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| Sportforum Hohenschönhausen. No match here. |
Good job I saw an advertising hoarding about 3 hours before kick-off, cos otherwise I’d have been at the wrong place entirely. I’d been on t’internet previously and nowhere had I seen mention of the game having been transferred from Dynamo’s usual home ground of the Sportforum Hohenschönhausen. I’d even chosen a hostel BECAUSE it was near said ground. (Anyway, anyone on a budget wanting to stay in Berlin should give ‘Sandinos’ a go; it’s a little out of the way but it’s different).
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| Phew - THAT explains it! |
Luckily, I’d hired a bike and the Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Stadion was only a few blocks away. And, being a Sunday, there was the bonus of the Mauer Park’s flea market taking place next to the stadium. Other entertainments included outdoor karaoke playing to a packed amphitheatre built into the hill. Come and see a Frenchman murder ‘Message in a Bottle’ by The Police, as I did.
The turnstiles at the FLJS are basic to say the least. And the queue was long. (It was one queue, with only two turnstiles opened for what proved to be a crowd of 9,200. Did no-one tell them the opponents were Bundesliga side Stuttgart?) I went to find another ticket booth and/or have a stroll around the Mauer Park and saw the finest example I’ve yet seen of a human statue (see photo). This is another advantage (!) of travelling around Europe: the number of folk standing/sitting stockstill while dressed in some strange garb.
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| Imagine the effort he's gone to. Imagine the tourist cents he's raking in. |
Back where I began after circumnavigating the stadium (and adjacent ice hockey arena), I queued. The sun beat down and I fancied a seat in the shade on the far side of the stadium. But I’d seen people with match tickets and the only prices I’d seen were €30 and €45. Bit steep, I thought. This would blow my daily budget. Had they REALLY pushed prices up this much? No. As I got to the turnstile itself, there were €15 tickets. Fine, I’ll have one of those. Turns out the far side was €30, while the Main Stand, a dominating structure opposite, was €45. I wasn't in the shade, but €15 extra seemed steep for the option.
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| Prices, as sellotaped to the turnstile. |
As I nosed around the concourse I was struck by the number of Stuttgart fans there were. There was a fair smattering of their shirts while the away end looked even busier. At some point I realised – THIS was the away end. Good job too, there was a decent choice of seats (both ends were open) while the home end was virtually full.
After 2½ minutes Stuttgart hit the bar. Would this be one of those DFB Pokal games, amateur v Bundesliga, where the away side bags 8, 9….10? It’s happened in previous years. Are German sides simply more ruthless than ours when it comes to putting amateur (non-league) sides to the sword?
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| The stadium wall |
Thankfully, it was a much more even contest. Dynamo should have been a goal up, a volley off a corner smashing into the only player stood on the line. Anywhere else… Then, around the 40 minute mark, (according to the stadium clock, which didn’t take in the drinks break the players had) Stuttgart score a simple opener: a cross in from the left, a free header.
Halfway through the second half (no drinks break, the sun had gone in), Dynamo conceded a cheap penalty, a defender leaving a flailing leg to the winger, who cut inside. 0-2 and Ibisevic grabs his 2nd. I know this cos the scoreboard shows me a picture of him, which is nice.
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| Him. He scored. |
This silences the home fans, in particular their incessant chant of ‘DYNAMO! DYNAMO!’ (Dee-na-mo, Dee-na-mo) but 5 minutes later, out of nowhere, they choreograph something which ends with everyone jumping around like lunatics behind the far goal. A Berlin version of the ‘Harlem Shuffle’? The match peters out. Another lower division side has ‘given it a right go’ and it hasn’t been enough.
Attendance: 9,227 (Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark)
The Damage:
€15 tickets
€2 prog
€3 beer (400ml)
€3 ‘nackensteak’
= €23
Tunes:
None. I was on my bike, remember!
ps, there’s obviously some fixation with Great British (and Northern Irish) music at Dynamo. I entered the ground to the Housemartins, followed by the Undertones, while a banner in the home end was emblazoned with ‘There is a light that never goes out’ . Mind, I wasn’t sure about a remixed, more up tempo version of The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town’. Some things are sacred.
**I thought the beer tasted a bit funny and on inspection it was a 'Veltins'. Is this the German version of Fosters? Cheap, popular and not altogether that nice? Or did I just get a 'bad pint' (400ml)?
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| Dynamo welcome the teams |
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| Stuttgart wave their flags |
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| Size: huge. Capacity: quite small, actually. |
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| The coloured seats add a certain something...(but what?) |
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| Looking towards the far end |
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| Communist stadium architecture at its best |
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| Stadium plan |
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| FLJS's unique floodlights |
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| Usual line of police vans |
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