Holstein Kiel 2-2 Sandhausen, Sunday 30th July 2017

Holstein Kiel 2-2 Sandhausen (Bundesliga 2, att. 9,513)

Welcome to ...

What can go wrong will go wrong, or, as an Austrian lady said to me later as we were locked outside of our hostel: ‘Every InterRail holiday must have one of these days’.  It started badly and got worse.  My 9:01 train from Frankfurt didn't exist and a scan of the timetables showed I wouldn't make it to Kiel till less than 30 minutes to kick, off a problem when the stadium is some distance from the station.

Anyways, I was at least on board a train, though there were no seats to be had.  I found a cosy niche in the vestibule, somehow not in the way of through traffic and by Hanover (a not inconsiderate distance) I had me a proper sit down.  Bliss.

Coming up to the stadium.

I decided at Kiel to dump my stuff in a locker and march quick step to the stadium.  I glanced at the bus stops but I suspected the last stadium bus had departed.  I’d resigned myself to missing maybe 20 minutes action and got a stalk on.  My estimate was more or less exact.  Well it would have been had I been able to buy a ticket, but it was sold out.  Holstein had, after all, just been promoted to the higher echelons of Bundesliga 2.  While this may have been entirely predictable, they were only playing li’l ole Sandhausen.  I could expect I could get in the away end, but no, all closed (full?)

The away end: plenty of police cars but no entry.

So, having walked 3 miles for no reward, I faced a similar journey back, broken up by a most welcome Franziskaner in an open air bar.  Even better, it was only €2.20.  I’ll have two.  Fast forward and I was due to check-in between 5-7pm – it was after 6, and I had a choice: collect my bags and head for the hostel, or check in first and collect the bags later.  I went with the former and lugged my belongings a few hundred yards.  There was no one in.  I e-mailed (they were expecting me at 7).  I rang the doorbell and I phoned.  ‘Please call back between 5-7 pm.’  ‘It IS between 5 and 7 pm’ I wrote in a slightly snotty second email them.  Two Austrian girls turned up and faced the same problem.  While they eventually found alternative bedding in Kiel, I'd had enough.  The battery on my phone was dying and I had to make a decision: back to Hamburg and grab a hostel or completely change my plans and get an overnight train elsewhere.  I plumped for a).  I was exhausted and part of me collecting my stuff from the locker was so I could shower and nap.  I made my first good decision all day.

ps, it was the Peanuts Hostel, Kiel.  Never again.

The Main Event(s)

The Damage:

€2.20 beer (x2)

= €4.40

The Tunes:
Late Night Tales (Jon Hopkins)
Late Night Tales (Nils Frahm)
The Digging Remedy (Plaid)
Key Markets (Sleaford Mods)
Garlands (Cocteau Twins)
Led Zepellin IV (Led Zepellin)
Let England Shake (PJ Harvey)
Let Them Eat Chaos (Kate Tempest)

The roadside verge/carpark.

The rear of the Main Stand.

Ticket offices (closed).

The queue for beer.

Stadium plan.

Stadium plan II.

Back of the home end.

More closed ticket booths.

Back of Nord-Tribune.

WWI commemoration.

Darmstadt 98 1-0 Greuther Furth, Saturday 29th July 2017

Darmstadt 98 1-0 Greuther Furth (Bundesliga 2, att. 16,100)

Welcome to...the toilets at Darmstadt.  Classy tile addition.

Who designed Darmstadt?  The train station is in one place, the town centre another and the football ground somewhere else still.  They really manage to sprawl this place out.  Luckily , come out of the station to the left and there's trams which will deliver you straight to the Merck-Stadion  am Bollenfalltor, a good 20 minute chug through town.

A Furth fan at the station.

The Bollenfalltor is unique, even by German standards.  It's an elliptical stadium with the two ends having been replaced by stands within the curves.  Consequently, the new home end, metal terracing and propped cantilever roof (obviously they had a budget / rush on) lies in front of the old curve in what was previously dead space.  Best of all, they've kept the actual curve, including crush barriers, behind the new stand.  I presume the same goes for the opposite end, an identical stand albeit decked out in seats.

The old terrace behind the new stand.

Previously, the only seating save for a few away seats slapped onto existing terracing was a 4000 capacity main stand which is the width of two athletics tracks away from the pitch.  I presume there was an athletics track and after its disappearance the pitch was moved closer to the main terrace, opposite.

The Main Stand.

This fourth side dominates the stadium, a tall open terrace which peels away at either end.  Indeed, it is so unsophisticated that you can still see the grass banking the terracing was laid on top of.  Only slightly ruining the effect is the large no man's land in between the two sets of fans, much larger than strictly necessary but security is key in Darmstadt.

The long side terrace.

Security can best be viewed as an away fan, which I was today.  There were no standing tickets left in the home end, so I figured Greuther won't bring many, let's go in the away end.  What a walk.  You are sent around estates, around an entirely separate sports stadium (belonging to the university) before finally landing yourself a stroll through forest to the away turnstiles.  I’d say you’d not get much change from 20 minutes if you walked from the home end (clockwise; it was probably even longer anti-clockwise).  At least when you get to the turnstiles there's a large car park and a stall selling beer.  You need it.

Trekking thru' the forest with Furth

The match? 1-0 to Darmstadt.  Having just been relegated from the Bundesliga, this is probably their best chance of bouncing back.  I have my hopes.  This is a great (different) ground to go to.  Just make sure you get a ticket in the home end!

The Damage:

€4 beer (500ml)

€14 ent

The Tunes:
Pentamerous Metamorphosis (Global Communication)
Trans-Europe Express (Kraftwerk)
The Back Room (Editors)
Mixmag Jul14 (Scuba)
The White Room (KLF)

Darmstadt panorama from behind the goal.

Darmstadt panorama from the long side terrace.

Fans gather pre-match.

The long side terrace.

Looking down on the new home end.

Metal terracing and general detritus.

Outside the stadium.

Beer stall at the away end.

Where once this terrace just continued...

Old and new.

A camera / steward gantry on the grass banking.

Terracing slapped onto the grass bank.

The Fire Brigade find a perch.

Behind the goal at full time.

I'm obsessed...

The away seating.

Alemannia Aachen 1-1 Borussia Moenchengladbach II, Friday 28th July 2017

Alemannia Aachen 1-1 Borussia Moenchengladbach II (Regionalliga West, att. 9,100)

Welcome to ...

Having contemplated Valencienne in Ligue 2 on a Friday night, I decided upon Aachen in Regionalliga West.  It made for an easier following day’s travel.  That said, I was quite looking forward to it after a few days of the Womens Euro Championship.

Many moons ago, I saw a game just over the Dutch border from Aachen, at Roda JC, and I remember the adverts encouraging Dutch fans to come and have some of their own Bundesliga action  at Alemannia in Bundesliga 2.  At the time, clever marketing I thought.  7 or so years later and Alemannia are two divisions down, in the regional leagues, where they have been for quite some time now.  Like Coventry City, building a new stadium wasn’t ‘ambition’, it was folly.  Aachen nearly went bust.

Tickets easily procured.

In a contrite tale of where ambition lands you, they left their 21,000 capacity Tivoli stadium for one of them brand spanking new stadiums which might just be the wrong side of too big. Think the Ricoh Arena, but with yellow seats.  It's a smart stadium, three sides of single tiered seating, with the away corner for standing, and 4^th side a large home terrace, as it should be in England.  So what you have in a crowd of 9,100 is 2/3 of them behind the goal paying the minimum.  The rest of the stadium was sparse to say the least, though well done to Moenchengladbach, who brought 5-800 to see their under 23s.  The stadium was about half an hour’s walk from the railway station.

The teams come out...in front of the visitors' corner.

Hauntingly, the New Tivoli sits next to the old one.  Great for continuing your aeons old match day rituals, not so good in trying to forget every other week why you're playing professional sides under 23 teams in a regional league.  I went for a walk around the old stadium or as much as I could.  Who knew Aachen is some Colossus in the world of horse prancing, sorry show jumping?  The outer walls of Old Tivoli are decorated with past showjumping ‘heroics’.  Who can forget David Broome in the 1961 world championship? Anyway, it was good to see the old stadium survive, even if I could deduce no plaque to remind me of Alemannia’s history there.

Silver Knight winning it for Great Britain.

I bought a ticket in the home end, helpfully divided into sections 1-4.  I was nominally in 3 but eventually snuck into 4, closer to the corner flag, where I wouldn't have the netting impeding my view of the pitch and the ultras’ flags impeding my view of the near goal.  (May I say, I'm not discouraging them.)  Also, it prevented me being jostled and gave me plenty of space to rest my beer.

This is the life...

The game ended in a draw, lit up by two spectacular goals.  Borussia went ahead when a pass out wide allowed the winger to control it then hit it on the outside of his right foot it.  It curled beautifully into what was his far corner.  I was right behind it.

Aachen equalised direct from a free kick and while he took it well, up and over the wall, it seemed a nice height for the keeper.  He was nowhere near it.  The goal certainly raised the atmosphere, but despite 20 minutes left, Alemannia couldn't find a winner.  Are they destined for another season of purgatory?

Full time.

The Damage:

€12 ent

€3 wurst 

€3 beer (x2)

= €21

The Tunes:

Thirst For Romance (Cherry Ghost)

Slowdive (Slowdive)

React Test 1 (Various)

Abbey Road (The Beatles)

Pentamerous Metamorphosis (Global Communication)

New Tivoli panorama

The old Tivoli, tantalisingly near.

Bizarre away entrance...outside stadium, you tunnel UNDER to get in.

The old Tivoli.

Corner of old Tivoli.

Impressive facade.

The home end.

Is that wall (and missing seating) an afterthought?

Come on Alemannia!

The home end welcomes its heroes.

Match action in front of sparse stands.

The near touchline.

Busier on this side.

The Exec side.

Aachen panorama.  Everyone's in this end.  Honest.