FUSSBALL IN THE FATHERLAND 3

 

The empire strikes back…….2012-2013

 

Two visits to Germany in the two years had got me buzzing for European football again. I took an interest in Serie A in the nineties when it was broadcast on channel 4 where the fan culture in Serie A aligned with some of the worlds best players made it the league to watch after English football. English football was changing but was yet to become what it is today.

These days there’s some top quality stuff played in the premier league but the rampant commercialism, quite frankly appalling atmosphere’s (stoke excluded), ridiculous ticket prices, food and drink prices reminiscent of a motorway service station has meant that my interest has diminished.

So a trip to Germany is always a buzz. No better place to watch football.

After last years visit to the south we thought this time we’d do something different and return to the south again. If you are going to spend a long weekend somewhere and watch as much football as possible then you’re a slave to the fixture list and the TV companies. So we waited for games to get moved to accommodate the box and we then planned our trip. We flew to Stuttgart and got a train to our first post of call, Kaiserslatern.

We arrived in Kaiserslatern early doors in the morning and headed out to explore the town. Kaiserslatern is in the Rheinland-Palitinate state of south-west Germany and is not even in the top 80 largest German cities in terms of population. The population is 100,000 with an estimated 50,000 being NATO employees of American nationality. In fact Kaiserslatern is the largest area of American population outside of the US and is imaginatively known by the local yanks as K-Town. As we walked through the city there were many American diners and Irish pubs, it was clear this wasn’t your standard German city. At 11am we walked past a German fella covered in 1FC Kaiserslatern scarves, badges and wearing a Kaiserslatern baseball cap. It looked like he’d just robbed the club shop and was striding through town with the booty. He was knocking back a rather large bottle of Pilsner. However it was Friday and not Saturday so kick-off was at 8.30pm. Clearly he was starting early with his 9 and a half hour pre-match session. Perhaps we were in a typical German city after all……..

After a bit of a wander round a museum (we’re not complete beer swilling football obsessed morons you know, well not all the time), we had a swift pint in town where the dark beer we enjoyed was brewed on the premises, a frequent site in Germany. We then set off to the hotel where we were staying which overlooked the Fritz-Walter stadion. The home of 1FC Kaiserslatern…

Fritz Walter is arguably Germanys greatest ever player and he spent his entire career at Kaiserslatern. Star player during Germanys first world cup win ‘the miracle of Bern’ in 1954 it is fitting the stadium is named after him. It was originally called the Betzenbergstadion and is built on top of a cliff face which makes the 49,780 capacity stadium feel very imposing when walking up the long and on this occasion, snow covered road up to the top where the stadium is perched. Our hotel was opposite the stadium and a brew and a cig on the balcony was enjoyed while looking at it and wondering what that night’s match held in store. We had a meal in the hotel and a beer or two (compulsory prior to German football) and it was a short stroll to the stadium.

We got to the stadium where the fans were drinking cans of beer rather than the usual bottles which was due to a bottle ban imposed by the police. Dynamo Dresden who was that night’s opposition has a reputation for trouble and there was a very heavy police presence. We walked through the police lines and were asked if we were Kaiserslatern or Dresden. I replied Bristol City but tonight Kaiserslatern and waved my ticket. At this moment around 10 police riot vans came speeding up the road heading for the Dresden end. It would appear Dresden was living up to their reputation. We qued up for entrance to the home end terrace and my mate who speaks fluent German along with other languages struggled to understand the Kaiserslatern fans. He said they spoke in an accent and dialect that was so strong and unusual. Once in the stadium we made our way for our place on the back of the 15,000 capacity terrace. Not quite as large as Dortmund’s ‘yellow wall’ and 10,000 standing spaces less in capacity, it was nonetheless an impressive sight and Germanys 2^nd biggest standing terrace. Prior to the teams coming out the Kaiserslatern fans all lit sparklers and held them aloft. It looked mega on the TV when we saw the highlights later and the fans were in fine voice as their club song started. The club song contains the line ‘everyone is welcome here’ then a roar from the fans of‘Except for Bayern!’ despite the huge travelling distance between Kaisterslatern and Bavaria the fans hate Bayern as much as everyone else does! Just before kick off the 4,000 or so Dresden fans set off pyrotechnics that led to the stadium announcer requesting that they put them out. For Dresden to bring that many fans when Dresden is for hours away by train and the game was on TV plus they were bottom it was one hell of a following. Kaiserslatern are one of the biggest clubs in Germany despite the small population within the city itself. They have won the championship on 2 occasions in the Bundesliga era. They won it in 1990 and 97. The 1997 success was all the more impressive as they won it straight after promotion from the Bundesliga 2 in 1996. The season previous was the first time they had been relegated. The DFB Polka or German cup has been won by them on two occasions.

Today Kaiseslatern were hovering around the automatic promotion spots in the 2^nd Bundesliga following recent relegation and it showed in the early stages. It only took until the 24^th minute for Kaiserslatern to take the lead through Karl. Dresden’s defence looked shaky to say the least and Idrissou scored another shortly before half time. The second half was same as the first. The 3-0 Kaisertslatern win was wrapped up by Hoffer 10 mins from time.

We left the next day early to get the train to Stuttgart, as we walked down a stairway away from the Betzleburg my mate mentioned that he had been attacked with a stick by Wuppertal fans on his last visit to the stadium on that very staircase. When was that then? I asked. 1973 he replied. Not long ago then. A glance at the local paper at the station informed us that Dresden had gone on the rampage the night before smashing up much of Kaiserslatern. It looked like the DFB would impose a ban on their fans travelling to away matches.

So back to Stuttgart and changing trains at Mannheim where we saw fans of their once proud club arguing with German police. The fans of Manheim were set for an away day somewhere in the regional league. A mental note was taken to go and watch them sometime. We arrived back in Stuttgart and headed for the Mercedes-Benz Arena. The stadium was redeveloped for the 2006 world cup and stands next to the Porche and Mercedes factory’s on the outskirts of the city. We got there early enough to visit the ultra’s store and grab some German fanzines. Due to my lack of German beyond ordering beer I could only look at the pictures in them but with these being photo’s of ultra’s displays then it was certainly worth the one euro, particularly for a publication the size of an Argos catalogue. Free programmes were piled up next to the stall and were stuffed in the pocket. We then got talking to a mother and son in the supporters bar and the mother was from Kaiserslatern. The son told me that people in Stuttgart struggled to understand her. That Kaiserslatern dialect again. It was great to see the photos on the wall of legends and photos of the stadium in the 80’s. On the wall season tickets were advertised. 200 euros for all Bundesliga matches and cup games, including Europa League. Note to English clubs – That’s how you get 50,000 plus watching struggling sides. The match itself was crazy. Both teams were marooned in mid table in the Bundesliga and both clubs would regard themselves as big enough to be challenging for the title. Stuttgart has a long and proud history and can regard themselves as one of the top clubs in Germany. They were founder members of the Bundesliga in 1963 when the league was formed. As the largest city in the south-west of Germany this was fitting. They had little success in the early years of the newly formed national league and went into crisis in the 70’s with relegation to the regional leagues. They came back however and won the Bundesliga for the first time in 1984 and won the league again in 1992. They produced Jurgen Klinssmann whose family run a family bakery in the Stuttgart area and Stuttgart is the home town of Jurgen Klopp. Stuttgart surprisingly won the league again in 2007 but since that triumph have not challenged for the title. Stuttgart looked terrible at the back, disorganised and out thought by Bremen. It was not long before Bremen raced into the lead through an Ekici strike and 1-0 it was at the break. How this was the case was a surprise as it should have been more.  In the second half Stuttgart equalised through Traore but Stuttgart’s defensive weakness showed and further goals from Hunt, Ekici and De Bruyne left Stuttgart with a 4-1 home defeat. No more than they deserved as it was some of the worst defending I’ve ever seen and trust me I’ve seen Richard Dryden play. At the end the Stuttgart players approached the fans at the terrace housing the home fans with their heads bowed as if to say sorry. They were pelted with empty pint pots to shouts of Sheiss!

We got the train down to the Black Forest and the town of Freiberg the next morning. I’d been before but just passing through on the way to sisheim but this time the visit would include SC Freiberg vs. Fortuna Düsseldorf. We walked from the station to the youth hostel opposite the stadium where we were staying. This was in the forest and it took around 40 minutes to get there on foot. We wanted to walk in the forest but as the snow was covering every blade of grass and branch then we thought better of it. A quick beer or two in a bar near the ground and despite having no internet access on my phone for the whole trip it decided at that point to spring into life on my phone. No access in major cities but a strong signal in the middle of a forest. Bizarre.

Freiberg is a friendly little club who don’t have a long or glorious history such as kaiserslatern and Stuttgart. They spent most their history in the regional leagues before reaching the 2 Bundesliga at the end of the 1970’s where they stayed until promotion to the bundesliga in the 1990’s. They have yo yo’d between the two divisions since but when relegated have not spent much time before winning promotion again. They have been established in the Bundesliga since 2009. Freiburg was occupying the positions just outside the Europa league places and they looked very bright and were always a threat going forward. They hit the bar just before half-time and Düsseldorf looked like the struggling side that they were. With 3 minutes of normal time remaining Pavel Krmas scored with a header from a corner. Freiburg held on and moved into 5^th and a Europa league place. Cue party time in the black forest at the final whistle! We retired to the supporters bar for a few beers and as it was Fasching (a German carnival) and Freiberg was flying in the league there was a party atmosphere. We told some lads of our other trips. They were not happy we had gone to their enemies Stuttgart and nodded knowingly with regards to Dresden’s behaviour. They told us Dresden fans are Nazi’s and spread their bile around the Bundesliga. They are well known for attacks on Germany’s large Turkish population when they are in a town or a City for an away match. Confetti was thrown down my back some of which still appears in various places in this room that I type from. This was taken as a sign we were welcome to party through the night with them. We were tired and headed back to where we were staying. One of the lads suggested we join them in town as there would be girls that ‘would like to fuck an English lad like you. The girls will be very drunk so it will be easy’ despite this rather worrying suggestion I declined politly.

So that was Dutchland 2013. So how did they do?

Kaiserslatern managed to secure a play-off place where they were defeated over two legs by everyone’s favourite bankrolled billionaire club Hoffenheim. Stuttgart finished in a disappointing mid table by their standards and Freiberg did  the unthinkable and got into Europe,

As always the beer was top, the ticket prices low and the atmospheres a joy to behold. What of Bayern after two years secuming to Dortmund? They won the treble. The empire did indeed strike back. Bollocks.