Wednesday 9 April 2008

Bundesliga - Day 27: German football traveling back in time

MSV Duisburg - FC Energie Cottbus 0:1
Hertha BSC - Werder Bremen 1:2
Eintracht Frankfurt - 1. FC Nürnberg 1:3
VfB Stuttgart - Hamburger SV 1:0
VfL Wolfsburg - Hannover 96 3:2
Arminia Bielefeld - Karlsruher SC 1:0
FC Schalke 04 - FC Hansa Rostock 1:0
Borussia Dortmund - Bayer Leverkusen 2:1
Bayern München - VfL Bochum 3:1

The past round of matches in the first and second division of German football saw things which seemed to be long forgotten in stadiums all across the country. In Frankfurt the Nuremburg supporters launched fireworks onto the pitch which earned them a game delay of a few minutes and the club a € 50.000 fine. In Cologne meanwhile the infamous Rhine derby between Borussia Mönchengladbach and 1.FC Cologne was played on Monday. Both teams are contenders for a promotion spot to the first division and therefore the confrontation was rather heated. To add fuel to the heat a few weeks earlier a flag was stolen from the M'gladbach Ultra group who then declared they were going to disband because of the shame. This very flag showed up in the section of the 1.FC Cologne fans at the end of the game and that send the emotions skywards. Fireworks were thrown onto the pitch from the M'gladbach side while the Cologne supporters happily ripped the flag to shreds. The game was called off for 5 minutes while some players from Mönchengladbach tried to calm down their supporters. All this came when Gladbach was leading 0-1 in a rather mediocre match. When the play resumed Cologne was rewared a penalty which shouldn't have been one and the game was tied 1-1. It stayed that way until the finakl whistle and the sirens of the police cars could be heard all through the city that night.
Now this all comes in a time when stadiums are family orientated facilities in which the customer (note: not the "fan") should enjoy himself in a friendly and pleasant environment. Not that I would encourage people to throw stuff onto the field and so on, but it's rather fascinating when the media and sponsors talk and show about the wonderful atmosphere in southern european stadiums with all there bengal lights and on the other hand they don't want that stuff in their own backyard. This ambigous approach can be frustrating at times.
On lower division news Fortuna Cologne finally came back to the winning side with a 2-1 win against GFC Düren last Friday. Here's the last goal by top striker and fan favourite Stasiulewski.

And if that wasn't enough you now even have the chance to have YOUR say in what happens with that very liekable club from the south side of Cologne. Yes, following the example of Ebbsfleet Utd and myfootballclub.co.uk Germany now is the next takeover target where fans can reclaim football. Fortuna Cologne takes part in www.deinfussballclub.de, where you can register and when you pay € 39.95/year you can decide on numerous things, jersey style, player acqusitions, etc. You name it. Take part, get active and help us get back to professional football.

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