Hertha Blog

Two Games in Four Days Part 2 - Bayern

4/25/2016

Just a few days after the semi-final defeat to Dortmund Hertha faced (like it or not) the strongest team in the Bundesliga by a country mile. The result may have been similar but with the Olympiastadion sold out to a capacity crowd (76,233), the mix was going to be quite different.

The atmosphere outside the ground was still fairly upbeat although the number of red shirts was pretty in your face.

I’m not sure who thought it was a good idea to dress a man up as a cow to promote quark bars made in Spandau but hey – it took your mind off the prospect of Bayern securing the title in Berlin (again).

Hertha started playing with a heart and passion which was sadly missing on Wednesday and for the first twenty minutes or so they were all over Bayern like a rash! Some of the possession figures that were put up on the screen saying Bayern had 67% of the ball didn’t feel like that had any footing in reality in my opinion buy hey, it’s balls in the back of the net that count in the end. There were a couple of handball shouts for Hertha against Bayern but I haven’t seen the replays of these. Anyway, they were not given so they don’t count for much in the end either.

The thing I would like to have a rant about is the number of “Bayern Fans” that appeared out of the woodwork to come to this match. They were scattered all over the stadium in varying degrees of Bavarian traditional garb. How many of them came from even the vague vicinity of Munich however is a matter of at least speculation if not debate.

I saw on the S-Bahn on the way to the match what appeared to be a father and son with the son having a Bayern drinks bottle in the side pocket of what looks like his school rucksack. To be fair, if not generous, the father could be a proud Bavarian keen to pass on his heritage to his son although they now live in Berlin. Alternatively it could be easier to follow a team that wins most of the time and be spared to pain of defeat.

The same happens in other countries to be fair, certainly in England with young people following teams that do well. You only need to look at the number of Manchester United fans who have never been anywhere near Manchester. OK United have fallen on comparative hard times now but when they were winning people all over the country and indeed the world ignored their local teams to “celebrate” the victories of them as a winning team. This is not support; they are not “fans”. They do not follow and continue to support that team down to the foot of the table and beyond. They lose interest when they are not assured a win every game. They do however turn up when the winning team, in this case Bayern, appears on their doorstep.

All this is not to say there was no support for Hertha just a few days after the superb display put on for the DFB Pokal Semi-Final. That would be a gross distortion of the truth as there was still the singing, chanting, drums and scarves held high.

It was more that even this was tainted by the presence of so many red shirts and, in my opinion, that so many of them were just glory hunters rather than true fans. It may be totally irrational but that really bugs me about Bayern and similar clubs from other countries come to that.

We need more Hertha fans to turn up to matches and those that already come to not be shy about showing their colours on the day. How you achieve that, well, that’s the thing isn’t it. Let’s hope the club management have a cunning plan.

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Two Games In Four Days Part 1 - Dortmund

4/21/2016

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The evening of Wednesday the 20th of April 2016 saw some wonderful weather here in Berlin to greet the long anticipated DFB Pokal semi-final in the Olympiastadion.

Ticket sales had gone through the roof right from the first day so a huge crowd was expected right from the word go. None of them appeared to have gone to waste as fans arrived by S-Bahn, U-Bahn, car, bus and even bike to enjoy the fine spring weather and the hospitality of the Olympiastadion.

Well what can I say about the DFB Pokal semi-final between Hertha and Borussia Dortmund? I’m afraid on this occasion our boys were outclassed and the better team one. In terms of the support however quite the reverse was the case.

Berliners came out in force to support their team as 76,233 supporters poured into the Olympic Park from far and wide making the Olympiastadion a sea of blue and white. Hertha had provided a special flags for the fans commemorating the event and gave spectators unaccustomed to twirling scarves the chance to show the team colours!

When I first went into the stadium itself a sizable number of hard core fans were already in the Ostkurve and were drumming and singing with gusto. To give some perspective on the depth of support for this team my arrival was some hour and a half before kick-off and the atmosphere was already buzzing. The YouTube clip below gives just a small sample.

Timed for when the Hertha team came onto the pitch the ultras had prepared a Choreo that (as it turned out) one of the best shots of the match.

It was great to see it unfold as a few tens of thousands fans pulled mobile phones out of their pockets to take photos (including mine!)

Once the time for some football to be seen came there was no fall off in terms of the support. In fact the tempo picked up with flags flying, scarves in the air and vocal chords on overtime. Just awesome – Sha la la la la la la Hertha BSC!

Even when all was lost and the DFB Pokal final dream was finally over the atmosphere did not fizzle out. There were some that left early (there always are) but who cares about them? Certainly not me! As the team approaches the Ostkurve the fans that that started over three hours before were still going.

Believe it or not, there are those that question the support for football in Berlin . . . I know its weird isn’t it.

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Why So Many Empty Seats?

4/15/2016

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When the Olympiastadion in Berlin is full to capacity it is a thing of beauty. The origins of the architecture may be from a darker time in German history but the designs lent heavily on those of antiquity. The Greeks and the Romans knew a thing or two about building to impress and the parallels between this stadium and the Colosseum in Rome are hard not to notice.

A casual observer could be excused for thinking that Hertha’s average attendances of over 45,000 appears pretty high after all they are higher than most English Premier League clubs and solid mid table when it comes to the Bundesliga as well.

However, the problem lies in the sheer size of the Olympiastadion. The architecture may be truly magnificent but it can hold upwards of 74,000 spectators and so, with the average attendance some areas of the stadium inevitably remain empty. The average percent capacity of the ground is just 61%. It’s not the number or enthusiasm of fans that attracts comment as they are pretty vocal as I have shown in many, many previous posts.

Eye brows are raised by the empty seats rather than the Hertha faithful who turn up week in, week out. This particularly attracts comment when Hertha is the only 1.Bundesliga club representing Germany’s capital city which has a population of approximately four million and by far the largest city in the country. Needless to say it is not quite as simple as it first appears.

Berlin may be the capital but it was devastated during WW2 and many of its inhabitants were either killed or fled. Most other cities in Germany also suffered massive damage during this time but Berlin remained divided to varying degrees for over 40 years and this long division did little to encourage people to stay so many native Berliners continued to leave.

Although the wall came down twenty six years ago the population of Berlin has still, even now, not reached the levels it was in 1939. Thanks for the History lesson I hear you say but what’s has this got to do with Berlin’s football?

The replacement of the city’s population that has occurred has mostly been brought about by the large numbers of people who, for a variety of reasons, have moved into the city rather than being “true natives”. For some Berlin has been seen as the home of musicians, artists and alternative culture and for many it still is. During the days of the wall this was perhaps fed by the exemption from service in the military for young people. Perhaps this is now starting transform into colonies of hipsters in certain areas of the city but that is perhaps a story for another time.

Now there is a different type of influx in the form of waves of new “start-up companies” especially in high tech areas opening in Berlin. This is great for employment in the city and is something it really does need. However although this surge of young, individualistic newcomers into the city may have, and will continue to, swell its population even those who do have an interest in football will bring with them loyalties to other teams from their home regions and are unlikely to start following the “old Lady”. People do not change loyalties so easily when it comes to their teams and nor should they to be fair. Combine this with the glory hunters following the likes of Bayern and the increasing population of Berlin does little to swell the ranks of the Hertha fan base.

Where does this leave Hertha BSC?
There has been much chatter in the media and social media in the lead up to, and following the international break about Michael Preetz’s thinking out loud about an exit from the Olympiastadion. The the current lease in the venu I believe expires in June 2017. The talk has been of a brand new albeit smaller stadium (that can be filled week in week out) without a running track between fans and the pitch. I believe the development would also be incorporating hotel and conference facilities.

I’ll lay my cards on the table here – I love the Olympiastadion. You may be able to fill a smaller stadium and yes, you would be closer to the pitch it’s true but, no modern stadium could dream of carrying the same gravitas held by the Olympiastadion. The atmosphere in being able to wander around building this magnificent building before matches adds so much weight and character to the event. Even little things like being able to walk around the concourse and look down on the assembling crowd is wonderful. In my humble opinion the Olympiastadion is our home, where Hertha belongs and has done for over fifty years.

It would appear I am not totally alone in this as you can see.

Apologies to the owner of the photograph above but it was all over social media following the Hannover match and I have no idea as to its origins. A great capture whoever you are – thanks!

If I put my misgivings about leaving the Olympiastadion to one side for a moment and look at the prospect of building a new one there are still problems.

With any property development the key is: location, location and location. Just where could they build this new stadium? The current site is comparatively central and has really good transport links via S-Bahn and U-Bahn. Tempelhofer field is just not going to happen and there has been talk of it being built further out in Brandenburg somewhere. Out in the sticks? Really??
Second to location we have: money, money and money! Where is the money coming from? Some of the figures being bandied about are two to three hundred million Euros - truly astronomical numbers. Berlin City is not going to help with a project like this and why should they to be fair. Hertha has had a great season in 2015-16 but it has been just one season so far. What investor is going to take a risk like this without somebody paying through the nose – probably Hertha

So, if it were to happen we may end up out in the country next to a cow shed somewhere having signed a pact with the devil to finance it (assuming they could find a devil daft enough to agree to a deal).

In summary do I care about those empty seats? No is the answer. I am there, the Hertha faithful are there and the Ultras generate a cracking atmosphere even on those days with disappointing attendances. It leaves plenty of room for casual visiting football fans and tourists who are potential new Hertha fans to come and see what the Bundesliga has to offer. In my opinion, if you don’t like seeing empty seats then don’t look at them.

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Three points against Hannover surely?

4/11/2016

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I’m not even going to try and think about, let alone mention the “M word match”. That is going to be cast into the dark pages of Hertha history and put at the bottom of a particularly dusty pile of history books in the corner of a forgotten library somewhere.
Back to Berlin and although I was still in shock after the “M word match” I was quietly confident (along with most Hertha fans) that Hertha could bounce back against bottom place Hannover 96 and keep on track for European football next season.
When we arrived at the Olympiastadion it felt fairly quiet and I was slightly concerned that people had stayed away following “M”. As it turned out there was a turnout of over 45,000 although I’m not sure where they all were before the game!

Even before going into the stadium you could see there was going to be another glorious sunset in the west of Berlin. As the sun went down under the horizon above the May Field you could see the huge marques being erected on the field. One heck of a beer tent . . . . I’m assuming they are going to be used for the DFB Pokal final in a few weeks.

As the teams came out it became evident that the support was going to be strong on the day and the Hertha faithful were determined to lift their team after recent events. To be fair, the away fans were having a pretty good go at it bearing in mind the dreadful season they have had accumulating only 17 points over 28 games. Credit where it’s due though, it’s nice to see real loyal support like that.
The game got off to a lightning start and when, after just four minutes, Marvin Plattenhardt whipped in a cross from the left touchline to Vedad Ibisevic skipping over the ball and clipping it into the net the crowd went mad! High fives all around and dreams of 6:0 didn’t look quite so crazy. However, Beck nearly spoiled the party just a few minutes later. It was all a bit of a mess really with Stark being in front of Jarstein as the shot came in – jumping to head the ball over – missing the header and leaving Rune to take the slightest of chances to save as came over. Just fourteen minutes after Vedad's goal a back heel followed by a quick short pass just left Artur Sobiech to put it away and the stadium's collective heart sank.

Going in at half time it could have been worse with 45 to put things to rights although I for one was feeling a little nervous. Things became really brown and steamy on 58 minutes when Hannover scored again off the post and if it were not for a few million tons of concrete 40,000 Hertha hearts would have hit ground level. The newly found fighting spirit of Hertha kicked in however and Pal Dardai put on Julian Schieber as well as Kalou and Ibisevic to hunt down the equaliser if not a winner. It would be a harsh critic indeed to say he way faint hearted!

His bravery was rewarded in in 72nd minute, just after Schieber was put on when his cross found Kalou and the equaliser found the back of the net. Try as they may the winner just didn’t come and Hertha’s third place lay in the hands of others on Saturday and Sunday. The people from “M” obliged by losing to Ingolstadt which was very sporting of them I thought. Mainz only picked up a single point whilst on Sunday Schalke did what Schalke does and only came away with one point. Leverkusen however came away from Koln 2:0 up and just one point behind Hertha. Perhaps of more concern is the fracture to Vedad Ibisedic’s face that may, or may not prevent him travelling to Hoffenheim. As always, time will tell but come what may get better soon Vedad!

As a footnote on the subject of a new stadium the Ultras on the Ostkurve made their thoughts pretty clear –

Hertha & Olympiastadion
Unser Verein – Unsere Heimat!
Hertha - Our Club        Olympiastadion - Our Home!
I’m with them on that one! More about that in a later post.

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Two Games in Four Days Part 2 - Bayern

Two Games In Four Days Part 1 - Dortmund

Why So Many Empty Seats?

Three points against Hannover surely?

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