Fussball!

HSV

One of the things Andrew has relished about being here is Fussball.  In Europe (and most other countries in the world) it is fair to say, that it is by far the most popular sport.  Based on how passionate some of the fans are and how soccer consumes so much of society and daily life, it is seemingly the only sport.  Vacations are planned around team schedules and hidden cameras have caught people trying to get a "sick note" from their doctors so as not to miss big championship games.

                                                      Having grown up near Hamburg, Andrew is, of course, a HSV fan (Hamburger Sport Verein) and we both went to many games when we lived in Kiel.  Now that we live in Bavaria, of course we jumped at the chance to see a game between two dueling Bavarian teams, 1. FC Nuernberg and FC Bayern Munich.  50 Euro per ticket.  Andrew nearly hyperventilated seeing so many big names ((Manuel Neuer, Rafinha, Jerome Boateng, Phillip Lahm, Franck Ribery, Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Arjen Robben, Mario Gomez and David Beckham.)  Alright, no David Beckham -- just wanted to see if any of you non-soccer fans read to the end of the list! :)

The first thing you notice at German soccer games is the absence of  the supplementary entertainment common at Bucks, Admirals or Brewer games.  No big display sharing random trivia, no background music to fill time outs, no cheerleaders, no Sausage Race.  It's all fan driven and these fan clubs take this very seriously.  Before the game starts, the various recognized fan clubs can enter special members-only "pre-party" tents right outside the stadium.  They have their own flags and insignia and organize buses to away games. 

One fan leader has a drum and starts a cheer or song and the rest of the group joins in .  Amazing how much variety they come up with!  Some chants require action from the entire crowd to stamp their feet or hold up their team's scarf.  Everyone seemed to follow along.  The opposing team's fan club would often counter with their own chant or they would just try to outscream each other.  It was really quite entertaining.

A friend of ours has been a club member for 20 years and gave us the inside scoop. Lots of younger men, lots of alcohol.  They have designated areas in the stadium and due to overcrowding, there are no pesky tripping hazards, like chairs.  They stand the whole time and don't dare leave their spot even to go to the bathroom, they just repurpose those empty beer bottles!  There have been, of course, some tragic overcrowding and trampling soccer-related accidents such as the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster in England, where 96 people died.  Since then, various safety measures have changed including the location of barriers.  

Nonetheless, the crowds can get really rowdy and we were treated to several rounds of forbidden Bengali Fire which the fan club to our left set off in the stands!  The police attempt to control the rivalry between the opposing fan clubs as well.  Here near the end of the game, the police line up ready to escort one of the clubs directly to their bus.

Date Night!