Help! East German friendly info, anyone?

[1974ddr]

This is a long shot, but who better to ask than the erudite WSC community? Back in 1983 Aston Villa played a friendly against the East German national side at Villa Park. I was there- I've got the programme, though it was a glorified team sheet- so I know the line-ups, but I don't remember the result, and I've drawn a blank on the interweb thingy. Can anyone tell me more?

[Gangster Octopus]

Help! East German friendly info, anyone?

Did she put up a fight?

[ursus arctos]

Help! East German friendly info, anyone?

Looks like 4-2 to the Villa.

Though the fact that Withe was allowed to use WWF tactics may have influenced the result.

[Jimmy Bignutz]

Help! East German friendly info, anyone?

What were the line-ups?

[danielmak]

Help! East German friendly info, anyone?

This is a great site for dates/line-ups/results of European national teams, but specific sites tend not to list unofficial games. I have usually found out info. about unofficial games by contacting whomever authored the site for the official results (e.g., I was able to find out dates for USSR v. various Italian club teams in 1990 by doing that).

[1974ddr]

Help! East German friendly info, anyone?

Thanks for all comments, and especially well done for finding a photo! Probably would have been easier if I'd typed the right year (sorry- a lapse in concentration of the sort I've become used to over the years at Villa Park).

Gangster O: not as far as I recall, though I'm pretty sure we stayed up till ten o'clock!
Jimmy B: don't have the line-ups to hand, but I'll dig out the programme later and post them if you're interested.

[1974ddr]

Help! East German friendly info, anyone?

The line-ups were:

Villa: Rimmer, Swain, Gibson, Evans, McNaught, Mortimer, Bremner, Shaw (Geddis), Withe, Cowans, Morley.
DDR: Grapenthin, Dorner, Ullrich (Raab), Schmuck, Kurbjuweit, Pommerenke, Schnuphase, Steinbach, Riediger, Streich, Trocha.

Villa's scorers were Withe (2) Cowans and Morley. If anybody knows who scored for East Germany...

[The Exploding Vole]

Help! East German friendly info, anyone?

I think my ex was at that match. But we haven't spoken in 18 years.

[1974ddr]

Help! East German friendly info, anyone?

Hope I haven't brought back bad memories! Of course there's nothing like a phone call out of the blue after 18 years enquiring about details of a friendly match 30 years ago to bring closure...

[The Exploding Vole]

Help! East German friendly info, anyone?

I wouldn't even know how to reach her, 1974ddr.

To be honest, it's more painful looking over the names of the Villa team
of that era.

[mcrenaldo]

Help! East German friendly info, anyone?

Haha

I think most people this day and age are aware that a single photo can be a bit misleading but I struggle to think of any explanation for that picture. He's even got his knee on the ground for extra leverage...

[1974ddr]

Help! East German friendly info, anyone?

EV: Hmm, I think I know what you mean, though in many ways I find it more painful to look at team sheets of more recent date. And I'm still mystified by Dennis Mortimer's failure to pick up as many England caps as (to name but a few) Lee Hendrie, Gavin McCann, Kevin Richardson...

[1974ddr]

Help! East German friendly info, anyone?

On a lighter note, it occurs to me that every time we've beaten a mid-ranking European national side in a pre-season friendly, we've gone on to become European champions at the end of the season: surely this must be a unique record?