Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Augsburg (att. 81,360 – ‘ausverkauft’)
There but for the
grace..etc. I may not be religious, but
it’s worth taking a moment to think why I’m in Germany at this time: the
Christmas markets. I was in Dusseldorf
and Dortmund, but it could so easily have been Berlin, where, yesterday, some
maniac murdered a lorry driver and drove his vehicle into a crowd of shoppers
at one of Berlin’s Christmas markets.
What a world we live in.
My partner and I work hard. So with a fortnight off at Christmas, we planned a short foreign trip to get us in the mood. ‘Let’s visit a German Christmas market.’ I was sold. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, (basically, looking up cheap flights) we plumped on Dusseldorf. Even better, there were midweek Bundesliga fixtures. Where is near Dusseldorf? That’s right, the Big Fish - Borussia Dortmund. If I could just get hold of some tickets, there’s one Xmas present sorted there and then.
Borussia sell out every game, so what to do? Well, opponents Augsburg are based over 300 miles to the south, in Bavaria. And if they’re entitled to 10% of tickets, surely they’ll not sell out 8,000? I went on their website. After sale to the members, they’d go on general sale. I sent them a cheeky e-mail about my chances and they replied; wait till general sale. I was back on the website on the day of general sale. Turned out I had to live within a certain postal address to get tickets and SE5 wasn’t among them. I sent another e-mail to the ticket office. I think the earlier e-mail had softened them up; tickets were sorted, an invoice sent and I had to sort out an international bank transfer. OK, so not cheap (seating tickets were €49.10) but you don’t visit the Westfalenstadion every week.
FYI, the Dortmund Xmas market is much better than Dusseldorf, which is far too spread out and is more a case of lots of markets in lots of places. And in Dortmund’s case, there’s a metro station right in the middle of it which will take you direct to the stadium (‘stadion’). I’d already had one transport victory: having match tickets entitled us to free travel from Dusseldorf, as it’s in the same region. Super, smashing!
We got to the stadium early, to savour the atmosphere and enjoy sausage and gluhwein in the Rote Erde beer garden. Including the Xmas market, I drank over a pint of the stuff. But it is nice. And it is cold. So much so, we head to the club shop, and even that is one of the finest of its kind, incorporating a pretend stand and an indoor court for the kiddies to kick a ball about. We escape relatively unscathed (a programme and a bell for my bicycle).
Next, I have to drop off my man-bag in a portacabin, as it’s not allowed in. Woman-bags are. I shouldn’t grumble. I’m not grumbling. Means more space inside. What I can grumble at is the cashless prepaid card-only payment system. How do I know how much I’ll buy at the counter? Actually, I know exactly how much: nothing. I refuse to be part of this gimmick. So no beer for me, though as I said, it’s freezing in here. Not sure I wanted one. Bah humbug.
Our seats turn out to be up in the gods – 2nd off back row, top tier. So we can’t see the entire ‘Gelbe Wand’ because the front of the roof is lower than we are. But we are on the halfway line, so not a bad view. We’re in amongst about 30 Augsburg fans (the rest are in the corner, to our right). Their other tickets appear to have been devoured by Dortmund fans, judging by the yellow.
I am unsure who to pull for, I like both these teams. However, Augsburg start the brighter and
score a canny opener, Ji being put through for an easy tap-in. So easy, he misses, but the rebound falls to him and he bundles home. Then Augsburg miss a crucial chance
before half time. The centre forward
goes to control it (and fails) when all he had to do was lift it over a stranded
keeper with his head. He may regret that.
Halftime comes. We go for a wander. The toilet break takes longer than it should and we get back in time to hear an almighty cheer; we have missed one minute of action and all of Dortmund’s goals (they don’t get another). An old woman goes nuts at us for getting in the way of her seeing everyone else celebrate. At least she saw the goal!
The expected onslaught never really appears. Aubameyang is off colour, Götze anonymous and sub Schürrle haphazard. Dortmund never really look like getting another and one breakaway nearly results in an Augsburg winner. Still, at full time, there’s no doubt who’s happiest, as the Augsburg fans are delirious. Imagine if they’d won. Then it’s time to head to the main railway station and a couple of Paulaners for the journey ‘home’ to Dusseldorf. I am cold. I am tired. But I am alive.
The Damage:
€49.10 match ticket (x2)
€5 delivery fee
€10 international payment fee
€2 programme
€6 bicycle bell
€3 mulled wine (x2)
€2.50 sausage (x2)
= €132.20 (for 2)
 |
| Signal Iduna Park from the Rote Erde. |
My partner and I work hard. So with a fortnight off at Christmas, we planned a short foreign trip to get us in the mood. ‘Let’s visit a German Christmas market.’ I was sold. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, (basically, looking up cheap flights) we plumped on Dusseldorf. Even better, there were midweek Bundesliga fixtures. Where is near Dusseldorf? That’s right, the Big Fish - Borussia Dortmund. If I could just get hold of some tickets, there’s one Xmas present sorted there and then.
 |
| Colour co-ordinated portaloos |
Borussia sell out every game, so what to do? Well, opponents Augsburg are based over 300 miles to the south, in Bavaria. And if they’re entitled to 10% of tickets, surely they’ll not sell out 8,000? I went on their website. After sale to the members, they’d go on general sale. I sent them a cheeky e-mail about my chances and they replied; wait till general sale. I was back on the website on the day of general sale. Turned out I had to live within a certain postal address to get tickets and SE5 wasn’t among them. I sent another e-mail to the ticket office. I think the earlier e-mail had softened them up; tickets were sorted, an invoice sent and I had to sort out an international bank transfer. OK, so not cheap (seating tickets were €49.10) but you don’t visit the Westfalenstadion every week.
 |
| An Augsburgian pre-match. |
FYI, the Dortmund Xmas market is much better than Dusseldorf, which is far too spread out and is more a case of lots of markets in lots of places. And in Dortmund’s case, there’s a metro station right in the middle of it which will take you direct to the stadium (‘stadion’). I’d already had one transport victory: having match tickets entitled us to free travel from Dusseldorf, as it’s in the same region. Super, smashing!
 |
| Happy Xmas! |
We got to the stadium early, to savour the atmosphere and enjoy sausage and gluhwein in the Rote Erde beer garden. Including the Xmas market, I drank over a pint of the stuff. But it is nice. And it is cold. So much so, we head to the club shop, and even that is one of the finest of its kind, incorporating a pretend stand and an indoor court for the kiddies to kick a ball about. We escape relatively unscathed (a programme and a bell for my bicycle).
 |
| Plenty of angles in scoreboard corner. |
Next, I have to drop off my man-bag in a portacabin, as it’s not allowed in. Woman-bags are. I shouldn’t grumble. I’m not grumbling. Means more space inside. What I can grumble at is the cashless prepaid card-only payment system. How do I know how much I’ll buy at the counter? Actually, I know exactly how much: nothing. I refuse to be part of this gimmick. So no beer for me, though as I said, it’s freezing in here. Not sure I wanted one. Bah humbug.
 |
| The pre-match flag waving. |
Our seats turn out to be up in the gods – 2nd off back row, top tier. So we can’t see the entire ‘Gelbe Wand’ because the front of the roof is lower than we are. But we are on the halfway line, so not a bad view. We’re in amongst about 30 Augsburg fans (the rest are in the corner, to our right). Their other tickets appear to have been devoured by Dortmund fans, judging by the yellow.
 |
| Looking towards the Yellow Wall. |
 |
| The Gelbe Wand. |
Halftime comes. We go for a wander. The toilet break takes longer than it should and we get back in time to hear an almighty cheer; we have missed one minute of action and all of Dortmund’s goals (they don’t get another). An old woman goes nuts at us for getting in the way of her seeing everyone else celebrate. At least she saw the goal!
The expected onslaught never really appears. Aubameyang is off colour, Götze anonymous and sub Schürrle haphazard. Dortmund never really look like getting another and one breakaway nearly results in an Augsburg winner. Still, at full time, there’s no doubt who’s happiest, as the Augsburg fans are delirious. Imagine if they’d won. Then it’s time to head to the main railway station and a couple of Paulaners for the journey ‘home’ to Dusseldorf. I am cold. I am tired. But I am alive.
 |
| Home time! |
€49.10 match ticket (x2)
€5 delivery fee
€10 international payment fee
€2 programme
€6 bicycle bell
€3 mulled wine (x2)
€2.50 sausage (x2)
= €132.20 (for 2)
 |
| The last remnants. |
 |
| Rhubarb beer. As bad as it sounds. |
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