I had been to Hamburg, for my mate Alex's stag do, in May. Unfortunately it was outside of the football season and, for various reasons including me making the schoolboy error of not sleeping (much, if at all) the night before travelling, I ended up wandering aimlessly in the rain around a very swanky gated community in the suburb of Große Flottbek, during the early hours, while the others enjoyed a Smokey Joe's-esque nightclub off the Reeperbahn. I let myself down, basically. As such, when Macleod (M) broached the idea of journeying to Germany before the year was out, I was not altogether disappointed when Hamburg was decided upon as the destination. A chance to make amends.
As it happened, there was virtually only one weekend that fitted in with everyone's schedules and it worked out nicely (or so we thought ... ) that HSV were at home to Bayern on the Friday, with nearby VfB Lübeck at home on the Saturday, and Altona 93 at home on the Sunday. Flights and hotels were quickly booked. Job done ... except it soon became apparent that, as it was the 'Manchester United of Germany' that HSV were playing, it'd be unlikely we'd get tickets. Anyone but Bayern (and St Pauli?) and we'd have been OK. Hey ho, Victoria Hamburg were due to play SC Condor on the Friday night as well; a few days in Hamburg to see two fifth-tier Oberliga games, a fourth-tier Regionalliga match and no Bundesliga would, IMO, equal big points!
Friday.
On arrival at Hamburg airport the commercialism of the two local Bundesliga sides was immediately to the fore: an HSV sandwich-maker and St Pauli wellington boots just two of the many branded products on sale in one of the first shops that we encountered after passing through passport control. Perhaps you might expect this from HSV - one of the country's oldest, most well known and best performing clubs (with the unique distinction of having played continuously in top-flight German football since the end of World War I; HSV has never been relegated from any top-flight league and is the only team that has always played in the Bundesliga since its foundation in 1963) - but St Pauli as well? It seemed strange for such a 'right-on' club (I'm not actually sure it's appropriate to describe a club famous for it's alternative fan scene, built around left-leaning politics, as right-on'??) to be so mercenary with their marketing. Then again, I suppose it was only their ability to shift t-shirts that kept the club from financial ruin, not so long ago ...
Into the city centre; Craig recommended we headed straight to the Brauhaus Joh. Albrecht, close to the Rathaus. The beer (dunkel) was excellent and so was the food. After a relaxed and enjoyable afternoon in the pub, then a quick stop at our hotel (the relatively new Holiday Inn Express on Simon-von-Utrecht-Str.; a short walk from the nearest subway station past the St Paul Eck bar, complete with two Bristol Rovers stickers on the window!), we wandered over for a look at St Pauli's nearby Millerntor-Stadion. Macleod (M), who was dismayed (as was I) to read on a plan of the stadium that there was a designated "singer's corner" (I love German football but ... dislike the way that much of the crowd noise, formidable though it is, isn't spontaneous and is instead orchestrated via a ring-leader, often with megaphone in hand), posed for photos outside with our last remaining European Football Weekends logo (the black and white one hadn't survived it's first and only trip, to Worcester City, last season) and commented that one rickety stand looked about as sturdy as the 'dance floor' (directly above the cellar) in the Anchor! Apparently a total renovation of the stadium (expanded seating, new amenities etc.), costing around 30M Euros, is underway and expected to be completed in 2013. The stadium, as it stands, could certainly do with a facelift. Arranging for the demolition of the huge, grey factory-like eyesore that overlooks one end of ground would certainly help.
As darkness and drizzle began to fall we found ourselves walking around the borough of Eimsbüttel, searching for a bar that Craig had visited on a previous trip. When located, it transpired that the bar was closed for renovation and the landlord of the pub next door was more interested in taking a new delivery than serving. All was not lost, however, as across the road was a place called Hardy's. Although the increasingly wet weather meant that we wouldn't be able to make use of the decent seating areas at the front - and the establishment resembled more a restaurant from the outside - it actually turned out to be a warm and welcoming bar where, a la Cheers, everyone seemed to know everyone's name. As such, our arrival created somewhat of a stir.
During our second round of Jever's (not nearly as enjoyable as the dunkel from earlier in the day) a middle-aged local woman, previously sat at the bar, approached and - in near-perfect English - requested that she join us. After asking where we were from (the entire bar fell silent in anticipation of our answer) she explained that her name was Veronica and she had studied in London years ago, residing in Walthamstow (we offered our commiserations!). As expected, she was somewhat dumbfounded to learn our reason for being in the area (Victoria Hamburg vs SC Condor). After covering topics such as 'Britishness', the single European currency and Turkish immigration to Germany (apparently Altona now resembles the Bosphorus ... ) Veronica said her goodbyes and returned to her husband. Not long afterwards, we too were on our way.
Passing a confectionery store that had an advert for Victoria's upcoming Cup game with Steve McClaren's Wolfsburg in it's window (I love German football but ... what's the point of them arranging it so that the lower ranked teams have home advantage in the early Cup rounds, only to allow the lower ranked teams to switch the tie to a nearby neutral ground for financial, as much as security, reasons?), we headed on foot up the busy Gärtnerstr. before arriving at Victoria's 11,000-capacity Stadion-Hoheluft. We had been hurrying in order to make the kick off time but we needn't have bothered as, to our horror, the ground was under cover of complete darkness! A rain-damaged sign attached to the front gate informed us that the match had actually taken place the night before, brought forward at the last minute due to Victoria's aforementioned big Cup game (I love German football but ... find it frustrating that they leave it so late to change fixture dates/times; I'm off to Köln next month and have only just discovered that 1.FC Köln's game against Eintracht Frankfurt that weekend will take place on the Saturday afternoon). After cursing our bad luck (and cheering ourselves with the news that Condor had beaten the newly-despised Victoria) we decided to head for the Sportpub Tankstelle to watch the HSV-Bayern game on TV.
The famous HSV stronghold was virtually empty upon our arrival but this enabled us to get good seats and Macleod (M) to try out the jukebox (12 songs for a Euro; "Joe in the Anchor is gonna hear about this"). Songs by Stiff Little Fingers, The Pogues and Oasis, among others, plus the Glasgow Rangers anthem 'Follow Follow' were belted out as the cavernous, gig-venue-like boozer began to fill up; as the game reached it's conclusion, the atmosphere was rocking. Disappointingly, the beer (Holsten) was flat and the match was a dire goal-less draw (I love German football but ... the standard of play can often leave much to be desired). Nevertheless, watching an HSV game in the Sportpub Tankstelle is something I'm pleased to have experienced. We finished the night in the stylish Nachthafen bar on Clemens-Schultz-Str. Macleod (M) was the first to leave for bed, around midnight, and - with only the syrupy Astra and no silly-coloured drinks on the menu - I followed not long afterwards. Macleod (C) and Craig apparently lasted another hour before retiring. The latter would find me asleep in our room. Fully clothed. It had been a long day.
Saturday
VfB Lübeck vs Wolfsburg II ... and this game was definitely on! The train to the former capital of the Hanseatic League only took 45 mins or so. It was sunny, but with a chill in the air, as we got a taxi from the station to the ground; hidden from the main road by a massive supermarket. "Enjoy the game," said the mustachioed taxi driver as we got out, before breaking into a barely-stifled snigger! The colour green is seemingly synonymous with VfB Lübeck and their 18,000-capacity Lohmühle-Stadion; the team plays in green and white, Holsten are the drink suppliers of choice, and several astroturf pitches were in view and in use as - on a grassy bank behind the impressive main stand - we supped on our pre-match pints and bought a scarf (for the Anchor scarf mural). We were in F-Block, an uncovered terrace behind one of the goals. The other end was similarly uncovered. To our left was a compact stand (adjoining the supermarket) and to our right was the aforementioned main stand. The flag-wearing Ultras were stationed at the other end of the main stand from us, towards where the away fans would've been if Wolfsburg II had brought any (I love German football but ... II teams in the pyramid is a stupid idea; give them an atmosphere-less league of their own). The crowd was later given as 2,379 and there seemed to be as many policemen in attendance on top of that! The fuzz were everywhere (with their predominantly green vehicles fitting in nicely with the aforementioned colour scheme).
The game itself was, by German standards, a good one (almost as enjoyable as the beer - Holsten, much better this time - and the currywurst!). Some feisty tackles right in front of us set the tone early on and the home side's tenacious left-winger Danny Cornelius - after initially resembling a bull in a china shop (Murdo likened him to ex-Maidenhead United striker Craig O'Connor; a name many a Conference South referee will remember) - caught the eye, as did Wolfsburg II's mulleted keeper Jonas Deumeland (who, unfortunately, didn't appear anywhere near mad enough to be labelled the 'new Jens Lehmann') and their elegant, creative midfielder Tolga Cigerci (who reminded me of Abdul Osman and, like the former Maidenhead United man, has a style of play that will likely be more effective the higher up he goes).
Two other individuals involved in two other incidents stole the show, however. Firstly, Lübeck's No 18 Bastian Hennings scored a stunning overheard volley, a la Dimitar Berbatov against Liverpool earlier this season (the Lübeck subs, warming up directly in front of us, had their hands on their hips in disbelief at their teammate's audacious skill; click here to see for yourself how good the goal was). Then, after the final whistle had sounded and Lübeck's players were celebrating their 3-1 win (Hennings scored twice) with a deserved lap of honour, no 23 Michael Hohnstedt misunderstood our request for a photo of him with the EFW logo and swiped it from us!
Reeling from this outrageous theft, we got the bus (free with our match tickets) back into central Lübeck (10 mins or so) and decided to find a bar to watch the Bundesliga games. After an abortive visit to what we thought was a Turkish bar next to the station (which had an inordinate amount of scarves and plasma TV on the walls, but didn't serve drinks full stop, let alone alcohol! I think it might've been a taxi office) we decided to follow the early evening foot flow ... and I'm pleased that we did as it meant we walked right past the historic Holstentor and Rathaus - plus several other architectural gems of this understandably UNESCO-listed world heritage site - before finally finding the tiny but delightful Meykade Pub down one of the many brick gothic cobbled streets. Here we watched as the action on TV switched regularly between the various Bundesliga games (forget Jeff Stelling and his cohorts, THIS is the real Soccer Saturday) and discovered that Charlie Mpi (or Charlie Magpie, as he will now be known) - recently signed by Maidenhead United after I had forwarded to the club an email he had sent to musa2006@fsmail.net - had made his debut as Berkshire's finest fell to a 1-0 defeat at Forest Green Rovers in the FA Cup. More pleasing, for me anyway, was the news that Bristol Rovers had scored twice in the last five minutes to snatch a draw at Hartlepool, despite not having a shot on target until their first goal went in!
Back to Hamburg on the train (sitting next to a Hen Party for part of the way) and, after a another quick stop off at the hotel, we hit the infamous Jolly Rodger (stickers and scarves galore; more Astra) then Nachthafen again. Craig retired at this point and the rest of us headed to the Reeperbahn. One of the few places I did remember from my previous visit to Hamburg (aside from the Dolls House) was Bar Centrale, with several framed goalkeeper's gloves on the wall. We enjoyed a drink here - and Macleod (C) a photo with Andreas Kopke's gloves - before the rather alluring barmaid recommended a club on Große Freiheit. We only stayed for one drink in said club as, although a decent venue, the music ('death metal', I think) was too much. After stops at a Thai karaoke bar (you'd be forgiven for thinking you were at a drinking den in downtown Pattaya), an Irish pub (another alluring barmaid!), a kebab shop (or two; no wonder I'd ended up walking for miles when trying to find a decent one last time!), various photos (with the statues at Beatles-Platz; a seemingly officially-sanctioned graffiti image of Father Christmas baring his hairy backside; a nightclub sign indicating the tunes being played inside the venue were 'R&B, House and Black Music') - plus several propositions from prostitutes and pimps - we ended up back at the very same 'death metal' club as before! Breakfast was being served by the time Macleod (C) and I made it back to the hotel.
Sunday.
Altona 93 vs TSV Bucholz 08 at the Adolf-Jäger-Kampfbahn stadium - reportedly one of the oldest in Germany - would be the final game of our triple header. Not long after entering the rather stark ground through the simple but striking main entrance - and buying another scarf (again, for the Anchor) - we found ourselves talking to Jan, who Craig had met before at an Altona game through our mutual friend Gavin. Jan was wearing a jeans jacket covered with various badges; probably the largest of which was a Heart of Midlothian one, courtesy of Gavin. Jan was selling the latest edition of the Altona 93 fanzine, to which Gavin had contributed an article (in English). Aside from the main (i.e. only) stand to one side, and a clubhouse facility in one corner, the ground was uncovered; as bleak as the weather, TBH. After the (relative) excitement of Lübeck vs Wolfsburg II, the previous day, this game was an unfortunate return to form. The only amusement first half was the sight of the linesman in front of us, who resembled the character Meat Loaf plays in Fight Club, running (or, more accurately, wobbling) the line!
A shot each of some strange spirit, poured from a kindly stranger's hip flask, numbed the pain somewhat at half time; the second period was actually a little better. I enjoyed a much-needed pint, we explored the vast terracing behind one of the goals (that stretched way back into thick trees; "I think they've got a corner"), discovered ancient and now-disused turnstiles, were treated to a goal (from the away side, cheered by a small band of hardy supporters among the total crowd of 357) plus a penalty save from the visiting custodian (which Callum 'Nigel Keene' Macleod managed to capture on camera). Craig donated his Maidenhead United badge (the classic 1950s design) to Jan as we exited, en route to the hotel to collect our bags. Soon we were at the airport and, before long, we were home.
Hamburg is not my favourite German city. Far from it. Too sleazy (and I never thought I'd see myself writing that!). I thoroughly enjoyed this weekend, though (despite our EFW logo being stolen!), and would certainly recommend a trip to Lübeck (to see both the historic sights and also VfB). As aforementioned, I am back in Köln with the family next month and I look forward to that and my next overseas trip with the KSG.
I love German football but ... no buts.
