Admittedly the stifling heat didn't help matters, but what really annoyed me was the fact that the referee did not do anything to stop this blatant cheating. He was perfectly entitled to book the players for time wasting, or even send them off (in which case SV Spielberg would probably have been punished by the league) but he did not do anything.

What I would like to know, have any of you ever witnessed this sort of collusion in British football? I think there was a famous case involving Coventry and Bristol City sometime around 1976 or 1977

The first half of the match, although goalless, gave no cause for concern, with the home side hitting the bar on one occasion shortly before HT. However, as the second half went on, it became clear that results from other games was going in the favour of the visitors, and possibly the home side as well. With about 15 minutes to go, the Spielberg players started passing the ball slowly to each other, without any serious attempt by the home players to stop them. Needless to say, at that point it became obvious the game was going to end 0-0. Admittedly the stifling heat didn't help matters, but what really annoyed me was the fact that the referee did not do anything to stop this blatant cheating. He was perfectly entitled to book the players for time wasting, or even send them off (in which case SV Spielberg would probably have been punished by the league) but he did not do anything. Would a British referee have done the same?

Kicker says that between two and six teams are to be relegated, but only shades the bottom two in another colour.
The bottom two places were known as Kircheim/Teck (folded) and Bonlanden before the day started.
Fussball.de shades all of the six places as if for relegation, including both teams in Chris' match

The most crucial result was Normannia Gmund 1-2 Bonlanden. This confirmed Gmund on 33 points
Stuttgart Kickers II and Spielburg started the day on 32 points, Offenburger on 33, but with inferior goal difference to Normannia.
For all of this trio, the point lifted them one place up the table.

Can anyone confirm the number of relegation places and play offs in question. I feel that while Chris may have seen a dull and boring match, from which neither team got relegated, I cannot help but feel he has mis understood the situation. Clearly they cannot both have moved from a relegation position from safety on the day.

Even that is confusing, the document says that it should be 1 up to RL, 0 from RL, 4 from VL and 3 to VLer
However, four clubs including Stuttgart Kickers are shaded on their table.
And as said, fourth place Illertissen joins Bayern

So 2 to RL, 3 to VL, 4 up - 17 only next season?
The match report for the Stuttgart Kickers game says that after coming back from 2-0 to 2-2, Kickers played a "dot" game as this suited both teams, knowing Gmumd were then 2-0 down.

Republic of Ireland v Holland in Palermo, World Cup 1990; exactly the same scenario in the group of sloth. Everyone happy.

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Was it Italy v Mexico in 2002 where something similar happened?

Even at the Denmark v Sweden game in Euro 2000, even though both sides had gone for it for 87 minutes they each settled for the result in the last few.

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Is this really cheating ?

Which Law(s) of the game would he invoke here ?

The Coventry - Bristol City game was witnessed by many on here, myself included, and has been discussed in length previously.

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Most (in)famous game being Germany v Austria in the 1982 World Cup where a German 1-0 win meant Austria and Germany proceeded from the group at the expense of Algeria who had played earlier. This game was 80 minutes of pushing the ball around.

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Without looking up - was it a 3 team group format - that or the final group games did nt ko at same time - think this incident brought about or hastened simultaneous ko's.
Remember watching the game and it was pretty obvious

The Austria v West Germany match was the final game of a first round group at the 1982 World Cup. It was a four team group but for some reason the final games weren't simultaneous. The result saw the Austrians and West Germans both qualify for the second round, another group phase, this time involving groups of three.