Bundesliga review part 2. the new one :)

[Alex - City Matters]

I do love it when the traditionsverein get all upset when Schanzer turn up and don't roll over. Holtby was the best, his little tirade was comedic. Only a few point off Europe now, 2016/17 FCI in the Europa League?! ;)

Flying to Dusseldorf on April 8th, and hopefully watching Bochum on the Saturday lunchtime, and then Cologne-Leverkusen on the Sunday.
Can anyone explain, the sudden rise and rise of Hertha Berlin, as Germany is traditionally one of the few countries where teams from the capital, don't normally prosper.

I'd put Hertha's rise down to having a solid defence and midfield (much the same as FCI) and a settled team. They don't concede many and haven't suffered from many injuries, they have a Bundesliga proven striker in Ibesevic who they took the risk on and Kalou has that little bit of quality. It also seems they've benefitted from a few of their older signings coming to fruition finally; I'm thinking Sjkelbred, Stocker and Langkamp. The instability of Wolfsburg, Schalke and Leverkusen also helps too, mind.

 

[Ruhr]

West-Berlin football was isolated until 1990. That why they never developed a big team like Hamburg, Munich or Cologne did. More to do with german history than with football itself.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

West-Berlin football was isolated until 1990. That why they never developed a big team like Hamburg, Munich or Cologne did. More to do with german history than with football itself.

Yes, I appreciate the relevance of the old Berlin, but we’re talking more than 25 years of Bundesliga football since the wall came down.

City might have qualified for Europe in the early 90s if it wasn’t for the Heysel ban. Since then we’ve had all kinds of well-documented ups and downs, yet despite a potential huge support (from locals and tourists) Hertha appear to have experienced a total yoyo existence.


On the subject of Berlin, since when did Union Berlin acquire their peculiar reputation within German football? Nobody seems to have a bad word to say about them (apart from some hardcore Dynamo fans we encountered last season)

Also, are Tennis Borussia still going?

 

[Alex - City Matters]

Also, are Tennis Borussia still going?

I believe they are, infact a quick google tells me they are in the Oberliga Nordost Nord (!) after being promoted from the Berlin Liga (VI Tier).

 

[Ruhr]

Tennis Borussia had some financial breakdowns. They have loyal group of supporters, around 800, kind of a St.Pauli type of fans with political left ideas. Except that they also live the jewish tradition and history of the club.

Union Berlin was the club of the outsiders of the GDR communist system. These days they play the part of the anti-western, anti-capitalist and anti-modern-Football-club. The fans once saved the club from bankruptcy and modernized parts of the stadium with their own work. They also own parts of the stadium. So that is why they have this reputation of being fans owned and doing more for their fans than other clubs.

Hertha was down in 3rd division, before the wall came down (which meant playing in West-Berlin with local non-professional clubs). Until 1997 they played mostly Bundesliga 2, often with less than 10,000 fans in the large Olympic stadium. East german football fans had mostly a favorite team in the west, but that was Bayern or Schalke or HSV. Not Hertha. After the wall came down, east germans drove to the west to see their teams, not to Berlin, even when the city was much nearer.

Also i once read that after reunification there was an exchange of nearly 1 million people in Berlin. Berliners leaving the city, new people came. Most of them staying loyal to their teams. You find nearly for all Bundesliga clubs a pub in Berlin with fans in exile.

Football also doesn´t play such a big role in the culture of the city. In Dortmund or Gelsenkirchen it is all about football. 1.FC Köln belongs to Cologne like Carnival and Kölsch beer. Bayern has a large support in the regions around Munich. Hertha never played that role. Not even in West-Berlin and certainly not for the whole city or the area around Berlin. The stadium is far out and not really a football ground. Also Berlin has the best ice-hockey team in the country, one of the best basketball teams, a good handball team. That is a class of non-Football sport like in no other city.

And finally Berlin is still a poor city, heavily subsidized. No wonder, Hertha was sponsored for a long time by the state-run German Railway as their is still no big industry in Berlin. And Hertha itself is so uncool, not hip. Not only the silly club name, the whole image is one of a province club.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Tennis Borussia had some financial breakdowns. They have loyal group of supporters, around 800, kind of a St.Pauli type of fans with political left ideas. Except that they also live the jewish tradition and history of the club.

Union Berlin was the club of the outsiders of the GDR communist system. These days they play the part of the anti-western, anti-capitalist and anti-modern-Football-club. The fans once saved the club from bankruptcy and modernized parts of the stadium with their own work. They also own parts of the stadium. So that is why they have this reputation of being fans owned and doing more for their fans than other clubs.

Hertha was down in 3rd division, before the wall came down (which meant playing in West-Berlin with local non-professional clubs). Until 1997 they played mostly Bundesliga 2, often with less than 10,000 fans in the large Olympic stadium. East german football fans had mostly a favorite team in the west, but that was Bayern or Schalke or HSV. Not Hertha. After the wall came down, east germans drove to the west to see their teams, not to Berlin, even when the city was much nearer.

Also i once read that after reunification there was an exchange of nearly 1 million people in Berlin. Berliners leaving the city, new people came. Most of them staying loyal to their teams. You find nearly for all Bundesliga clubs a pub in Berlin with fans in exile.

Football also doesn´t play such a big role in the culture of the city. In Dortmund or Gelsenkirchen it is all about football. 1.FC Köln belongs to Cologne like Carnival and Kölsch beer. Bayern has a large support in the regions around Munich. Hertha never played that role. Not even in West-Berlin and certainly not for the whole city or the area around Berlin. The stadium is far out and not really a football ground. Also Berlin has the best ice-hockey team in the country, one of the best basketball teams, a good handball team. That is a class of non-Football sport like in no other city.

And finally Berlin is still a poor city, heavily subsidized. No wonder, Hertha was sponsored for a long time by the state-run German Railway as their is still no big industry in Berlin. And Hertha itself is so uncool, not hip. Not only the silly club name, the whole image is one of a province club.

A brilliant, educational, explanation.
Thanks for that Ruhr

 

[cptaidan88]

I had an amazing trip last week - ticked off some new grounds and met some new friends.

I started in Hamburg. St Pauli 1v3 FSV Frankfurt

Day 2 and my first trip to the East, for Hansa Rostock 0v2 Erzgebirge Aue

Day 3;
Game 1 - Arminia Bielefeld 1v1 Paderborn

Game 2 - Hannover 0v1 Augsburg

Day 4 - Fortuna Düsseldorf 1v1 Nürnberg

Day 5- No live game as I was traveling to Kiev from Dortmund

Day 6 - Dynamo Kyiv 1v3 Manchester City

Day 7 - Travelled back from Kiev to Dortmund, and couldn't get back early enough for Schalke unfortunately.

Day 8 Paderborn 0v1 RB Leipzig

Day 9 - Werder Bremen 2v2 Darmstadt

Day 10 - Liverpool 1v1(p) Manchester City

Obviously really enjoyed the two City results in there, but Kiev especially as I had managed to get into hospitality, so free beer, wine, & food.

In terms of the German games, I really enjoyed St Pauli, Bielefeld, Düsseldorf, and Bremen. Bremen is one of my favourite German cities so far I'd say.

I didn't see the home team win once on the trip and when you add that to the last couple of City home games - Leicester and Spurs, it means its been ages since I've seen a home win. So I'm a little nervous for City v Villa tomorrow!

I'm up to 30 German grounds in total now and 16/18 current Bundesliga grounds - just Wolfsburg and Darmstadt to go. Without being too presumptious, if we get through to the Quarter Finals (and we should), I'm desperately hoping for Wolfsburg. Not sure whether I'll be satisfied with completing the Bundesliga or whether I'll then feel I have to try to complete 'The 56'.

 

[bluemonkey71]

That's some going there

 

[Sir peace frog]

I had an amazing trip last week - ticked off some new grounds and met some new friends.

I started in Hamburg. St Pauli 1v3 FSV Frankfurt

Day 2 and my first trip to the East, for Hansa Rostock 0v2 Erzgebirge Aue

Day 3;
Game 1 - Arminia Bielefeld 1v1 Paderborn

Game 2 - Hannover 0v1 Augsburg

Day 4 - Fortuna Düsseldorf 1v1 Nürnberg

Day 5- No live game as I was traveling to Kiev from Dortmund

Day 6 - Dynamo Kyiv 1v3 Manchester City

Day 7 - Travelled back from Kiev to Dortmund, and couldn't get back early enough for Schalke unfortunately.

Day 8 Paderborn 0v1 RB Leipzig

Day 9 - Werder Bremen 2v2 Darmstadt

Day 10 - Liverpool 1v1(p) Manchester City

Obviously really enjoyed the two City results in there, but Kiev especially as I had managed to get into hospitality, so free beer, wine, & food.

In terms of the German games, I really enjoyed St Pauli, Bielefeld, Düsseldorf, and Bremen. Bremen is one of my favourite German cities so far I'd say.

I didn't see the home team win once on the trip and when you add that to the last couple of City home games - Leicester and Spurs, it means its been ages since I've seen a home win. So I'm a little nervous for City v Villa tomorrow!

I'm up to 30 German grounds in total now and 16/18 current Bundesliga grounds - just Wolfsburg and Darmstadt to go. Without being too presumptious, if we get through to the Quarter Finals (and we should), I'm desperately hoping for Wolfsburg. Not sure whether I'll be satisfied with completing the Bundesliga or whether I'll then feel I have to try to complete 'The 56'.

and the bluemoon award for fan of the month goes to :)

 

[Bembeltown]

As we are getting closer to the end of the season its time to predict who is going down (Bayern will still win the league even if Dortmund beat them this weekend):

My predictions
Bremen (Relegation)
Frankfurt
Hannover

At least Veh is going to go if we lose against Ingolstadt this weekend, so maybe we manage a turn around with a new coach.

@cptaidan88 @Scaring Europe to Death: Interested in some 2nd Buli grounds next season? Beers are on me.... :(