the match, Eintracht Frankfurt continued their tour, dropping the Toledo Turners by a 5-1 score in Ohio just two days later. They visited St. Louis and Milwaukee as well, before returning to the New York area and playing three more matches there.
Overall, they would win six of their eight games, only losing to Zenthoefers in St. Louis and Glasgow Celtic, on a tour themselves, in Randalls Island. Despite the mid-table finish in 1951, there were great things ahead for Frankfurt. Eintracht would finish 4th in the league in 1951-52 and claiming the league title in 1953. They’d win their Oberliga and the German championship in 1959, and joined the Bundesliga in 1963.
Currently, they’d be best known for featuring United States men’s national team winger/back Timothy Chandler. For Buffalo, it would be a rare glimpse at the world’s best. Touring European teams have criss-crossed the nation on a yearly basis, but other than a 1977 visit from famed Italian club S.S. Lazio, the Western New York region has frequently been passed over.
As the game grows in the United States, that may change. But until then, there will always be that rainy night at Civic Stadium.
