Fussball in the Fatherland 2

January, it's without doubt the worst month of the year. Christmas is gone and the dark nights and cold bleak weather in England start to grate. Summer seems a long way off, the trees are bare of leaves and the bank balance is low due to the exertion of Christmas upon it. It's no wonder that it contains what is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year and most relationships end in this month. So the papers say on a slow news day anyway. It's also traditionally a poor month for my team Bristol City. It's the month when a promotion campaign starts to hit  the skids or the bleak realisation of another season of struggle becomes apparent and an optimistic late play-off serge is off the menu for even the most optimistic of fans. In the wider football world the Premier League becomes an almost all predictable two horse race fuelled by foreign investment or rampant commercialism and champions league money. It's a month where you need something to look forward to, a getaway on the horizon. What better than a trip to where football is still the peoples game? Germany.


The year before me and friends ventured to the North-Rhine region and took in games at Dortmund, Leverkusen and Wuppertal. This year we headed to the South of Germany. We flew into Basel Airport in Switzerland and took a bus to the beautiful town of Freiburg in South-West Germany. It is situated in the Black Forest and the town itself is viberant despite it's location. The town has it's own Bundesliga club SC Freiburg but we wouldn't visit their stadium for a match as they were at home to Bayern. No chance of tickets in a stadium with a capacity lower than 30,000. After an evening in Freiburg and a visit to Germany's oldest pub, we headed to Baden-Baden famous centuries ago where the kings of all Europe would meet and the town displayed this in the sense of regal architecture and you really had a sense that this was a town that had the smell of money. Baden-Baden is also the scene of the infamous 'wags' of England's world cup campaign of 2006 and as we walked through the town we imagined what the locals of Baden-Baden would of made of a group of women with far too much money and not enough class. Baden-Baden is also famous for the novelist Ernest Hemingway having lived there for a period and we had a drink in a bar called Hemmingway's. The décor was the hight of tack with leopard and tiger print surrounding the bar. We thought it was just one of those bars where the landlord would be married to Bet Lynch but then I recalled that Hemingway was a keen hunter.


The next day we took a brilliant train journey through Baden-Wattenburg to the small town of Sinsheim passing through the even smaller town of Hoffenheim and it is the club TSV Hoffenheim we we going to watch that night as they took on Mainz. Hoffenheim are one of the smallest clubs in Germany never mind the Bundesliga. As we passed through Hoffenheim itself we could see their former ground that looked fit for only non-league football which is of course where Hoffenheim came from. They had to build a stadium in nearby Sinsheim as there was nowhere to build in Hoffenheim itself. After a long walk to our hotel in Sinsheim we had beers in the hotel lobby and chatted to Mainz fans who were staying there, we got the bus to town where we had a meal and then headed to the stadium via shuttle bus. We were chatting to a fella in his 80's on the way to the stadium. He had been a Hoffenheim fan his whole life and could not believe the rise engineered by Millionaire benefactor Dietamar Hopp. Hopp owns the computer giant Sap and bought Hoffenheim in 2000 when they were in the 5^th division. They were in the Baden-Wuttenburg regional division 8 shortly before Hopp's investment and by 2008 they were in the Bundesliga. An incredible journey bankrolled with the cash from software. He was indebted to Hopp as he could never of believed Hoffenheim could of risen so high. When we reached the stadium and said our goodbyes he mentioned that there was a live TV broadcast from a bar in town after the game. We noted the bar and said we might see him there. We approached the 30,150 capacity Rein-Necker Arena and it was an impressive, smart and modern stadium. The capacity is more than adequate for Hoffenheim as the town itself has a population of 3,300. We got in the stadium and settled down the stand down the side of the pitch. The stadium was half empty but this was not a surprise as I'm sure you can imagine that a capacity of 30,150 was more than adequate for a club and a town of this size. Hoffenheim took the lead through and own goal from Mainz captain Nikolce Noveski but didn't look in complete control and the two sides took a point each as you may well expect from two mid-table sides that didn't trouble the relegation or European places all season. 2-2 in the end. There was a definite sterility about the stadium and you could feel that this was the home of a club without much tradition. Most German fans don't like Hoffenheim as they feel they have bought themselves to an unnatural position. Tradition is very important to German fans. The game was entertaining though and was worth the 20 Euro's admission fee for one of the best seats in the house.


After the game the bus back into Sincheim where we found the bar we were told about. It was rammed and doorman weren't letting in so we chanced it and went round the back enterance where we entered and made our way to the main bar where they were filming. It was a Sky Deutchland show called Mein Stadion and had the Austrian international who was fouled by David Beckom in an apparent deliberate attempt to get sent off so he could sit out a ban with qualification secured as the guest. We made sure we got into view of the camera so we got on German TV. Beckham seemed to be the main topic of conversation with the guest. Brand Beckenham in full flow in South-East Germany.


It was up early and off to the city that is home to one of Germany's most well known cities and most traditional of clubs – Nurenburg. 1FC Nurenburg are known as 'Der Club' – the club as they held the record for German Championships for 60 years with 9 titles before being overtaken by Bayern in 1987. Nurenburg have also been relegated 7 times and as a result the fans have a saying that 'the club is an idiot' This saying came to prominance when they managed to be relegated one season on the last day when it seemed they had been safe for some time. It has been an up and down existence since the 1960's. We arrived early and once we dropped off our bags where we were staying it was off to the Franken Stadion where 1FC Nurenburg were taking on Cologne or 1FCKoln to give them their German name. We had a choice of getting a train to the stadium or walking and as there is several places of historical significance we decided on the walk. Right next to the stadium there is the scene of the Nurenburg rally which is now a car park. The giant concrete podium that Hitler and his goons stood on remains and someone has spray painted 'Bob Marley One Love' on it which was good to see. You could see the remains of the concrete terraces surrounding the scene that now have grass growing through them. I spent a moment looking round and contemplating the evil that had once been present there. We got into the stadium which was Octangle in design and we were in the small terraced area to the side of the goal. The stadium has a running track and had the feel of a much smaller version of the old Wembley. The Nurenburg ultra's were opposite us and as the team came out unfurled a huge banner in tribute to their 90's goal scoring hero Dieter Ekinstein. Both sides were in lower mid table and Koln were without their star man Lucas Podolski who was out with a long-term injury. Both sides looked poor and it was obvious they were both struggling. Nurenburg took the lead through Esswein and 1-0 it remained until half-time. Koln managed to equalise but Nurenburg pushed and grabbed a late winner.


Nurenburg has traditionally been left wing politically and was traditionally in the region known as Frankien. Hitler favoured Nurenburg for his rally's because of it's political leanings and also it's relevance to the Roman empire. He thought if he could show how in control of Nurenburg he was then the rest of Germany could see his power and also the symbolism of the empire or Rome. Post war it became part of the state of Bavaria or Bayern to give it it's German name. Nurenburger's don't like being in Bavaria as it tends to be quite conservative in it's politics and our next destination was it's capital – Munich. We were not going to watch Bayern however but the other Munich club 1860 Munich. We arrived in Munich dropped our bags off and headed to The Allianz Arena which 1860 share with Bayern. 1860 Munich were originally Munich's main club and were founder members of the Bundesliga in 1963. At this time Bayern were still playing in the Bavarian regional league. Franz Beckenbaur grew up an 1860 fan but signed for Bayern after playing a youth game against 1860 and receiving a punch from opposition player during the match. He resolved to never play for his beloved 1860 because of this and signed for Bayern. Beckenbaur was instrumental in Bayern's rise to a national then European power in the 1970's. For 1860 it was a costly punch. They have forever since lived in Bayern's shadow. 1860 are named after the year they were formed not as a football club but as a sports club. All German football clubs are sports clubs with football being one of the many sports played. 1860 have been in the 2^nd Bundesliga for some time now but were pushing for promotion where they came up against a superb Dusseldorf side. They took an early lead though Aigner but Dusseldorf looked more impressive and equalised just before half -time through Beister. Both sides looked good and played slick, quick passing football. The Allianz Arena felt the most soulless of the new stadiums in Germany and the prices for a beer and bratwurst was very high for German football. There was no segregation on the concourses and sets of fans mingled without a hint of trouble.


After the game we stopped off at The Olympastadion in Munich's wonderful Olympic park. The park was covered in snow and we walked to have a look at the Olympiastadion. The stadium was used for the 1972 Munich Olympics and hosted the world cup final of 1974. It was also the scene of England's famous 5-1 victory over Germany in a world cup qualifier in 2001. The top of the stadium is at ground level and the stadium itself is below. Most of the terraces are uncovered and it is quite remarkable to think that international matches and home games of Bayern were played in this stadium as recently as 2004. I took a picture of the famous scoreboard that had the 5-1 score on it and off we went into town for a night in the Hoffbrauhaus. There is the thought that occurs when people think of Germany of huge beer houses with giant steins. This is a myth and you won't find this throughout the country and only in Bavaria or Bavarian themed bars. The Hoffbrauhaus was where Hitler made some of his earliest speeches and I went to have a look at the room where he made them. Traditional Bavarian food was on offer of pigs knuckle and dumpling and white sausage. The white sausage is served in a pot of boiling water. Other Germans think of Bavarians as peasants for the food they eat and regard this type of fodder as a reflection of this.


Next day it was home via a train from Munich to Basle where I bought a plate of chips and pasta for £12.00. 'You having a brew with that asked my mate' 'You're fucking joking right?' Was my response. Ahh Switzerland, you're all well off because you were clever enough to avoid war but the price of a snack and a brew is shocking to us still on miners salaries.


At the end of the campaign Hoffenheim finished a comfortable place in the Bundesliga as did Mainz. Nurenburg finished in lower mid-table and Koln were relegated after a 2^nd half of the season implosion. Podolski was offski to Arsenal before the 2^nd Bundesliga fixture list was released. 1860 Munich missed out on promotion despite their win over Dusseldorf and were unable to win promotion through the play-off's either and so it was Fortuna who did so by beating Herta Berlin of the Bundesliga over two legs.......