FCUM A.D.

FC St Pauli 5 (FIVE) v 0 SC Paderborn:

Dresden to Hamburg.  As the Dresden Ultras pointed out in one of their „transpis“, the River Elbe is as good a route as any for transporting…erm…objects between the two cities.  Unfortunately though I paid little attention and opted to go via a few days in Holland (bumping into Boudwijn Zenden no less!).  The privatised German train providers aren’t quite as reliable as the flow of the Elbe, and so on Saturday morning I found myself briefly stranded in Venlo.  After a long slog up through Germany, I eventually made it for tea at Backbord, but there would be no time for Ultra BBQs or indeed free concerts.  The rest of the evening was instead spent with the rest of the SPM, plus other friends in the Jolly.  My mood had been darkened, with the news that Naki would not be staying at the Millerntor, but beer, good company and skins singing along to Die Kassierer, and things improved!

After a lengthy breakfast in Cafe Miller on the Sunday we made our way to the ground.  It should’ve been the last game of the season, but there was still a small chance of an extension via the play-offs.  Even before the kick-off, Naki’s name was already being chanted, and he was already in tears.  The other St Pauli feature saying goodbye was the old Gegengerade stand which was due to be demolished after the match. 

The game in the end was won at a canter.  The Paderborner stood a chance of promotion too, and their fans seemed motivated enough (loud singing pre-match and a few flares).  After a goal or two though, their side gave up, and we were left free to play the kind of highscoring, free flowing football rarely witnessed this season.  Parallel to our own match, Düsseldorf were playing Duisburg.  A win would see them through the play-offs at our expense.  A draw would’ve required us to score around 10 to get a better goal difference.  Realistically only them losing would’ve been enough.  With Duisburg down to 10 men early, it always seemed like a long shot.  This didn’t stop the crowd chanting for „only 6 more goals“, as we began to find the net.  Nor did it stop a ridiculous rumour (that I obviously fell for) briefly going round that Duisburg were somehow leading 4-2!  In the end though, it was clear that the play-offs would be out of reach.  Instead we congratulated our resident Fortuna fan, and stuck to the usual last game of the season antics of holding our shoes in the air (how fashions change!  A few years ago it was a sea of Sambas and Spezials.  Now it’s all running shoes!).  Naki came on towards the end, and with the last kick of the game got a goal.  A nice final moment!

After the match it was time for emotional goodbyes and speeches.  So many players gone.  Some too early, some too late (ich sag nur der „Edeltechniker“!).  Naki arguably leaves at exactly the right time.  A player you could relate to and enjoy watching.  He was however never one for discipline, and so I get the impression this was as good a high to be leaving on, as he would’ve got under Schubert.  Perhaps it was the right time for the Gegengerade to bow out too, it’s well-earned rebellious status safely preserved.  The sunken steps of the Gegengerade are where I started my days at the Millerntor and I will miss it. Whether the new stand brings with it a new „roar“, or is just a police HQ with a terrace, it will have to work hard to be a suitable replacement!

Spotted in town (opening a can of worms in Hamburg):

Ha!  Wandering around St Pauli on Saturday and there are Angry Worms everywhere!  Reminds me of the computer game…

SG Dynamo Dresden 1 – 0 FC St Pauli:

So after a day’s sun and relaxation, it was finally time for the match.  Most St Pauli fans were arriving by football special at the main train station, and it was likely that they would then be escorted by the police to the ground.  This represented a problem for the rest of us, as we needed to somehow get through the police lines, without being spotted by any Dresden fans looking for a fight. 

I got to the train station early and dropped off my bag, before going to a nearby cafe for breakfast.  As I finished my coffee more fans and police had started to mill about.  This included several water cannons and a little tank.  Unsure of which platform the football special would arrive on, I picked up a couple of magazines and went and waited in the station.  It appeared that there was a small “welcoming committee”, including some of our friends from the previous night.  Occasionally looking up from my magazine, I saw a few other familiar faces in non-football colours, obviously with a similar plan to myself.  Shortly before the train arrived, we saw a section where the police were lining up.  We quickly moved up the steps to the platform there and, low and behold, arrived just as the St Pauli train came into the station.

Now re-unified with the rest of the away supporters, we were then escorted down another flight of stairs and into a tunnel where buses waited for us.  With the ground being so nearby, and the weather looking so nice, most of us walked on by, hoping to force the police into allowing us to travel on foot.  Unfortunately though the numbers weren’t large enough, and the riot cops eventually pushed us back and onto the buses.

Things were more chaotic at the ground itself.  The buses dropped us off, but there was no one working the gates, so we were penned in.  A bit later, stewards turned up and the lengthy procedure for getting into the ground began.  I had wondered why it was all taking so long, but I soon found out why.  In order to get in, you had to show your ticket and be frisked.  Then if you were unlucky, like me, you had to wait for a sniffer dog to inspect you for explosives.  Then your ticket was checked once more and you were frisked again.  My bag was then looked through, after which the bag had to be checked in at a cloakroom anyway.  Suntan lotion is a security risk!

Once inside the ground, I took up a spot near the fence to the home supporters.  As is often the case, this section of the home crowd is populated exclusively by halfbakes.  In this case ’roided up and keen to make eye contact, or indeed Hitler salutes. 

As the game kicked off, our end delayed the usual singing of “Aux Armes”, and instead we all crossed our wrists and chanted “Diffidati con noi”.  This was in protest at the German FA handing out bans to fans who were merely defending themselves, and other fans, against nazis at the Schweinske Cup.  In the home end, the fans did that thing that sadly to most people will be simply known as the “poznan”.  It should look impressive when a whole terrace turns its back to the pitch and jumps up and down.  Unfortunately though, it now just looks a bit plastic and reminds me of Berties, in the ill-fitting replica shirts, bouncing up and down.

The Dresden end, was in fact, slightly odd.  For some periods of the game, it appeared to be completely silent.  I was beginning to wonder whether yet another famous fanscene (like Eintracht Frankfurt) would disappoint.  However when they did sing, it was very loud indeed.  Despite a lot of streamers, there was no choreo.  Then part way through the first half, a collossal “surfer” flag was suddenly passed out, covering the whole of their end.  Handpainted, in great detail, and just used at random, part way through a match.  I don’t think it was only me, who’s jaw dropped.  Very impressive!

Our own end also looked very good, with one lad, climbing on to a ledge in the middle.  Nothing gives a terrace more depth, than someone standing at a different height.  The photos of it look brillant!  We also were in pretty good voice, despite everyone sweating buckets and having to go and get more water from the taps in the bogs at regular intervals.

There were a few “transpis”/papermills aimed at us St Pauli fans.  No doubt they are only aimed to provoke.  Some though were so backwards, I would’ve expected them from some small town like Chemnitz, but not the fans of an important city like Dresden.  Surely some of their own fans must cringe when reading them.

Despite the weather, the match was pretty entertaining.  We hit the bar once, but Dresden probably deserved their second –half goal (even if Zambrano should have cleared it).  We were good for a point, but a stunning save by Dynamo’s goalkeeper foiled us.

With the defeat, there is little chance of us making the play-off.  Nevertheless, we clapped the team off, before heading for the buses.  Once back at the station, I slipped out through the police lines once more, and caught my train back home.

FC St Pauli 0 – 0 Energie Cottbus

This match’s journey started in Osnabruck. A few drinks with Sektion Spekulatius and the Russian in Grand Hotel in Osnabruck were had on the Saturday evening, and this was perhaps unwisely combined with a 6am start the following morning. Still jetlagged from the week and then coupled with little sleep, I was incapable of speech until about Bremen, where we changed trains and some coffee and a baguette saved the day. The advantage of the early slow train, was not just the cost, but that we got to travel up with the rest of the lads and lasses from Niedersachsen. We turned out to be quite the large group.

I had to put up with a fair amount of abuse for my jumper being Hansa Rostock colours. Everytime the place went quiet, I would hear an “Ahuuu!” and see T5 clapping his hands above his head or pointing his two index fingers together. Naturally, we opted for the good old bike compartment in the train. It always offers ample seating, no irritating people with “Bahncomfort” VIP tickets or reserved seats and, critically, generally has no bicycles in it. The rest of the journey was made up of nattering and struggling to get the electronic door to close on the bog.

After an hour or so enjoying the sunshine, we headed into the ground. This week’s choreo consisted of a large copy of the front cover of the latest Übersteiger. The cover is to do with the protest against the police potentially getting a special room in the soon to be built new Gegengerade stand. Even worse, the room would be positioned right next to the fans’ room, making fan work almost impossible without risk of being monitored by those nosey-parkers, the police, next door. That the local police force now have two attacks (that on the Jolly Roger pub, and more recently that at the recent Schweinske Indoor Tournament), which they have as yet still not offered an explanation or apology for, only begins to scrape the surface of why the idea of them getting a room (ooh er!) in the ground is so unpopular. The choreo will hopefully draw further attention to the issue, and mobilise fans against the move.

In the Cottbus end, there were no flags, due to a ban following their use of pyro, the last time they played at the Millerntor (a day on which, I was busy moving to Germany). Instead they held up bits of banner spelling out “Ein Sieg heilt unsere Wunden”. This would at first sight, seem fairly innocent. It translates as “A victory heals our wounds”. However as Magischerfc points out, it would appear that the choosing of a phrase with “Sieg” and “Heil” in it, may not have just been an innocent mistake. What is definite though, is that if Cottbus’ fanscene is dominated by nazis, they are the most dull, incompetent nazis encountered. The controversial Nazi march footage filmed by Leni Riefenstahl during the time of the Third Reich is rumoured to perhaps have even influenced films such as the Star Wars Trilogy. Cottbus’ hanging up of their banners though only had an air of cluelessness similar to that of a first year student struggling to hang up his or her washing to dry, after cleaning the bedsheets for the first time. Even for a club who Ive never seen a decent display off, this was particularly shabby.

Back on the field, we had a freshly laid pitch and the football for about 20 minutes matched that freshness. Nice passing, end to end stuff, little tricks and turns. With all of this, the atmosphere also began well, with plenty of loud singing and chanting.

As time wore on though, a goal looked less and less likely. The atmosphere went into autopilot, with far too many people breaking out their smartphones or rolling cigarettes. By the 85^th minute, the Cottbus coach was busy doing Tim Henman style fist celebrations to mark the likely point won. We only had ourselves to blame though. We came close a few times, but at the moment we just dont have enough people in the team willing to have a go on goal.

Niemand schießt am Millerntor

Erzgebirge Aue 2 – 1 St Pauli

I’d hoped to combine this rather long trip as part of a long weekend in the splendid countryside around Aue.  When work destroyed this plan, I feared the worst.  Hours in a bus, despite the usual good company, isn’t often that high on my to-do list.  As it turned out though, it proved thoroughly enjoyable despite the result.

The journey started at 11:45pm on Saturday evening, with the train down to Cologne to meet the bus.  The bus met at around 2am, I decided sleep would be a good idea and so headed for the back of the bus.  We reached Bad Hersfeld in the early hours of the morning.  The weather was slowly warming up and I felt vaguely awake.  The rest of the journey was a joy.  Despite having brought plenty of provisions for the journey myself, I was kept well fed by my neighbour.  Someone who bizarrely seems to be named after a type of mountain bike setup.  A brief spell spent in the glorious sun in Zwickau, and we completed the final stage of the journey to Aue.

Despite no-one else agreeing, I found the whole area around Aue really nice.  Beautiful hilly countryside, with forests and the odd pretty town.  Few chain stores, old rural houses.  A completely different feel to western Germany.  Aue followed a similar theme.  A few rows of workers houses, hinting at the town’s industrial past, but otherwise just pretty buildings set in a valley.  The football ground itself is also a real treat.  No VIP lounges, limited roofing, a running track, superb floodlights, all set by a small stream in the woods.  A typical DDR “Sportanlage”.  Quite how the team keeps it’s head above water financially in the cruel world of football I don’t know, but I count it as a real priviledge to see the place before it gets, inevitably, redeveloped.

We went on to the terrace early, having first collected a bowl of veggie hotpot from a small wooden hut.  Then we sat in the sunshine waiting for the rest of the fans to arrive.  I also got to meet fellow blogger @bucanero1910!  Due to the good weather, the dresscode for the day was wonderfully trashy.  Sunhats, ludicrous dayglo raybans and tracksuit bottoms rolled up to the knee.  The Skinheads take too much pride in their appearance for such a look, but they had at least sensibly opted for short sleeve shirts to go with the heavy jeans and boots.

The match started and the atmosphere was tremendous.  The air full of balloons and flags, everyone bounced around the lovely open terrace with glee.  The Aue end was also pretty full, despite one or two fans opting to watch the match from the forest on the hill above the ground.  They also had these brass horns, similar to Vuvuzelas, which I think have only ever been popular in the old DDR. We dominated the first half and deservedly took the lead through Bruns midway through the half.

In the second half, we never really got back into the game.  Aue through a mixture of diving, and sheer doggedness, dominated the match.  They won almost every 50:50 ball and their equaliser was inevitable.  It epitimised their 2nd half performance in general.  Fighting for every chance, they outmuscled and hacked the ball through the defence.  As the match wore on, they always looked more likely to score than us.  Despite a couple of good chances, we looked very out of sorts.  Chances to cross the ball came a plenty, but there was never anyone on the end of it.  And in the 90th minute, Aue chipped the ball into the box from a freekick.  It appeared to miss everyone but ended in the back of the net.  A bitter blow, and sadly thoroughly deserved.

With a long journey ahead, we made the most of the police causing some unnecessary mither at the edge of the carpark, to enjoy the last of the sunshine.  Then it was back into the bus and the long journey back west.  As it happened, it was quicker for me to cadge a lift from the Osnabrück lot from Bad Hersfeld, rather than travelling back to Cologne, so the next part of the journey took place by car.  Our Chauffeur for the first part of the journey, did a very admirable job of getting me to my train on time.  The style of driving though did remind me quite a lot of this scene  from Annie Hall.  My heartrate has just about returned to normal now! ;-)  I was very kindly dropped off in Bielefeld and did the rest of the journey by train.  Now approaching midnight, I got talking to a lad who was jibbing it back to Gelsenkirchen.  He was about 19 years old and didn’t have any money, as he’d had to spend everything on new baby clothes, as he’d got his girlfriend pregnant.  Despite the last minute defeat, I felt therefore on reflection that I’d got off lightly!  Travelling with friends through the outer edge of Eastern Europe, to watch football, in the spring sunshine.  Luxus für alle!

St Pauli 2 -1 VFL Bochum

The previous day with certain sections of the British media and Liverpool FC staff trying to play down a, now, long running racism row and claim it as just a minor clash of personalities, meant I was looking forward to watching football where such issues aren’t brushed under the carpet for the sake of protecting profits.

I arrived, in a surprisingly mild, Hamburg and the familiar pleasant sights greeted me.  The taxi drivers at the main train station playing chess, their board propped up on a bin.  The fanzine sellers (no Greater Manchester police to swoop here!) milling around the ground.  Gloved hands holding cold bottles of beer outside the Jolly Roger.  Yet at the ground a few things had changed.  The old police box, which for the last year has hosted some kind of favella-style VIP lounge was gone.  The AFM Container had been repositioned on the forecourt.  In other words, space was being cleared, preparation for the demolition of the old Gegengerade stand has begun.

After another chance to enjoy Bochum’s team anthem, and a blizzard of confetti the game got underway.  The atmosphere was ok, but there were few chances for St Pauli, and even fewer for Bochum who seemed to be hoping for a draw at most.  I kept finding myself glancing over at the old subsbenches in front of the Gegengerade, the cheap perspex shelters reminiscent of green houses on allotments.  Soon no doubt they too will be gone, replaced by heated seats for the players no doubt coupled with some „witty“ marketing line or joke.  Today though the players had to make do with sitting under large blankets.

Bochum hadnt had a chance, but with some awful defending from us, plus Pliquett perhaps being a little too far out, they took the lead.  A training ground chip and much pseudo-religious sky pointing.  Urgh.  Fortunately we woke up at that point and, before the break, things were equaled up from a corner of all things.  1-1.

The second half was a joy to watch.  We continued to push and once Saglik had made way for Naki (complete with petulant kicking of the hoardings), we played some nice stuff down the wings and on the occasional counter when Bochum had accidently wandered into the attacking half.  Despite this, most chances were spurned.  Our group of friends turned their attentions to making woeful jokes based on player names, most of which were bad enough in German and make even less sense in English.  Needless to say, my joke regarding Bochum’s redcard for the player „Freier“ won hands down. ;-)  Late on we managed to exploit the man advantage and in between ferocious tackles and fouls from the Bochum side, we took the lead and held on to it.  3 points and a far greater effort put in that last Saturday against Aachen.

Fed up with my trips to Hamburg being reduced to hanging around in the cold outside the ground and its periphery, I had decided to take Monday off and stay a little longer.  So after the match we went out.  A large amount of alcohol, including some delicious rhubarb vodka was put away amongst various heavy discussions around Germany’s right to exist, the capitalist and fascist streaks within the game of football, and erm the upcoming Bruce Springsteen tour.  Later we moved on to the club Übel & Gefährlich which is housed within the big bunker behind the Millerntor.  This particular evening, there was a reading from Torsun, a member of the band Egotronic.  Egotronic tend to be a heady mix of electronic music, heavy bass and leftwing politics, mixed with a fairly liberal attitude towards drugs.  The book „Raven wegen Deutschland“ tells the story (as far as I am aware) of how the band got together, various exploits whilst under the influence and a little bit of politics too.  The reading included exerpts from this, as well as some fairly funny videos, including a truly bizarre video of an attack on a police van where despite being attacked, the van remains parked for ages before slowly driving away.  Look it up!

Anyway despite stories about drugs not really being that high on my list of interests, and that at times it veered a little close to being like Nathan Barley (fashionable young things, retaliating  against their parents wealth through apple computers and cocaine), it provided a relatively amusing evening out.

The next day, after a superb vegan breakfast thanks to L., we headed back into town to go and walk on the Alster lake!  The temperature has been that low in Hamburg recently, that the ice has really built up.  The river Elbe is heavily frozen, but ships can still follow certain channels.  The larger part of the Alster lake though has around 20cm of ice on it.  So much so, that the public are allowed to walk on it!  Of course, the whole thing with its hype over the weekend, could’ve easily been dismissed.  However, there is something rather pleasant about the whole experience.  An attraction that costs nothing to take part in, is attended by ice skaters, dog walkers, cyclists taking a short cut, and other locals at a loose end, and it all looks like something out of a bygone age!  We shouldve all had Victorian style moustaches!  Id never stood on any iced over lake before, and so I was glad to be able to take up a perhaps once in a lifetime experience.  And where better, than on the beautiful Alster!  Now that you don’t get at every home game!

(Till) Roll on the new year aka St Pauli 2 v 0 Eintracht Frankfurt

„…he doesn’t understand and he doesn’t try. He knows there is something missing and he knows it’s you and I. We’re the younger generation and we grew up fast. All the others did drugs. They’re taking it out on us…“

I’ve had this Belle & Sebastian song in my head since the match on Monday. All because of a till roll and the bizarre reaction of a significant section of the Gegengerade stand. Why it is in my head we will come to later, but first back to the beginning.

With the Christmas-related journey back to the „old country“ due midweek and with a few days of leave from work left over, I decided I’d spare myself the dash to Hamburg so common on a Monday night, and instead took the day off. With the earlier start, I was up in Hamburg by midday and the surprising lack of snow was offset by the pleasant winter sunshine. Lunch in Eimsbüttel with P. was followed by a stroll into town, to the Fanladen and then along the harbour front. The sunset over the docks is pretty unbeatable, all the more so with the low winter sun. The little sightseeing tour was finished off in style at Hin & Veg, where I bumped into the owner of the MagischerFC website and a few of his friends, and we enjoyed the fine vegetarian/vegan food on offer. All far better than a morning’s work I have to say!

Anyway eventually I found myself on the Sudkurve shortly before kick-off and to my delight there was a collossal joint waiting there. Before any snoopers or my employee gets too agitated, this was of course only part of the choreo planned. After Frankfurt’s excellent choreo at last season’s fixture, the theme continued at our end. Green balloons tied together, resembling weed, were (half successfully) rolled into a big piece of paper held up by the crowd, this then disappeared and a fully rolled, giant joint appeared at the front of the stand. Accompanying this was a cartoon St Pauli fan who was then held up at the roach end of the joint, at which point the joint began to smoke! All of this was accompanied by the song „Marijuana oh-oooh, du schönes THC“. Absolutely superb! From the charming DIY style, to the continuance of the running gag, right through to the ridiculousness of the giant joint at a football match. An absolute highlight!

Meanwhile the Frankfurt fans had managed to smuggle in some flares and also produced an impressive display. The rumour that when smuggling the flares, they had also accidentally stormed the wrong gate and ending up in the recycling yard, I cannot sadly confirm. It is probably too good a story to be true.

The game itself was very entertaining, but certainly the first half produced, to my mind, very few chances. This probably shows just how close a game this was. Eintracht were just edging it, when we took the lead in the 32^nd minute through Morena. Again it was Frankfurt who pressed there after, and it was only a couple of brilliant saves that kept the score at 1-0 until halftime.

Shortly after the break, we had a corner and at this point one of the Frankfurt players was struck by an object (a till roll intended, without success, to unroll as it descended) thrown from the crowd. There was confusion in the terrace where I stood. Irritation at something having been thrown, lack of clarity about what the object was, even misplaced anger at the player who took some time to get up off the ground. Eventually the game could continue. Eager to raise the atmosphere again, the Sudkurve began a „call and return“ type song with the Gegengerade stand. Whereas this type of song has been successful in recent times, particularly with the singer on the fence furthest to the right, helping carry songs from the Gegengerade onto the Sudkurve, on this occasion the Sudkurve´s call was met with boos and heckles from a large section of the Gegengerade. It would appear that this reaction was linked to the object thrown earlier having come from the Sudkurve. Bizarre! There are plenty of occasions where an individual fan has been given abuse for inappropriate behaviour at a football match, but I’ve never witnessed fans heckle another stand of fans of the same team, for the actions of one individual. It seemed like it was just a chance to attack the terrace with its generally somewhat younger crowd, and the Ultras, that bete noire of the German football establishment and the country’s conservative population. The reaction, of attacking a whole section of the crowd, was ugly and reminded me of the way in my own city, centre-right politicians use the actions of a small criminal element to attack the whole immigrant population in the North of the city. The only positive was that whilst a significant part of the crowd reacted so poorly, many in the Gegengerade refused to join with them.

Back on the pitch, Tschauner produced a superb save from PS3 Champions League expert Idrissou. He saw the curling shot late and sprang full-length across the goal to palm the ball away. Without doubt man of the match.

A little later, a Frankfurt corner broke down, we broke and Kruse had the ball squared to him in the penalty area and tucked it away into the top corner. 2-0 and the points looked a little safer. Nevertheless Eintracht didn’t give up and again Tschauner was called upon on numerous occassions to maintain the lead. By the end of the match, he was carrying a shoulder injury and could no longer perform goalkicks, but with the crowd singing his name, the final whistle went. 3 vital points!

Since the match, much discussion has taken place regarding the till roll that was thrown and failed to unroll. It was poor luck that it didn’t unroll, but that doesn’t excuse the stupidity of throwing something into a busy penalty area. Understandable questions would be „who threw it?“, „how can it be stopped in the future without surrendering the freedom to self-police?“, „what should the punishment be?“. Instead the reaction from some St Pauli fans has been so extreme, that the fan forum even had to be closed to calm the situation. This brings me back to my Belle & Sebastian earworm from earlier. It would appear just as English football history was resetted in 92 with the arrival of the Premier League, football history was restarted in Germany with the World Cup 2006. The barrage of items thrown at Hoeness when he visited in the 90s with Bayern is forgotten, likewise the scenes of St Pauli and Rostock players fighting for the ball in a penalty area where a flare is still bouncing across the pitch. The carnage of previous decades is ignored and, compared to those few quiet years after 2006, now every controversial incident (however moronic, unlucky, intended or not) is met with wild nashing of teeth and howls for greater security. The German public and it would appear much of the Gegengerade with it, believe football is going to to the dogs, and it’s the Ultras rather than individuals, or the hooligans of yesteryear, who are going to take the blame.

„…he doesn’t understand and he doesn’t try. He knows there is something missing and he knows it’s you and I. We’re the younger generation and we grew up fast. All the others did drugs. They’re taking it out on us…“

Spotted in town (Hamburg) part 2:

A few more snaps…

Spotted in town (Hamburg):

Or buying time in between all the traveling to finish my match report for Frankfurt ;-)

A beautiful winters day, coupled with some time off, meant I got to have a stroll along the harbour front on Monday.  A few sights…

No football this weekend as Im off to Berlin for some sightseeing, parties and looking for freedom ;-).  As such no Ingolstadt.  Instead I treat you to a few photos from St Pauli Reserves away at Meppen SV.  We tagged the trip out onto the back of Paderborn away on the Friday night and finished things up at Grand Hotel’s 4^th Birthday Bash in Osnabruck.

Meppen’s ground is pretty smart with a nice open terrace for away fans, surrounded by trees.  The weather didn’t really show it in its best light, as the rain fell in our beer and we used our outdoor gear to try and shelter lighters enough to smoke a cigarette.  Apart from the odd fasch bellend, the locals were very friendly.  Quite a few nice bits of streetart, including a very familiar letter S in some of the tags.  A connection?

Rather like the culture shock of those first few games in the North-West Counties with FC, we were taken aback by the kindness of the staff at Meppen.  Friendly stewards, friendly catering workers and barmaids bringing beer round the terrace for us too.

Meppen won the match deservedly in a very muddy affair, one goal to nil.