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The «Frankfurt water hammer». Every Pole knows it and groans. The Eastern Europeans and West Germany both won their first matches in the intermediate round. So the game determines who goes through to the final. Due to the better goal difference, a draw is enough for Germany, while Poland has to win.

The game becomes a football trauma for the «Bialo-Czerwoni». Particularly painful is the fact that arrogant, unloved Germany is the cause of this trauma. To this day, the vast majority of fans on the Vistula and Oder believe that the Germans used unfair means to deprive their team of a place in the final and possibly even the World Cup title. It involves a conspiracy.

After it had rained lightly all day, a cloudburst descended over the Frankfurt Waldstadion half an hour before the start of the game, turning the field into a lake area. 14 liters per square meter in just 40 minutes. Finally, the Frankfurt fire brigade arrives with their emergency vehicles and pumps out the water. At 4:30 p.m., a water fight begins under irregular conditions. The ball always stays in the water.

And that brings us to the conspiracy theory. By order from above, the Frankfurt fire brigade only ran the pumps in the Polish half of the square. The insidious intention: the fast Polish storm must get stuck in the puddles on the German half of the field at least in the first half. Whatever happens. Poland loses 0:1. The victory in the small final against Brazil (1-0) is little consolation.

The theory of a firefighter plot was also spread by commentators in the Polish press, then controlled by the Communist Party – and thus has an official character. The bad Germans fit well into the Cold War propaganda concept.

The Lost Regenspiel is seen as a kind of epilogue to all the injustices that the Germans had done to the Poles in World War II and before. Conclusion: The Germans can defeat the valiantly fighting Poles only with intrigue, betrayal and treachery.

Was it really so? Experts even agree that this Polish team from 1974 has what it takes to become world champions. The internationally unknown coach Kazimierz Gorski relies on the offensive and has the appropriate staff for this. Every striker is technically almost perfect.

“Like an animal resisting drowning”

Grzegorz Lato is the performer and dust collector, Anderzej Szarmach is a strong header and Robert Gadocha, who can dribble well, circles in front of the penalty area. Kazimierz Deyna, who is still revered as the Polish football god, is a real ball magician and was voted the third best player of the tournament behind Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruijff. However, he becomes a martyr.

Later he could not cope with the temptations of life in the West and died on September 1, 1989 in a car accident. With his death on the 50th anniversary of the German invasion of Poland, he became a national icon of martyrdom. A victim of a hostile world, abandoned and betrayed by all. Just like Poland in the fall of 1939.

Goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski is already a hero before the tournament. In the crucial World Cup qualifier at Wembley, he held his own against the desperately attacking English and saved the 1-1 draw that secured Poland’s entry into the World Cup. He becomes the tragic hero of this water fight. At 0-0, he saved a penalty from Uli Hoeness in the 52nd minute.

But in the 76th minute, Gerd Müller made it 1-0. German goalkeeper Sepp Mayer, on the other hand, keeps everything. The French sports newspaper “L’Equipe” writes about the Germans: “What a team! Like an animal that resists drowning. These Germans can become world champions.” They will do so after beating the Netherlands 2-1 in the final.

No conspiracy: Poland had choice of seats

Was it really a conspiracy against Poland? Ironically, national coach Kazimierz Gorski, who has long since become a living legend, dismissed the conspiracy theory as nonsense in 1999, on the 25th anniversary of the rain game. His team had a choice of sides.

But the majority of his compatriots ignored this clarification. They continue to cultivate the legend that their great team was cheated out of the World Cup final, even the World Cup title. The rain game in Frankfurt is one of the many myths in Polish history.