Tuesday 30 July 2013

VfL Bochum 1-1 Dynamo Dresden, Monday 29th July 2013

Bochum 1-1 Dynamo Dresden, Bundesliga 2.

Coming out of the station...

Monday nite and I'm watching football beyond 10 o'clock. Last nite, on the Sabbath, I was watching footie till 10:20pm.  All for television.  I s'pose we have similar in England, but we've yet to truly embrace the Sunday evening spectacular.

Still, Dresden brought a fair few, maybe a couple of thousand.  The vast majority were in the seats. Why?  Since none of 'em sat down, weren't they just giving more dosh to VfL Bochum?  I suspect there's more to it...maybe the number of police gives it away, maybe they were put in the seats hoping it might calm them down.  Didn't look like it though.

On the way to the match...note graffiti

I reckon I was lucky to get a standing ticket in the home end, cos it was PACKED. I was in a corner section and even then spent the 1st half stood on the gangway, to the chagrin of a steward who twice came to berate those of us daring not to squash ourselves onto the terrace.  Good job it was quite sedentary where we were, fenced off from the main tribune behind the goal.

Welcome to the Ruhr Stadion...Dresden are in town!

Thus, I couldn't really see the Bochum terrace in full swing, but you could hear them.  In a completely covered arena there was little chance of noise escaping.  Karlsruher should look into this:  get rid of the athletics track and stick a couple of stands behind each goal. Boost the atmosphere and save me from the sunstroke I nearly had 2 days ago!  As it is, they have a couple of side-stands and open ends, which, I s'pose at least makes it characterful (compared with many modern stadia).

Concrete heaven...but I like it.

Tonite I'm staying in Cologne, an easy journey to/from Bochum. And for once I time it just nice, arriving at Bochum HBF with an hour to kick-off, ie, perfect time to follow the crowd, rather than dig out my map.  I am instantly impressed by the VfL flags flying outside the station.  Why don't more towns celebrate their football teams like this? After all, you'd never have heard of many places were it not for their football team.

A la Aalen, and Aue...find a road going uphill and keep going.  It's about 25 minutes walk.  On another night there may be trams; I saw the tracks but not a single tram came our way.  When I later saw police parked across the tram track, I took this to mean they were out of action for some reason.

Ticket booth

Then I bought my match ticket.  I'd passed booths for seating areas (€27/€32 for adults) and walked on for the 'stehplatz'.  €12.  What a difference.  No wonder the terrace was packed.  Note to Bochum: take out some more seats and put more terracing in. Still, a crowd of 20,000 was more than respectable (last season's average being 15k).

Behind the goal

The match was one of intensity, both sides really going at each other.  True, it was cooler than the previous 2 games I'd been to (but still t-shirt weather) but this was an excellent game. In the end, a draw was problies fair, VfL opening the scoring early with a free header from an inswinging free kick, with Dynamo equalising midway through the second half with an absolute belter.  A ball was played to the right midfielder and while the right back pegged it 40 yards up the wing, the ball was instead played inside where, with one touch, the player controlled it, then turned and smashed it high into the net from 25 yards with his left foot.  Although it seemed to take an age to get there, it looked a goal all the way.

Busy in the seats too

Later on, both sides had chances to nick it.  It was interesting to see both the players who caught my eye - the Japanese and the #18 - be taken off though.  Is this the lot of the attacking midfielder? I saw the obligatory Japanese fan (they're everywhere there's a Japanese player in Europe).  But seeing the Bundesliga's obsession with Asian players, I wouldn't be surprised if this one is destined for bigger things.

The away support...on a Monday night.

I was puzzling on a few other things today as well.  If 'rewir power' provide energy, isn't it a bit embarrassing if the whole of the stadium's name doesn't light up? (see photo, albeit blurred.)  And why do I keep seeing Celtic shirts?  Today's guy was definitely a German.  And why do German teams insist on playing 'You'll never walk alone'.  If the Germans have made terrace culture their own, then this is one habit they really ought to kick.

Attendance: 20,195

The Damage:
€12 ent
€3.70 beer
€2.50 wurst
= €18.20

The Tunes:
Five Leaves Left - Nick Drake
Careless Love - Madeleine Peyroux

Left side seats
VfL's No. 1 fanclub (possibly).
After match interview with Sky.
The home terrace clears
Perhaps they should change energy supplier?
Next up...St. Pauli

Monday 29 July 2013

Lech Poznań 1-1 KS Cracovia, Sunday 28th July 2013

Ekstraklasa.  Lech Poznań 1-1 KS Cracovia


Poznań city centre

On the face of it I made a quite bizarre decision to go and see Lech Poznan v Cracovia in Poland.  Yet there was method to this madness.There was an overnight train DIRECT from Karlsruhe.  What luck! It's a sign!  It was full.  Typical.  But if I was to go via Cologne and Dortmund, I could get one from there. No I couldn't.  I got as far as Dortmund, found out it was impossible to get to Berlin at that time (it was pushing midnight) so I thought I'd head back to Cologne and crash at a nearby hostel.  No such luck.  Trains to Cologne were heavily delayed, to an extent they were being cancelled.  So I sat on the platform for a couple of hours before jumping on  train to Frankfurt...partly cos I'd get a faster connection to Berlin, mainly so I could have snooze.  The plan worked to perfection and 2 trains later I was in Poznan at 16:25.  I checked in, looked up where the stadium was and shower an shaved. My true reward was the offer of a cheap beer.  A token from the hotel meant my 1/2 litre of Lech was the equivalent of 60p instead of £1.20. You can't give money away in this place.


1st sighting of the stadium


I ambled towards the stadium, no rush.  But I became increasingly aware that there was nary a football fan in sight.  I was becoming concerned.  My haste in printing something off Google maps was proving my undoing once again.  Wherever the stadium was, it wasn't here.

So I decided to remedy the situation by going to the railway station and flagging a taxi.  '20 zloty' he said. The stadium was MILES away, too far to walk.  (I caught 2 trams back, but I couldn't tell you their numbers.)  But I did learn from the cab driver that the weather was too hot even for Poles (33°c according to the car's thermometer) and that Muslims were the cause of too much trouble in the world. I wouldn't like to say...

A bedouin tent, Poznań

The stadium was a marvellous sight, like a giant, white armadillo (it would be a blue armadillo later on).  With about 5 mins to kick-off I didn't have time to walk around, merely finding the nearest ticket booth. Where would I like to sit?  'Wherever's cheapest.'  I found myself in the lower tier at the opposite end to the main home end.

Odd layering of seating in the corner

The INEA Stadion (AKA Stadion Miejski) is a strange construction.  Strange in a good way. It'snot some symmetrical bowl, a la Arsenal, or Man City, it has a few quirks. While one end is two-tiered and the other three, the two side stands have grand upper tiers, a la Elland Road.  (And just like Elland Road, they're mostly empty, ho ho.)  Then in some corners, the upper tier of seats is raised still further, looking almost temporary, on some form of scaffolding.  Part of me knows this cos in any stadium 1/3 full you can generally wander about without too much grievance from the stewards regarding the checking of tickets.

Why don't more stadia have lifts installed?

Then there's the roof, which is dragged over the stadium like some giant canopy, like Munich's Olympic Stadium, only white.  I bet it costs a fortune to make a roof what looks like a tent. How ironic.

The match was between two sides going nowhere fast.  But it must be difficult for players when each team's fans are chanting for the OTHER team.  (It seems Poznan and Cracovia have one of those 'friendship' things going on, very common in Poland.)  It did look great when the home end and away corner synchronised their chants to each other, followed by applause all round. Though did I really hear a chant along the lines of 'Wizla are Jews'?  ('Wizla' being Cracovia's rivals in Krakow...which is not too far from...Auschwitz-Birkenau).  In fact, wasn't the factory in 'Schindler's List'in Krakow? So, if we imagine 'enemy of my enemy is my friend', shouldn't Poles get along nicely with Jews, what with their shared experience of the Nazis?  I'm confused.

Camera gantry behind the goal

The match?  There was a match?  Few incidents occurred as I pondered a second nil-nil in a row.  I wondered what the world record was for attending goalless draws.  Then on 75 minutes Cracovia had a man oddly sent off.  Or an odd man sent off.  The centre forward obstructed the keeper, preventing him firing it up the field quickly.  Second yellow, it turned out.  Then, as my mind drifted and I took a few pics, the crowd's sharp intake of breath made me quickly look up to see someone drill the ball in low from the edge of the box.  That'll teach me. 1-0 to Poznan.  In truth, I was willing a home goal. Would the Poznans 'do the Poznan'? No. Despite fantastic support throughout from an entirely white-clad lower tier and blue-clad upper, tonight was no night to turn your back on the opposition.  Respect for Cracovia?  Or merely saved for the 'big games'?

Blue on top, white below.  An opposite smurf', if you like.

With two minutes left I received my true reward for my travels, one of the strangest goals I've ever laid witness to.  Cracovia curled in a cross from the left...it was on the floor the whole way...everyone swung and missed it, leaving a flat-footed keeper to watch it creep into the far corner.  Note to self: must try to look this one up on youtube or somesuch.  Even the Poznans laughed (well, a few).  One each and everyone's happy.

The retractable roof

Oh, prices.  40 zloty for the match, 8zl for a beer and 12 zl for a fabulous sausage in bread. It was huge.  And help yourself to gherkins (essence of McDonalds burgers, those things) as well as those strange crispy sprinkles you get on your hotdogs in Poland.  Like when you get 'scraps' in a northern chippy.  

Attendance: 14,663 (INEA stadion)

The Damage:
match: 40 zl
beer: 8 zl
sausage: 12 zl

programme: 3 zl
taxi: 20

83zl = £16.  Bargain.

Tunes:
Trance Atlantic 2.  (A trance compilation).

Interesting structures IN the stand.
This could be Elland Road (even down to the empty seats).
The far end.  Note empty upper tier.
The far right, so to speak.
Right of centre...
The opposite corner
Sunset over Poznań
Stadium lit up after the match
Poznań by night



Sunday 28 July 2013

Karlsruher SC 0-0 St. Pauli, Saturday 27th July 2013

Karlsruher SC 0-0 St. Pauli, Bundesliga 2.  


The Schloss and gardens.

A lively start at the railway station as Stuttgarter Kickers fans attempt to live up to their name. Changing trains at Karlsruhe (they're off to Wehen Wisebaden) there's a few exchanges with St. Pauli fans.  Who starts it? Kickers with their 'St. Pauli scheisse!' or the St. Pauli fan who threw a plastic glass full of liquid?  To be followed by the usual rigmarole: 1 or 2 hotheads from either side gesticulating alot, whatever the German is for 'Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough', before 4 or 5 police appear and position themselves between the fans. Said hotheads then either get too close to the police, before backing off, or make a real show of going berserk, knowing that their mates will drag them back from the brink to ensure a) they don't get arrested or b) they don't kill everyone in their path (cos that's how terrifying they are).  The train comes and the skirmishes peter out, while the police keep a low key approach, merely shepherding the most vociferous away from the group.

Just follow him!

I did note though one older cop, 'tache and all, really looking vexed as he hunted a St. Pauli fan who'd annoyed him.  I think the guy lost him by taking off his sunhat (I certainly couldn't recognise him thereafter).  Now, I'd seen this guy previously and, if anything, he was secondary, not mouthy, behind the front line...but I think he had the main Kickers knobhead in sight, as he edged left or right depending on where the Kickers fan was.  Was he the 'dangerman'?  Either way, the police made no move to arrest the Kickers loudmouth. Too much paperwork? Another undercover guy joined in the action, putting on a sexy green armband to show which team he was playing for that day.

Tha' she blows!

There followed another beautiful walk to a stadium, once you've reached the Schloss that is (and there's plenty of signs for it; it's Karlsruhe's architectural, historical and literal centrepiece - the whole city was planned around it).  Walk around the castle, through the Schlossgarten (always making sure there's a Karlsruher fan to follow!) and somewhere through the density of forest there lies a football stadium, high atop a hill. No wonder it's called 'Wildparkstadion'.

Welcome to .....on .... for the match against ....

Upon arrival I decide to find the away end.  However, once found, there is no discernible ticket booth. So I carry on my clockwise quest of the stadium, nick through some shrubbery and find the most obscure entrance to the ground.  The ticket guy spends a few seconds explaining that my €11 ticket costs €12.  I have no idea why. (Did they overprint last season?)  Still, I'm in.  And there's a fair smattering of St. Pauli fans around too.

Yes, it's HOT.

The match must have been the most pedestrian I've ever seen.  For a second season in a row I see St. Pauli open their away account with a goalless draw.  This one was nailed on.  From the start, I was sweating - and I was stood in the shade.  So it was no wonder the players weren't so keen to run about.  A simple 'give and go' became a 'give'.  Now here's a thing: if football was invented to give cricketers summink to do when the weather turns foul, here's why you shouldn't have summer football.  90 minutes and zero shots of note save for a KSC forward missing an open goal as he couldn't direct a ball slightly behind him.  I scored this exact goal a fortnight ago (in 5 aside).

Fans getting a hosing.  Yes, it's THAT hot.

Aside from the 'furter and beer, the cleverest thing I did all match was find a toilet (at the other end of the stadium!!!) to take off my shirt and drench it in water from the tap.  ANYTHING to keep cool. Inside the stadium, and I've never seen this before, the groundstaff were hosing down the fans.  (A ho(s)e down?)  It must have been awful on the main home terrace, which was packed and in the sun.

What shade there was ...

The stroll back through the forest encircled some medieval fair or other ('Mittelalterlich Phantasie Spectaculum').  Men (it was usually men) threw axes at the target of a bear while in the distance a rock act played with the hindrance of bagpipes.  Awful.  (I think they were called 'Rapalje'.)  Anyway, if you've heard one krautrock act with bagpipes, I guess you've heard them all.  'Celtic folk' I think the advert said.  One to avoid in future methinks.

Axe throwing.  Typical day in Karlruhe.

I've also now lost 2 sunhats in 2 days.  They're the new sunglasses.  I think this latest one is somewhere in the schlossgarten, where I laid out to watch the axe throwing while listening to 'Celtic folk'.  You can understand how easy it was to be distracted.  One doesn't come across this stuff much these days.

Attendance: 17,667 (Wildparkstadion)

The Damage: 
€12 ent
€1 programme

Tunes:
The Orb

Ticket booths at the home end.
Pre-match hunting of shade.
St. Pauli corner.  Packed.

Main stand angles.
Main Stand roof dwarfing the rest of the stadium.
The most predictable result ever.
Looking out over the scoreboard end.
The home terrace.  I dread to think how hot they were.
The old stand.
A tall floodlight on top of a tall hill.  Tall.
Karlsruhe's motte and bailey castle.
Karlruher SC team coach
Steps up to home end
View from the home end (after the match).


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