VfB Lübeck 4-0 Germania Egestorf, Saturday 6th August 2016

VfB Lübeck 4-0 Germania Egestorf, att. 1,022 (Regionalliga Nord)

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With 50 minutes to KO, I was in a bit of a pickle. I had no real idea where the stadium was, no map of Lübeck and no battery on my phone. One coffee (and apfelstrudel) later, I was ready to go. Free wifi and electrical sockets make all the difference to one’s adventures these days. Google Maps did me proud, apart from not mentioning the bit where I’d have to scramble up a railway embankment, over rusty barbed wire and thorned vegetation, just to get onto Marionbrucke. From there, plain sailing.

The stadium is a little easier to find from the hauptbahnhof; turn left, left again and keep walking till a right at ‘Bei der Lohmuhle’. It’s maybe 20 minutes, less if you run (as I had to in order to make the train after the game). This was the first time in two weeks I’d ran, the length of my holiday thus far.

First sighting of the stadium.

Lübeck’s stadium is small but perfectly formed. It has a sparkling two-tier main stand covering the length of the pitch, with a much older (and smaller) construction opposite, which was flanked by terraces which continued around each goal. I went in the home end, but stood at the side of the pitch, thereby avoiding the net behind the goal.

Now THAT'S careless parking.

The ultras’ banners, pinned on the fence at the front, were so high you could only see ¾ of the goal. Why do fans do this? (I think it’s partly cos many ultras don’t really take much notice of the game itself.) There was certainly an early goalmouth melee where I couldn’t understand how the ball was cleared, but it was.

The (sort of) view from behind the goal.

Lübeck were playing a side I’d never heard of, Germania Egestorf. Maybe they’d just been promoted to regionalliga nord? As it was, they did bring SOME fans – 2. Yet STILL this included a drum and a massive flag. How very German. And how terribly unselfconscious these guys must be. They must know the rest of the stadium are looking at them.

Looking towards the away end.

Lübeck’s ultras, directly behind the goal, maybe numbered 100 but they gave it a go. I’m always staggered to see such passion at this level. Mind, I did hear a few rounds of ‘Scheiss Sankt Pauli’, which seems a bit rich considering next week;s DFB Pokal match between the two will bring Lübeck’s only capacity crowd of the season. With a population of over 200,000, I imagine there’s a lot of bitterness that most of the locals support Hamburger SV (or even St. Pauli). Even today, I saw a good half dozen Hamburgers at Lübeck station, off to Hamburg for a friendly against Stoke City. A friendly, FFS!

The Man Stand.

In a day of extreme weather (wind, torrential downpours and prolonged periods of sunshine), the homesters won 4-0. It’s difficult remembering the goals, but the latter two were pure comedy. The 4th, the centre forward controlled the ball so badly that it ended up in his possession, as he looked around to find where it had bounced and saw it had inadvertently got stuck under his foot. He still had time to look up, take the ball into the box and fire home. The defence had gone on sabbatical.

The old stand.

The 3rd was worse (better?) A home player passed up the opportunity to score and passed it to a teammate who wasn’t there. A Germania player then brought the ball out of defence, realised there was a Lübeck player blocking the way, so knocked it back to the keeper…where, of course, the centre forward was standing. He shimmies the keeper and bangs it into the net.

Behind the old stand.

Unfortunately, I’ve got to leave slightly before the final whistle to catch a 16:07 train. However, I don’t, cos I a) underestimate the time and b) can’t tear myself away. Hence, how comes I have to leg it to the station. And I thought the whole point of a holiday was not to be in any rush?

The Damage:
€9 ent
€1 prog
€3 beer
€3 bratwurst
= €16

The Tunes:
Mixmag Apr 11 (Felix Da Fousecat)
Mixmag Aug 06 (Sven Vath)
Mixmag Dec 06 (Steve Angello)

Lubeck panorama from the corner.

Lubeck panorama from behind the goal.

Behind the old stand

Stadion Lohmuhle

Ticket booth (closed).

Behind the new stand.

Come on you Green and Whites!

Training pitches behind new stand.

Check out the scoreboard operator.

Looking towards the new stand.

Match action at the far end.

The Lubeck ultras.

Exec boxes on far side.

Strange terracing in the corner.