Girondins de Bordeaux 1-0 Kairat, Thursday 20th August 2015

Bordeaux 1-0 Kairat, Europa League play-off, 2nd leg (att. 24,795)

Welcome to ....

It’s Wednesday, I’m in Germany, and I’m due to meet my partner in Biarritz, south-western France, on Friday.  How handy then that Bordeaux, a little way up the coast from Biarritz, have a home game in the Europa League on the Thursday night.  I’m there!  Even better, Bordeaux’s new stadium, the imaginatively named ‘Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux’ is due to be one of the stadia used at Euro 2016, so I get a sneak preview!

There it is!  My 1st view.

After interrailing from Germany (be careful: there’s limited tickets for high speed trains within France so they have to be booked in advance), I arrived in Bordeaux at a decent time.  Certainly, I had time to put my (blistered) feet up at my accommodation for an hour, before hitting the town.  Bordeaux is a glorious place. I can see why that Maths teacher ran away here with his (school) girl friend.  This reminds me of one of my favourite ever jokes, probably unprintable here.  Ask me if you ever meet me!

Exercise.  Not good for one's health.

But I’ve visited before, so am more interested in scoping out the new stadium.  And as befits these things, it’s built a lot further out than its predecessor.  Thankfully, regular tram services run up there, taking about 20 minutes.  Tram C, last stop, heading toward ‘Parc des Expositions/Stade’.  Once there, you meet a plethora of average victual stalls, all of whom were massively overpriced.  I bought my ticket to the match (a very reasonable €10) and headed back to town for food, ready to return closer to kick-off time.

Fanzone food stalls.  No thanks.

The stadium is STUNNING.  One of, if not THE most beautiful I’ve ever seen from the outside.  From the hundreds of ‘poles’ holding up the structure, to its brilliant white, gleaming in the evening summer sun, to the sleek art-deco curves of the staircases…it was fair to say I was impressed.  So what if it’s a journey to get here, it’s worth it.  Would I feel the same in winter, in the rain?  Would it become ‘weathered’?  And what about when it gets graffitied, or covered in the stickers of opposing fans?  Well, we’ll see.

Bootiful.  Really bootiful.

Girondins de Bordeaux’s opponents tonight were FC Kairat. No, me neither. But they’re from Almaty which is…..any idea……the biggest city in Kazakhstan.  I learnt that from Wikipedia.  (Astana is the capital).  So I wasn’t expecting too many away fans, but the authorities had dragged some Asiatic people up from somewhere and given them all flags to wave. It all looked too organised, too suspicious to me, but they added to the atmosphere.

The Kazakh invasion.

The capacity of the new stadium is over 41,000 and 25,000+ were here tonite, very reasonable considering the game, less so considering the reduced entry price.  I chose a place behind the goal, with the Girondins ultras.  Except I went upstairs, to get a better view and a sit down.  But the ultras were a lively bunch, and gave it their all.

Girondins.  Definitely not Jacobins.

The match itself wasn’t all that.  Bordeaux were obviously the better side, but were unable to transmit their superior ability into a rout.  They went ahead before the half hour mark to level the tie, but thereafter couldn’t force another.  Fortunately, the onus was on Kairat, who were otherwise out on away goals and so it proved.  A valiant effort from the far easterners, but it wasn’t to be.  They and their yellow flags would have to return from whence they came.  I headed back for an early night, ready for the Big Meet!

The ultras.

The Damage:
€10 ent
€4.50 hotdog
€8 beer (€2 deposit)
= €22.50

The Tunes:
St. Vincent (St. Vincent)
Souvlaki (Slowdive)
Sunshine Hit Me (The Bees)
Staring at the Sea: The Singles 1979-85 (The Cure)

Love it.

Looking down one side.

Everything about it is magnificent.

Perfection.

Check out the curves...and is that someone HUGGING the stadium?

More sexy curves.

On the concourse.

Exec boxes and wheelchair space above.

Makes you wonder why giant screens aren't 2-sided (yet).

The view from the upper tier.

Best seats in the house.

Sleekness personified.

Match action.

A sparsely populated rest of stadium.

Final score.

Stragglers leaving the stadium.

The stadium lit up.

Beautiful.

Rot Weiss Ahlen 0-2 Rot-Weiss Oberhausen, Tuesday 18th August 2015

Rot Weiss Ahlen 0-2 Rot-Weiss Oberhausen, Regionalliga West (att. 2,556)

Welcome to ....

Never get cocky. Never think that cos you’ve passed through Ahlen before, and seen the floodlights, that you’ll find the stadium, no problem. Cos you can’t see the floodlights from the elevated platform of the station for trees. Where was the stadium last time? Oh yes, on the left of the track….

Yes, tracks go two ways. I must have seen the floodlights on the way TO Dortmund previously, not FROM, as I am now. So when I toddled off in the direction of the stadium, I was going in COMPLETELY the wrong direction. (For the record, come out of the station, turn left, take the next left underneath the tracks, walk for 10-15 mins and the stadium is two minutes down that road. Easy!)

Finally!  A sign!

I walked to the edge of town. Nothing. Well, not nothing – some really nice looking suburbs. But a footie stadium? I found the ‘Pony Station’ and saw some nice…ponies. (What’s the difference between a pony and a horse?) Just as I was starting to give up, and at this point - I wasn’t sure if kick-off was 6 or 7pm, and it was now getting on for 7 – I saw a sign for the stadium. So it DOES exist! I followed the road…to the end of town. ‘Hamm 8km’…nothing.

Getting warmer...

So I turned left, kept walking (by now, I reckon I’m doing an anti-clockwise circuit of the town) and after a while, THERE IT WAS. Or at least I could see floodlights (switched on) in the distance. As I got closer, I could hear the crowd. But was I arriving at half-time or full-time? Turns out neither. KO was 7:15pm and I’d ‘only’ missed 20 minutes. It had taken me 2 hours to get here (it took 18 mins back). There’s a lesson to be learnt here somewhere.

Finally!

I paid my €10 (‘bit steep’ I thought, for Regionalliga) and I was in. First, a beer and a wurst…ahhh, nackensteak. I’m having one of those. They’re like an unbreadcrumbed schnitzel…a lump of flattened meat. No tomato ketchup, only a curry-flavoured version. Made a pleasant change but I wouldn’t buy the stuff.

Oberhausen, all caged in.

Why was I even here tonite? Well, the 1st German game I ever saw, about 6 years ago, was St. Pauli v Rot-Weiss Ahlen and I thought it was time to pay my respects. That game was in Bundesliga and since then RW have plummeted two division and aren’t particularly doing well in this division. Hard times indeed. And as you look around this slowly decaying stadium, you can smell the neglect. There’s holes in the back of one stand and fences everywhere (though you can walk around them and stand anywhere, behind the goal or the long side terrace).

Behind the goal...more flags than fans.

Three sides are quite small, and with a capacity of 12,500 and a crowd less than a quarter of that, I’d say Ahlen have found their level. The Main Stand is a low, all-seater affair where the plastic seats have discoloured through age and wear. To its left is the away end, a small, open terrace divided into 3 sections. Tonite, 2 sections will be open. Oberhausen is a relative derby, though in the Regionalliga West, most games are a ‘relative derby’. The clue is in the league’s name. Oberhausen have maybe brought 250. They have similarly fallen on hard times and were previously mainstays in Bundesliga 2.

Behind the home goal.

Opposite the Main Stand is a small, covered terrace, of which about half is open tonite. It will house the Ahlen ultras, as well as a few stragglers. Unusually, their ultras occupy the spot near the halfway line. Maybe there’s 50 of them. And despite the aged looking roof, the terrace looks recently laid. So not everything is aged and deteriorating.

The ultras leave a mess at full-time.

I stand behind the goal, on a paddock in front of some seats. But what was the score? No idea. Though I did see Oberhausen bag, the centre forward running across a defender to smartly flick home a pin point free kick or corner. I forget which. This half is dragging on, for a 7pm KO. Oh. Then I spot a manually-operated scoreboard behind the seats at the back. 0-1. I’ve missed nought.

Half-time.

At half-time I wander around, giving everyone else chance to get their beers in before my own. I thereby miss Oberhausen scoring again. There was a muted cheer (and groan) and so I suspected as much and the scoreboard confirmed it. That was it for scoring, but Oberhausen twice hit the woodwork while Ahlen had a couple of shots cleared or blocked. Overall, I was much impressed with the standard of play, good passing and movement from both sides. But Oberhausen won the battle of the Rot-Weisses.

Now, where’s that railway station? (I asked a policeman.)

Dusk over the Weserstadion.

The Damage:
€10 ent
€2.50 beer (300ml x2)
€4 ‘nackensteak’
€2.50 wurst
= €21.50

Programme? They definitely existed but I saw none for sale. I couldn’t see a club shop to speak of either

The Tunes:
Favourite Worst Nightmare (Arctic Monkeys)
Music For Films (Brian Eno)
Tomorrow’s Harvest (Boards of Canada)
The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (The Orb)
At Their Very Best (The Shadows)

Welcome to ....(2)

The away end.

Behind the goal.

Welcome to ...(3)

Picnic tables behind the Main Stand.

Enter the Longside.

Half-time on the Longside.

Clever use of stickers.

The Main Stand.

The home end.

A dereliction of duty.

Fans going back for the 2nd half.

Looking towards the Oberhausen fans.

1.FC Nürnberg 2-2 1860 Munich, Monday 17th August 2015

1.FC Nürnberg 2-2 TSV 1860 Munich, 36,547 (Bundesliga 2)

Welcome to ....

Monday nite, Bundesliga footie and a chance to see 1.FCN a 2nd time. I was staying in Nurnberg anyway and it’s an easy journey to the stadium – any train or tram to the ‘Frankenstadion’ (they can’t keep up with the latest sponsored title). Was it one stop or two from the station? I can’t remember. Or you could tram it to the ‘dokumentationszentrum’, which in itself is a must to visit.

Anyway, since I’d been before, maybe I’d go in the home end this time. I would let my bladder decide – and it saw the length of the queues for the home terrace and opted for finding a toilet, which we did, in a relatively deserted beer garden near the away end.

One of the entrances.

Mindful that I stood in the away end last time (Erzegirbirge Aue) and fancied a change, I got a seat in the upper tier behind the goal, still only €21. I was early and took my seat, directly behind the scoreboard. I still wasn’t happy, and at my next fill of meat and beer I climbed to the very back row: great view of the pitch, but the roof is so low you couldn’t see the Nurnberg ultras at the opposite end. One advantage however was that one can look out the window behind and see when the queue for beer is acceptable enough to join. (Answer: about 20 mins in.)

This is how central I was...near the cameraman.

TSV took the lead with the last touch of the first half. It was difficult to tell – was it a header from a rebound, or cross? No matter; by now I was chatting to a Nurnberger whose son was among the ultras (it’s a young person’s game). Why does he choose to sit here? ‘Because it’s cheap.’

Our block was quite mixed, with home and away fans mingling together. There seemed more TSV shirts/colours but the cheers were louder for the 1.FCN goals. Yes, goals! One minute TSV were having a goal disallowed for we-don’t-know-what, then Nurnberg run down the other end of the pitch and a low cross is despatched. Minutes later, the home team are ahead. From a potential 0-2 to 2-1 in no time. Both sides continued to have chances, though on balance, one couldn’t deny TSV’s right to their equalizer, from a scramble in the box.

A TSV fan celebrates as smoke wafts from the away fans below.

Although I (mostly) couldn’t see the TSV fans beneath us, early in the second half you could see the flashes of their pyrotechnics. The Nurnberg ultras meantime were content to wave their flags, which were spread evenly throughout their block. As with last time I was here, absolutely no-one waved a flag in the other block of home terrace. It’s just one of those (1.FCN) things.

The Ultras Nurnberg pay tribute.

Afterwards, I wandered through the adjacent Reichsparteitagsgelände (Nazi Party Parade Grounds) and stood in Hitler’s footsteps on the plinth he made his rabble-rousing speeches from. I find it incredible it is so accessible, but all the better for it. Whatever it’s history, (because of it’s history?) I find Nurnberg an incredible place to visit.

It's the marmot on the shoulder which does it for me...

The Damage:
€21 ent
€3.50 beer (x2)
€3 ‘3 in a bun’ (x2)
= €34

The Tunes:
Turns Into Stone (The Stone Roses)
Reading, Writing and Arithmetic (The Sundays)

The view  from the scoreboard.

The Frankenstadion's octagonal shape is defined.

The overhanging roof.

Always ready...

Dusk awaits the teams.

Space for advertising...cars.

The TSV fans above and below.

The view from the back row.

The contrast between above and below.

A minute's silence pre-match.