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| Not a house you'd see at the entrance to an English ground... |
VfR Aalen 0-2 Greuther Fürth, Bundesliga 2.
It began badly. I was in the toilet on the train and put my sun hat on the door hook. 'I mustn't forget that,' I did. As ever, I realised the minute the scorching sun belt down on my naked head upon disembarcation in Karlsruhe. Ho hum. A quick check-in at the hostel and I was back on my way, this time to Aalen.
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| Germans are keen on their mobile club shops too. |
The 'Scholz Arena' turned out to be another quaint lower division German stadium, replete with a side stand covering barely half the touchline and an entirely temporary (looking?) fan kurve, built on scaffolding. Was this purely for Bundesliga 2? The 'temporary' home end looked even more incongruous given the large open terrace at the other end, as well as the lowing sun being directly in fans' eyes. (Admittedly, not every game will kick off at 6pm on a Friday evening.)
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| Cute main stand |
I sat/stood on a virtually empty open terrace, behind the goal, great view. I also don't often get chance to stretch out on a terrace, barefooted, while watching football, and I don't suppose anyone wants this image now. To my left were the Furth fans, who came in good numbers. No doubt they're fancying themselves for a promotion charge.
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| See that tunnel? That's the players' tunnel that is! |
Despite a couple of early half chances, Aalen looked out of their depth, as symbolised by the centre half pairing of a one-footed Syrian (actually, he looked alot like Mido) and a closer to bald than balding oldster who surely came up through the leagues with VfR. It didn't take Greuther long to score. An innocuous gentle in-swinging free kick mesmerised the keeper into thinking he could claim it, with the natural consequence being a header into an empty net. Greuther fans (and German fans in general) make me laugh though. One minute they're bouncing around, then they score and everyone stops to politely applaud. Later, Greuther get a 2nd. I don't remember anything about it.
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| The players coming off at full-time. |
Upon the final whistle I retraced my steps, only this time walked through a wood which ran paraellel to the main road. Although not especially close to the station, it's a ground which is easy to find: come out of the station, walk straight ahead, keep going for a couple of kilometres and the the stadium will be at the top of the hill - not that you can see it. You can't see the
wood stadium for the trees.
Attendance: 6,412 (Scholz Arena)
The Damage:
€14 ent
€10.50 2 beers, wurst and chips.
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| The home end. |
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| I s'pose they can take it down if they get relegated? |
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| The Greuther fans |
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| The home end. |
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| The view from 'my' terrace. |
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| The stadium plan |
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| A watchtower, to prevent escapees? |
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| No! For the TV camera |
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| A deserted home end after the match |
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| Welcome to the ..... |
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| Full-time |
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| The view from the back of the terrace |
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| The walk back. Beautiful. |
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