SSV Jahn Regensburg 1-2 Union Berlin (DFB Pokal 1st Round)
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| Welcome to ....... |
Imagine choosing a train cos it sets off later but gets in earlier than the
later trains, yet gets in later than a train setting off 2 hours after. Anyway, a long delay at Zwickau prevented me
getting my connection. That’s the start of it.
So, instead of arriving at 15:38, with time to check in at my hostel, I
got to Regensburg HbF after half five and with a sudden urge to lighten my load
in the toilet. That done, I put my
backpack in one of the lockers. Nice
little earner for Deutsche Bahn: ensure I’m late, so I have to spend an extra
€4 on a locker.
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| The ticket office (note: photo taken on non-matchday!) |
It was a 18:30 KO giving me enough time to walk to the ground. However, after a few streets of absolutely
zero footie shirts, I did wonder of I had the KO time wrong (again). But it was fine – most folk were already in
the stadium as us latecomers queued up for a ticket. Another case of too few kiosks open for the
numbers though.
€13 and I was in, behind the goal.
Thankfully, the ‘ultras’, for some reason unbeknownst to me, preferred
to gather behind a floodlight pole (not pylon; it literally was a pole) on the
halfway line. Behind the goal had a
small paddock of metal terracing with seating behind.
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| Behind the goal |
The ultras were few in number, possibly due to the narrow terrace. When they move to their new stadium they’ll
have a terrace behind the goal of 5,000.
That’s much more like it. They’ll
also have a roof – much better for projecting some noise.
Union’s end looked packed, but on closer inspection, their fans had covered the
boundary fence in flags, meaning fans could only use the top half of the
terrace. Wouldn’t happen in England (cos
we don’t have fences). I remember
Chemnitzer doing this too. Is it an East
German thing, like having all their women tattooed?
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| SSV ultras |
A note here about Union’s players: 3 or 4
of them were the fattest professional footballers I have ever seen. My favourite, the #17, a midfielder, strolled
everywhere and burst into a jog when there was a promising move on. He never did more in possession than lay it
off politely and his slowness in the tackle was exemplified by dropping two
Regensburg players in the opening minute of the 2nd half. (He was
eventually booked halfway through the half for chopping down another one.)
MOTM for me (seriously) was the referee.
He didn’t blow his whistle every time a player went down just cos he
couldn’t shake off his marker. It made a
pleasant change having the man in black gesture for players to get up, while
the match carried on.
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| The Main Stand |
Naturally, given the above, the ref played a central role in the storyline: at
1-2 he gave Jahn a penalty that never was.
A player bursts through, the defender turns and tracks, they go shoulder
to shoulder in the box and the attacker flings himself down. Never the defender. They never go down, they can’t afford to. But give an attacker the option of staying on
his feet and possibly getting a shot off, or going down for an easy pen, it’s
the latter every time. The ref this time
wasn’t up with play (not his fault, it was sharp break) so gave the decision
from 25 yards away.
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| The away end |
In the ensuing melée, the ref sent a Union player off. I think it was for arguing rather than the
foul, cos the ref never reached for his pocket till the row broke out (he was
surrounded by Union players). Did he, a
la David Elleray, not mind being called a ‘c***’, but he drew the line at ‘cheating c***’?
The penalty was taken –and missed. The
keeper saved it, but whether he dived left or right, I couldn’t tell. I had this big fence in front of me and it
was a low terrace. Still, you’d expect
Jahn to have pushed on against 10 men, but the pen took the wind out of their
sails. Although the ref sent off a 2nd
player for a 2nd yellow (not our fabled #17, but a Jahn player)
while the Jahn keeper at one point spent a full minute in the Union penalty
area while a couple of corners were dealt with.
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| The Bischofshof Brewery, behind. |
Union comfortably held on, 1-2, Regensburg opening the score early on,
scrambling in a corner, before Union equalised 2 mins later from a header, while
the awaysters pinched it with an identikit effort.
As for my hostel…reception was unmanned and you needed a code to get in. Fortunately, I had that code from staying at
the same place a few nights earlier.
Thus, I had the run of reception, the dining room and the outdoor
terrace. Still no-one about. I rang the bell, twice. Nothing.
For 10 minutes I wondered where to sleep. I was hot, sweaty and tired. I imagined sleeping against a wall in
reception. That would surprise them in
the morning. Then it dawned on me, I
might still have the code for the actual ROOM.
I rifled through my bag, found the code and opened the door of room
21. There were 8 beds, only one strewn
with clothing. I was in! That shower was nice. And the clean sheets. Next morning, I never checked out. What was the point – I’d never checked IN.
Attendance: 6,249 (Stadion
an der Prüfeninger Straße or städtisches jahnstadion)
The Damage:
€13 tickets
€5 beer (inc. €2 deposit on the glass, which I kept)
€3 wurst
€4 badge
= €25
Tunes:
Leaders of the Free World (Elbow)
Elastica (Elastica)
Plumb (Field Music)
Total Life Forever (Foals)
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| Full time |
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| High fives afterwards for the mascot and players |
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| Home end metal terracing and 'camouflage' |
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| An old brew kettle (I think) at the brewery |
