Hertha Blog

Sticker City

12/19/2023

Berlin, like many others, is a city of stickers.

In some cities you will find very few of these totems of popular football culture and yet in others they thrive. In the Hertha fan scene there is a tribalism in placing stickers and in doing so fans marking territory in competition with rival fan groups. This is part of the fan culture in Berlin like many cities. The variety of stickers seen on road signs and lamp posts whilst wandering the streets of Berlin is truly astounding. Naturally some districts have more than others. You'll find many in Kreuzberg but perhaps not so many in Dahlem.

The slideshow below shows some of the Hertha stickers I have seen mostly in Berlin but also in Vienna, Bratislava, London and Brighton. It is by no means comprehensive but it gives a flavour of what is going on and what can be seen if you care to look.

Now I have a few Hertha flags painted on walls around the city . . .

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Hertha-Covid Blues!

2/15/2021

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It feels like an eternity ago but thirteen years ago I first came to Berlin on a city break. Straight away we fell in love with the city but more importantly, we went to our first Hertha game in the amazing Olympic Stadium. This visit to the Olympiastadion was a turning point in our lives, we were hooked!.

At first, I travelled to Berlin every two months and each time, my wife and I went to more Hertha games. The number of games we attended increased for a couple of years and for the last seven seasons, prior to Covid, my wife and I have had season tickets. We go to 15 out of 17 home matches every season. In doing all this I’m aware of the environmental consequences of so much travelling, and I’m not virtue signalling here (more feeling guilty), but I have used carbon offsets to minimise our environmental impact as far as I can.

With these regular trips to Berlin we spend over a quarter of our time in the German capital. Over the years we have brought many family members and friends to see Hertha play including my son and his soon to be wife. In this time Hertha and Berlin have become totally integrated into our lives and an essential part of it.

Through Twitter and Hertha we have made many wonderful friends both here in the city of Berlin but also from other countries such as: Canada, Sweden and Ireland who share our love of the Old Lady. Locally in Berlin we are members of the Axel Kruse Jugend fan club and we meet members before and after the games to discuss the highs and lows of Hertha’s progress over a beer or Gluhwein.

Sadly the coronavirus has made 2020/21 a difficult year for all football fans but has been pretty catastrophic for us. Our lives were punctuated by going to Berlin, football but also going to gigs and festivals in the UK but also on mainland Europe. Because of the pandemic we can no longer go to games and meet with our friends. There are people we haven’t seen for nearly a year now which is gut wrenching. Although I acknowledge that I have been very lucky to be able to spend so much time in Berlin, it makes it all the harder when it is ripped away. All the more so as events and friends drift further away with time.

Unfortunately I have underlying medical conditions that normally have no impact on my life but during the Pandemic they have meant that I have had to shield/quarantine for seven of the last eleven months and will have to continue until April 2021. Finding myself being: stuck at home, not allowed to work, not able go anywhere and not seeing any real people has been a bit of a departure. I like so many people desperately miss in the simple things of even being allowed to go into a shop, let alone a pub or a football game. The endless round of “Groundhog Days” tend to grind you down after a while. Naturally we keep in contact as best we can via Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp and the rest but, as I’m sure everyone must agree, it is very much not the same. I am moaning on here when everyone is in a boat, if not the same boat. But it’s OK because nobody will read this!

That brings me on to the joys of following The Old Lady. Obviously, I still follow Hertha via the Internet and TV and I have continued my English language podcast about Hertha with other international fans. Needless to say, having to record over Zoom / Zencastr and watch games on TV is not exactly ideal. The last few months of watching Hertha in empty stadia on the TV have done little to raise flagging spirits

The departure of both Michael Preetz and Bruno Labbadia was almost inevitable given the results in the last few weeks of their reign. Personally I have little attachment to Bruno although I bear him no ill will. Michal Preetz however has been a long-term servant of the club stretching back over twenty five years and that alone is rare these days deserves respect. Keeping his job in football through two relegations alone is an extraordinary feat. In the past he has made some excellent purchases for the team but clearly the Preetz/Labbadia combination had run its course and something had to change. Enter stage left everyone’s favourite Pal Dardai.

The first three games under Pal’s guidance could have gone better I guess but it takes time to settle into “new” ways of doing things. The three one score against Frankfurt perhaps makes it look worse than it was. We held our own for the first hour before Piątek put us in front much to everyone’s delight. The joy was short-lived however as Silva pulled one back for the home side almost immediately. Again Hertha held their own until the last five minutes when two were put past us with the last being in the ninetieth minute. This left Hertha with just two wins out of their last 12 Bundesliga matches.
Then Bayern came calling in the cold Berlin snow. Traditionally we have always played quite well against Bayern even if we end up loosing. This game was no exception. WE had an equal number of shots on target as it turns out although the visitors had their snow-boots on and held more of the possession. The points were lost due to a lucky goal by Kingsley Conman who’s shot deflected wildly off Niklas Stark bypassing Rune Jarstein and went in with the further assistance of the crossbar. I at least, felt this was an honourable defeat.

Lastly, we come to another snowy encounter, this time in Stuttgart. Although we had a brief glimpse of hope in the first few minutes when Cuhna passed the ball through to Dodi on the left driving towards the goal but he was forced out to the left and ended up shooting wide

After this Rune Jarstein was a busy lad and had to keep his wits about him throughout the first half. There were a string of shots against our goalincluding: hitting the side netting, wide, a diving one handed save by Jarstein, over the bar, wide again and finally the ball went in but, it was offside. Then it wasn’t according to VAR.

Somehow, they decided that Piątek’s foot extended half a metre further out and his knee dislocated to leave Kalajdžić onside.

That’s far simpler that it being Kalajdžić’s black glove, it's pretty obvious really.

The second half started in a similar vein but things started to change a little with Hertha substitutions at about sixty minutes in. Dardain put on Sami Kehdira and Nemanja Radonjic for the last thirty minutes for Sami’s 100th Bundesliga appearance. Shortly afterwards Cuhna successfully lobbed the keeper only to see it cleared off the line.

Then, with just eleven minutes to play Luca Netz came on for Maxi Mittelstädt and Mathew Leckie came on for Peter Pekarík. The introduction of Luca was a key change as it turned out as just three minutes later he scored to become Hertha's youngest Bundesliga scorer and the youngest defender to ever score a Bundesliga goal! Sure, he was lucky in that when the ball came over to him he mis-controlled it / had a lucky bounce that stranded the defenders and put him through on goal. Having said this, when it came to it he finished it, cool as you like, with a neat side foot into the goal.

The next game sees us greeting L€ipzig at home and we’ll see if we can save something from this Covid cursed season. Looking further ahead we can only hope that live sport will eventually return and we will be able to watch Hertha in the stadium through all the many highs and lows. I for one look forward to once again meeting wonderful, supportive, Hertha fans both old and new. Perhaps we will then wave goodbye to the Covid blues.

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What A Night That Was

11/5/2019

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I haven’t written a post for this blog for quite some time. This has been partly as a result of illness but also being a bit involved with the Don’t Mention The Fussball (DMTF) Podcast. I have been revived from this blogging slumber by the remarkable match played by Hertha in the second round of the DFB Pokal against SG Dresden on October 30th 2019.

I’m not going to dwell too long on the technicalities of the game but more on the atmosphere as the evening progressed. The background of the game was framed by the comparative closeness of Dresden to the Capital, the strength of their fanbase and the decision by Hertha to allow well over thirty thousand yellow clad Dynamo supporters into the Olympiastadion. The effect was almost like two sets of home fans facing each other across the stadium. There were rumours before the game that some fans of other clubs were going to infiltrate the crowd in order to make trouble, start fights and so on. Luckily, as far as I am aware, those fears proved to be baseless and the event passed peacefully and in a good natured fashion. These factors alone would have been an electrifying experience but the way the game unfolded it turned it into something quite extraordinary.

You really cannot say that the price of the ticket didn’t provide value for money. None of the normal 90 minutes of football . . . oh no! We “enjoyed” a full 120 minutes of football plus penalties (if you consider that a bonus). In terms of the goals they trickled in at regular intervals creating anguish and the relief not necessarily in that order.

The visiting fans thought the floodlights weren’t quite up to the job at decided to shed a little extra light on the proceedings.

The run of play started with Dynamo going ahead with a goal from Moussa Kone after 36 minutes and it was accompanied by the customary site of Hertha Fans burying their faces in their hands. Not all was lost however as the goal was followed by an equaliser from Dodi Lukebakio twelve minutes later. With just five minutes to go in the second half things were looking up as
Ondrej Duda slotted one home from the penalty spot! Happy days we thought, what can go wrong with just five minutes to go? With Hertha, five minutes is an eternity in which to mess things up. Sure enough at 90 minutes Patrick Ebert made it 2:2 and all square with Hertha faces disappearing into those hands once more.

On a cold October night in Berlin we with frost forming outside the stadium we had another thirty minutes of football to face. We were disappointed to had lost the lead but relieved we were still in the fight. Anxiety returned after 107 minutes when Luka Stor scored for the visitors and built up steadily as the clock ticked away.

It looked pretty grim at 120minutes to be honest and some misguided “fans” decided they would beat the rush to the train by leaving. How stupid was that? Our lad Jordan Torunarigha smashed in an equaliser on the 122nd minutes to make it penalties. I hate penalties but hey, we were still in the fight!

So, penalties . .

Patrick Ebert scores 0:1
Vedad Ibisevic scores 1:1
Sascha Horvath scores 1:2
Vladimir Darida scores 2:2
Janine Muller fails. 2:2. Thomas Kraft Saves!
Javairo Dilrosun scores 3:2
Moussa Kone scores 3:3
Karim Rekik fails (Oh my God - this can’t go wrong now!). 3:3
Luka Stor scores 3:4
Davie Selke scores 4:4
Kevin Ehlers fails 4:4 Thomas Kraft Saves again!!!
Marko Grujic scores!! 5:4

The Hertha Fans went mad, absolutely bonkers. It was a gruelling night of fan experience and it took it’s toll in terms of emotional energy and I suspect physical energy for the teams.both sides to be fair but will never understand those spectators leaving before the end. Sure it was late and it was cold (the cars were covered in from when we left the stadium) but to miss the final chapters of such an epic battle is crazy.

I made it home by about 02:00 and cracked open a beer to celebrate and thought - What a night that was!

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The Good, the bad and the ugly

10/31/2018

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The last few weeks have been a bit of a rollercoaster for Hertha. We’ve had some good times where we took Bayern by the scruff of the neck, gave them a shake and found very little falling out. A quite remarkable win at home against a team that has dominated recent Bundesliga seasons. The atmosphere in the Olympiastadion for that game was electric perhaps especially because nobody quite believed it was happening. In the first half in particular, Hertha bossed the champions and despite hanging on a little in parts of the second half they richly deserved the 2:0 victory. Good times indeed.

I want dwell on the details of that game as it was some time ago now but I thought it would be worth sharing a snapshot of how Hertha fans enjoyed the day.

Following on from the epic win against Bayern Hertha had what felt like bad times. Perhaps only bad when compared to the euphoria of match day six. Hertha had two draws firstly against Mainz and then Freiburg at home. To be honest although we picked up two valuable points the results felt like two losses. Perhaps that is nor fair but that’s the way it felt especially as our next appointment was with high flying Dortmund. The prospects certainly didn’t look good.

The impressive Signal Iduna Park (Westfalenstadion) was the venue for the encounter with the league leaders Dortmund. I guess nobody expected too much from this match but after taking all three points from Bayern a few weeks before hope was not absent by any means.

There were 80,000 or so supporters in the stadium for the game and some of those were to play a part in what would become an ugly period of match-day nine. Initially I will only address the events on the pitch but I will broaden my scope later on to include the “ugly”.

The early minutes were all Dortmund with Hertha defending for their lives however in the 8th minute Achraf Hakini blocked Duda on a counter attacking run and picked up a yellow in the process. A minute or so later Kalou won a duel to get the ball to Ibisivic who sadly lost the ball but it showed the home side wasn’t having it all their own way.
In the seventeenth minute Hertha fans had to yank their hearts out of their moths as the English rising star Jason Sancho slotted the ball into the net. The goal was disallowed however as the assist pass from Marco Reus came from an offside position albeit only just (by a foot). Nine minutes later Hertha were not quite so lucky however. A cross from Marion Gotze brought the English youngster into a shooting position with just Rekik left to defend against three yellow shirts. That was never going to end well and Jarstein was left with no chance and and no clean sheet.
With just five minutes to go before half time it was time for a little magic from Hertha this time. Maxi Mittlestadt picked up the ball deep in the Hertha half and ran equally deep into the home sides half before placing a great pass over to Kalou. The Ivorian did well to control the ball and get off a shot that proved to be clinical. We were all square again going in at half time.
In the second half we found a returning Darida come on to replace Skelbred who had pulled a muscle. Dortmund didn’t have it all their own way as Darida passes to Kalou but it was really high and he just couldn’t pull it down to get a shot away. A little later Lazaro passed ahead of Darida who slid in trying to get a shot away but again, he couldn’t control it and the ball headed skyward.
The home side had a string of chances which they would regret not taking but with sixty minutes remaining Marco Reus fired off a shot that Jarstein didn’t quite gather in and that man Sancho, just eighteen years old, was there to tap it in.
There was still drama to be enjoyed/endured in the remaining minutes. Some good blocks by the veteran Lustenberger but failed offside traps found Stark scuttling back to clear the ball after Jarstein was forced to parry to ball away. At the other end Selke forced a cracking save from Bürki and a blast from Kalou was blocked by Zagadou’s face! Perhaps Zagadou’s head was still spinning but be rashly fouled Selke in the box just a minute later and the penalty was correctly awarded. Salomon Kalou, calm as you like sent Bürki the wrong way and we were all square at 2:2 in the 91st minute. Strangely, after the two previous games ending in draws feeling like losses this third draw felt like a win. Good times again.

Now we come on to what only be described as the ugly.

As everyone knows the use of pyrotechnics in stadia in Germany is not permitted. It is also well known that they often are used. In this game one of the Hertha Ultra groups - "Hauptstadtmafia" had a 15 year anniversary banner across the front of the away block. At the start there was a choreographer and a number of pyros were set off. Even on the TV coverage the smoke from the pyros could be seen quite clearly.
A little later in the first half I gather that more pyros were set off and at this point the local Police intervened by starting to take down the banner at the front. They did this I gather as they believed more pyros were concealed behind the banner however, banners are a big deal to the ultras and it seriously escalated events.
As you can see to some extent in the video below (posted by "Mr Keim #81" on YouTube - a great clip btw) some ultras jumped down to try and prevent the Police removing the banner and violence ensued. Flares thrown, flag poles used as weapons and toilet facilities vandalised.
I must emphasise - none of this can, should or will be condoned. I believe violence and the wanton destruction of property has absolutely no place in football. Having said this, part of me thinks the police tactics did not help in this particular situation. That is not an excuse in any way and I don't pretend to know how, but if it had been handled differently perhaps nobody would have been hurt.

A post on Reddit allegedly a first hand account of the events was posted a few days later under the username - Mzehrer

"It started with the usage of pyrotechnics during the "Hauptstadtmafia" choreography. This is, as we all know, forbidden. I was directly in block 61, the main standing block, with my family and I felt at no time threatened by the pyrotechnics. The Ultra guys always take care while doing this. But officially is is not allowed. So police took action and moved in front of the the block, they tried to remove the choreo banner because they suspected more pyrotechnics that was hidden behind it. Removing banners or flags is not really deescalating, so some people jumped over the fence to prevent this. At this point things went out of hand and the police used pepper spray to get the situation under control. This was a very dangerous move and I felt very threatened! By doing this the police accepted that they could create a mass panic in a standing block with a few thousand people! Fortunately, everyone was very disciplined and it didn't happen. To sum things up, the police action was very unprofessional and dangerous. We regulary have pyrotechnics in the guest block of the Olympiastadion and there never was an escalation like this. Everything after this was the ususal chain of events in a violent escalation."

In my experience, when I've been near where people have let off pyros there was a lot of smoke but I, like Mzehrer, never felt in any danger as a result of them being used. I think I am correct in saying pyros were set off in various DFB Pokal games on the following Tuesday with no resultant injuries. In Dortmund there were 45 injuries and 35 of those resulted from pepper spray used in the police responce. To avoid such regrettable and indeed ugly scenes in the future perhaps both sides need to find some kind of middle ground. How to achieve that I think I'll leave that to cleverer people that me!

In the future I hope we can enjoy a little more of the "good" not so much of the bad and none of the ugly at all.

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Liking the new Hertha

10/1/2018

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I'm just going to jot down a few lines here in the short term as I'm a little busy at the moment. I have posted a couple of videos showing the atmosphere at the Bayern game just to keep my reader amused while I get my act together.

Apologies for the delay but enjoy the two videos. The atmosphere in the Olympiastadion for the 2:0 Hertha victory against Bayern was electric. Turning the lights out to allow peoples mobile phone "torches" to illuminate the stadium was pretty cool.

Here the celebrations start before the game is even over. A wonderful feeling and although it sounds a little cheesy, it was a honour to be there. Such a buzz.

More to follow . . . honest . .

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Here we go again

8/25/2018

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Well here were are, a week after Hertha’s started this years campaign with the first round DFB Pokal game in Braunschweig. Unless you count the World Cup we had been a long time without any football to watch and I for one was starting to develop nervous twitches as a result.
I was well prepared for the game with my new, larger Hertha flag flying off a pole on my garden fence (sorry Jan). I was at least mildly interested to see how some of the new signings would do. We have a lot of young talent in the squad now (the new guys having an average age of 20.6) but we also have experience with the likes Kalou and Ibisevic to help bring them along.

Exciting times and good to see the club looking forward within its budget.

The newcomers (and some not so new)

Valentino Lazaro (Right Winger) 22 5,850,000EUR
Pascal Köpke (Centre-Forward). 22. 1,800,000EUR
Lukas Klünter (Right-Back). 22 1,800,000EUR
Javairô Dilrosun (Left Winger) 20 Free
Dennis Jastrzembski (DJ) (Left Winger) 18 Free
Maurice Covic (Right Winger). 20 Free
Muhammed Kiprit (Centre-Forward). 18 Free
Dennis Smarsch (Goalkeeper). 19 Free
Marius Gersbeck (Goalkeeper). 23 Free
Marko Grujic 22 Loan
Derrick Luckassen 23 Loan

In Braunschweig Hertha started with a 3:4:3 formation with three at the back - Torunarigha, Rekik and Stark in front of Rune. Mittlestadt, Ibisevic and Kalou formed the front line. The game started quite slowly at first with Hertha trying to find their feet and gain control of the game but it didn’t take long before Rekik’s outstretched foot was needed to vitally block a goal bound shot. Shortly after this at the other end a cross from Lazaro found the Vedator’s head but he couldn’t keep it down and his header inched over the bar. Hertha kept up the attacking play as a chip over the top from Arne Maier reached Maxi Mittelstadt but he couldn’t keep his shot down and on target. This was a promising phase nonetheless.

Photos courtesy of Nico and Axel Kruse Jugend - thanks!

The breakthrough occurred when Braunschweig conceded a free kick on the right which that was taken by Lazaro who drifted the ball into a crowded box with people queuing up to attach the ball in the air. The Braunschweig keeper beat them all and gave the incoming ball a strong punch well out of the penalty area and he supposed, safety. He was wrong. The punch took the ball straight to Marvin Plattenhardt who struck the ball on the volley straight into the corner of the net giving the hapless keeper no chance. The goal was a thing go beauty and one Marvin will remember fondly to the end of his days I’m sure.
The lads went in at half time with the goal advantage and emerged afterwards without any changes to the lineup. Pal was sticking with what was winning formula for the moment at least. At one point there was a string of corners and near corner throw ins for Hertha. One of the throw-ins found Ibisevic on the near post and he nearly sneaked it in only to be denied by a one handed save.
Things then started to hot up and a shot from Braunschweig was blocked by Touranarigha’s back as he faced towards the goal. I’m not sure what he was looking at back there but his back was certainly in the right place at the right time to block the shot. In the 75th minute Dardai made his first change and it was to turn out later to be an eventful one as the youngster Dennis Jastrzembski (DJ) came on to replace Kalou. This was DJ’s first professional game and one I’m sure he’ll remember for a while (like Marvin Plattenhardt). The change however did nothing to end a nervy period for Hertha as another shot from the second division team was only kept out by the post. Things went a little pear shaped in the 81st minute when a pass from the half way line found Mergim Fejullahu who danced around four Hertha layers turned and shot beating Jarstein in the process.
It would have been easy for Hertha to have the wind taken out of their sails at this point but they showed good character and rallied straight away. A chip over the top from Duda in midfield found the fresh legs of DJ running into the box. In his first professional game finding himself in this position many players would have just swung their leg at it but DJ was disciplined in his approach and clinical in his delivery. He put the ball across the goal in front of Vedad Ibisevic who was already sliding in and the Vedator studded the ball into the open net.
An impressive display especially for the Dennis Jastrzembski and marvelous Marvin put Hertha into the second round of the Pokal to play away in Darmstadt in late October.

Five days later came the opening match of the Bundesliga season against FC Nurnberg. I think I read somewhere that 55 years earlier Hertha faced FC Nürnberg in their very first Bundesliga game when the league was first created. Putting history aside in some ways the game was overshadowed by a massive fan relationship gaff that I’ll go into after I jot a few things down about the game itself.
Hertha started with the same 3:4:3 formation that Pal Dardai used in the cup game earlier in the week - “if it ain’t broke - don’t fix it” the saying goes. The opening half hour saw some early half chances for Hertha with a corner from Plattenhardt nearly finding Torunarigha but Jordan couldn’t quite get hold of it. Then came a sight fairly high on the bizarre scale as Stark took out the Nurnberg manager with a sliding tackle. Don’t think I’ve ever seen that before - another Hertha first!
Nürnberg did come back a few times but never really created any serious threats and shots on target were easily taken by Jarstein. The breakthrough in this game came in the 27th minute and again involved Lazaro who is proving such a key player. In this instance Kalou passed the ball to Lazaro who proceeded to skip and turn his way past his covering defender and get away a killer pass to an unmarked Ibisevic who promptly tapped in his second goal of the season. There was a claim by a Nürnberg player that Ibisevic trips him in the midfield prior to the goal and it was taken to VAR but he’d just tripped over his own feet and the goal was given.
Hertha went in at half time, like the cup game a goal up but you can never feel secure with just one goal. There were a few more chances for Hertha to finish it off including a pass from Plattenhardt to Stark to headed it towards the goal only to be beaten by a fine save from a full stretch goal keeper. At the other end Jarstein blocked another shot on his near post to keep the one goal lead. One notable substitution was made as Dennis Jastrzembski became the first player born in this century to play for Hertha in the Bundesliga! (Makes you feel old doesn’t it?). He has also been named in the U19 Germany squad to play against Switzerland and Slovenia - quite a week for the lad!
Then a controversial call to award a penalty to Nürnberg was made. Allegedly Rekik handled the ball when it was stuck towards him in the box but it wasn’t a penalty for me.
The second great drama, arguably the third, was Rune Jarstein facing his fellow Scandinavian Mikael Ishak on the penalty spot. Perhaps it wasn’t the best penalty in the world but it was hit hard and strong. Not strong enough and Rune saved it and I nearly burst my lungs roaring my delight!

It stayed 1:0 and Hertha’s first three points in the bag for this season I was able to come home a happy fan, well, mostly. The spanner in the works was aforementioned fan relationship gaff from the powers that be at the club. It all came to light, on the night before the game against FC Nürnberg and fans had a little bit of a shock. It appears unnamed individuals from Hertha informed the umbrella organisation for the Ostkurve (Förderkreis-Ostkurve) that they were going to change the format of the pre-kickoff build up. Instead of finishing with everyone singing the traditional “Nur nach Hause” before the kick off they would blast out a track by Seeed over the PA system. It would appear that there was no consultation with the fan groups about this. The change was just passed on to members as one small paragraph in the new season e-mail the night before the first game and, over the phone to the Ultra groups.
So, before the Nürnberg game but well before the kick off, Frank Zander stood front of the Ostkurve and led the singing of the traditional Hertha song “Nur nach Hause”. This was all very fine and dandy with the fans enthusiastically singing along. All was as it should be. Then before kick off the PA system kicked in blasting out “Dickes B” by Seeed. Needless to say the fans carried on singing their anthem - “Nur nach Hause”. In my opinion at least, it all sounded pretty awful. To be fair, I hate the PA system at the best of times but when it’s trying to drown out our own fans?
Sure “Dickes B” is about Berlin but you can’t just dump that on a few tens of thousand football fans without any real notice (let alone consultation) and expect them to like it. That, was never going to happen. I can’t say “Nur nach Hause” is exactly my all time favourite as a song but hey, like it or not, it is the Hertha anthem and, to be fair it is pretty easy to sing along to. If they wanted to play the Speed track fine, just finish off with the traditional anthem.
On the face of it this appears a strange way to run a club. It felt like the powers that be feel the need to do something really stupid to really annoy the fans every year. When the club is trying all sorts of things to fill seats in the Olympiastadion antagonising it’s existing fanbase in this way only serves to shoot themselves in the foot with a giant blunderbuss. So far we have only heard one side of the story of course but the heavy handed way in which it appeared to have been done has only made it worse. I really don’t understand what’s got into their tiny little brains - absolutely crazy in my opinion.
A couple of days later Hertha announced that they’ll be working closely with Frank Zander and we’ll be singing the traditional anthem. Was it all just a really annoying publicity stunt? Who knows. Whatever the rational it is clear, this season, the Old Lady s going to provide the usual roller coaster ride of: thrills, spills, disappointments and in terms of our reactions to the actions of the “powers that be” in the club, disbelief. So, here we are Hertha fans and - here we go again!

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Winning isn't everything

5/15/2018

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There is a long voiced saying that “it’s not the winning , it’s the taking part hat’s important”. The last two games have not gone completely to plan (and certainly didn’t involve any winning on our part) but I did take part in the end of season fan march to the Olympiastadion. In response to these recent experiences with Hertha that I am trying to convince myself that there is a substantial degree of truth to this old saying.
The last two games of the season started with a trip down the road to visit Hannover ’96 and finished with a fizzy pop franchise coming to Berlin from Leipzig. I was feeling fairly optimistic about playing in Hannover after our win in Frankfurt and a promising comeback against Augsburg. It just going to show a Hertha fan should never let optimism get the better of them.
Pal Dardai started with the traditional 4231 formation with Selke up front and Kalou, Lazaro and Leckie in support. As is often the case, Hertha got of to a promising start by putting together some nice passing and combinations however, the result however was all too familiar as Kalou’s shot lacked both power and accuracy as it drifted past the right post.
The home side were not as wasteful however and in the sixteenth minute the rot started to set in. Darida lost the ball in the middle of the park and the ball was put forward and headed on to an onside Hamik with Hertha’s defence frantically scrambling back. The defence was too late and Jarstein was left stranded by the left footed shot and 1:0 it was.

With only five minutes of the first half to play a free kick from Schwegler found Sané with no Hertha defender hear by and he headed it home for Hannover’s second. The nail in the coffin came just two minutes later from Füllkrug who’s shot blasted in between Jarstein and the post left Hertha everything to do in the second half. It would take quite some team talk from Pal Dardai to bring the Blue and Whites back from this in the remaining forty five minutes.
We had to wait nearly thirty five minutes for the consolation goal when Darida flicked on the ball to Davie Selke who blasted in a shot in a way remarkably similar to that of Füllkrug for Hannover in the first half. There was another late chance for Selke just before the end but it drifted wide. As a result there’ll be no European football for Hertha next year even though that was always going to be a bit of a long shot. That left us one last game against Germany’s favourite team RB Leipzig.

Part of the build up to the closing game of the season was a march through the west of the city towards the Olympiastadion. It was intended to demonstrate the tradition of Hertha as opposed to the purchased progression of the days opponent. There were shirts on sale showing the blue and white stripes traditional to the club which really made an impact in the Ostkurve when so many fans were wearing the traditional colours.
The following film was recorded during the march and contains a string of clips put together to give a flavour of the event. Some have criticised the filming of such events but I guess different people celebrate their club in different ways and in my case I prefer to share the passion with those who cannot be there in some cases through no fault of there own. Make of it what you will.

I really enjoyed the march. For me it was a mixture of: being amongst fellow fans and good friends, celebrating the close of another season, wearing blue and white, singing and being able to share in some way that feeling.

After meeting a few friends we went into the stadium feeling pretty buoyant. The good cheer was helped on in the stadium fan shop where some old stock t-shirts were being sold off for five Euros which was a real bargain if you happened to want those particular shirts. The party feel of the day extended to our going our places in the stadium and for the first few seconds of the match itself. In the second minute a Leipzig corner whipped in from the right into the centre to be greeted by Upamecano jumping a head above Leckie. The ball sailed in (brushing Jarstein’s finger tips) but our hearts only sank. This was going to be a long game we thought but in the fourth minute it was Hertha’s turn to have a corner and the Vedator was there to stroke it in with his head scoring his first goal in open play since November last year.

In the seventh minute Leipzig struck again. This time it was the turn of English winger Ademola Lookman who produced a clinical finish seeking inside Jarstein’s post to make it 1:2. I wasn’t sure my nerves could take ninety minutes of this!
Before half time Lookman was involved again slipping a pass through to Augustin who unleashed a shot which looked like it was being well covered by Jarstein but appearances can, and in this case were deceptive as the ball bounced through his hands and into the net. One of those facepalm moments for us all and into the half time break already two goals down.
The second half optimism was almost as short lived as the first half. This time it was everyone’s favourite Timo Werner who created a clinical finish past the outstretched Jarstein and the ball was in the Hertha net a fourth time. A lesser mortal would have started to get worried when just five minutes later Jarstein’s net bulged again from Augustin’s strike but we Hertha fans are made of stronger stuff than that (we have to be), Augustin ended with a brace and Leipzig a four goal lead but hey we still had thirty five minutes to play right?
A small highpoint was when Julian Schieber was brought on to replace Pekerik for his last run out in blue and white. He received a warm welcome with shouts of SCHIEBER . . . SCHIEBER! As a Hertha fans we have to be grateful for small mercies.
We did have one more thing to celebrate before the end of play as our very own Salomon Kalou picked up a consolation goal by crashing home a close range header from Plattenhardt’s cross. It was all wrapped up in the 82nd minutes as the substitute Bruma produced a wonderful finish curling around over Jarstein and inside is left hand post. This was not Hertha’s finest hour and yet I still left escaping the customary gloom after such a loss.
That little voice may say that “it’s not the winning , it’s the taking part hat’s important” but the occasional win is quite nice. Hey, there is always next season.

Until next season

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The sun setting on the season

5/1/2018

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Hertha now have just two games to play in the 2017/18 season against Hannover ’96 and then the fizzy drinks company on the last day. Before these last two games Hertha came up with some thrills, then spills and finally a creditable fightback to keep their fans on the hook.

I’m not sure I expected too much from a trip away to Frankfurt to be honest but for once I was pleasantly surprised! After a few early scares Hertha settled into the game quite nicely. Before they managed this they made it pretty clear they have a bit of an issue with sloppy back-passes. Firstly Leckie and then Rekik made blunders in this department that could so, so easily resulted in a goal that could/would have changed the complexion of the game almost completely. The second from Rekik was only kept out by the bar.

Then it started going our way when Selke came down in the box and after the ref. Looked at the screen gave a penalty that very pumped up Davie slotted and then ran to the fans clutching his Hertha badge.

There was a shout for a penalty at the other end as Per Skjelbred looked a little like he was holding on to a Frankfurt player . . . but it wasn’t given.

In the 59th minute Kalou came on for Duda and perhaps this was a pivotal move as in the 77th minute Salomon slotted a beautifully weighted pass to Mathew Leckie (who was not offside) who ran on to slot the second. Salomon then went on the assist the clincher by demonstrating superb skill in dribbling and then turning to provide the pass to Esswein who had come on to replace Davie Selke. Winning by three goals away - job done, three points thank you very much!

The penultimate home game of the season saw Berlin bathed in glorious sunshine Hertha fans were basking in long awaited heat. After the excitement in Frankfurt surely this would be another hum-dinger? There appeared to be quite a few British tourists attending this particular game and they too were looking forward to sampling the delights of the Bundesliga and the support shown by its loyal fans. I spent a bit of time before the game chatting to a coupling of Manchester City fans who were out for a couple of days but were going back to watch their team then next day. I didn’t catch your names but I hope you enjoyed the game!

Well, what can I say, despite the lovely weather did not go quite to plan. There were the normal early scares for Hertha culminating in yet another near catastrophic back pass. This time the culprit was Per Skjelbred and the disaster was only prevented by an alert Rune Jarstein.

Then in the 32nd minute disaster did strike. A truly horrendous defection left Jarstein totally wrong footed and the ball bounced int the net leaving us a goal down. Just under half an hour later things got even worse as the blue nosed Stark was beaten in the box allowing Cordova to get his shot away and close range and our net bulged one more.

A few minutes after this second goal Dardai threw the dice one, last and decisive time by taking off Skjelbred and the tiring Kalou and brought on a stronger strike force in the form of Vedad Ibisevic and his on Palko Dardai for his Bundesliga debut. Thirteen minutes later Selke was brought down in the box and the Vedator converted it. Game on after all it appeared. Then just four minutes later Pekarik passed the ball forward from the right wing to find Ibisevic who headed it on to find Selke. Hewasn’t going to miss a chance like that and with just three minutes of normal time left we were back on even terms. But they, it wasn’t going to be.

During this season this has been the eighth time Hertha have come back from being at least one goal to remain undefeated. Clearly it’s not good we are conceding those goals but it speaks volumes about our fighting spirit, So after this glorious day in Berlin the sun may have been going down we could make our way home with a little of it’s glow in our hearts.

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A man of his word

4/15/2018

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On the way to the Olympiastadion yesterday the TV in underground train had a report about Hertha’s Davie Selke. It made reference to the length of time since he last scored (667 minutes of playing time) and that he would break the goal drought against the beleaguered FC Koln. We lived in hope as we arrived at the stadium on a day that was not quite as pleasant as the weather forecasters had us believe.

There was I in my shirt and shorts as drizzle started to fall on fans standing outside at a bar before the game. I for one was hoping Pal Dardai’s plan for the game ran more smoothly than clothing choices for the day!

After a little pyro display from the listing Köln fans the game started well enough with an attacking formation of 4.4.2 with both Ibisevic and Selke up front.

There were some early chances coming Hertha’s way with one in the opening seconds where Selke kicked the ball downwards and Kalou managed to get in a diving shot on the volley which was only saved by Timo Horn’s fingertips.
Then, just before the half hour mark, it was our hearts doing the Titanic again. Positional errors and lack of speed from Mitchel Weiser saw Bittencourt onside and charging towards goal with our right back in pursuit. He didn’t make it in fact he came closer to taking out Jarstein and the ball ended up in out net. Both the team and the crowd were taken aback by this, even for Hertha, unexpected turn of events. It took a while and the half time break to bring back Hertha fighting.
The defensive mistake was replaced by Matthew Leckie and the feel of the game changed from the subdued period before half time. The breakthrough came just a few minutes after the restart in the 49th minute when a poor clearance from the Köln defence fell to Marvin Plattenhardt who crossed the ball to the goal starved Davie Selke who crashed the ball into the net breaking what was by now a 716 minute goal drought. Relief and jubilation in equal measure spread through the crowd like a forest fire in pure Oxygen. The second and ultimately the winning goal followed a similar format with Plattenhardt putting in a cross and Selke being there to confidently put it away to claim a brace for the club and secure Hertha’s 1000th home goal with one swing of the boot. Here we were in mid April and this was the first home victory of 2018 and 122 days. Hertha fans are patient souls, they have to be.

So, Davie Selke said he would score against Köln before the game and he was true to his word.

A short video clip showing the support firstly before the game and then afterwards when fans and team celebrate the long anticipated home victory.

Just a bit of fun with time lapse filming after the game . . .

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Fog on the Spree

4/8/2018

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Another day and another match saw Hertha returns to the Olympiastadion on a damp, dark night to face the visiting VfL Wolfsburg an match day 28. The goal drought discussed in my last post was long over thanks to the points provider in Hamburg as a result fans were looking forward to some entertainment and hopefully some more points.

The weather made it a pretty miserable night to be honest and kicking off at 20:30 hours on Easter weekend did little to help the turnout. A shade under 35,000 made it to the stadium to support Hertha which left a few echos rattling around the Olympiastadion but the kurve still sang and did their thing.

On the night the Old Lady started with a 4231 formation with Vedad Ibesivic up front. It wasn’t all bad and I don’t recall Rune Jarstein being seriously challenged although he came scarily close to gifting the visitors a goal. With what would have been a real shocker had he not recovered the situation in the last second.

There were some nice passages of play with passes being strung together and some great pieces of individual skill from the likes of Leckie and Maier. However some of the long ball passes went woefully astray including some clangers from Maxi Mittelstädt that killed any possibility of a successful attack/counterattack. It appeared the team were missing the input from Plattenhardt and Lazaro.

It was not the most impressive game I had ever witnessed I think it’s fair to say. You never know who’s going to turn up when Hertha come out to play. The long awaited end to the goal drought during the Hamburger SV away game (448 minutes) with goals from Lazaro (voted Bundesliga “Rookie of the month” for March) and Kalou did not result in Hertha raining goals.

The closest of the goal scoring opportunities came from a shot from Maxi Mittelstädt from the edge of the box that the Wolsfburg keeper only just got down to in time.

The one saving grace of this goalless, dark, wet rather miserable night was the fact it was “supplemented” by a little pyro display put on by the visiting supporters. I guess they wanted to block out the superior support in the Ostkurve with the smoke. A few photos as a picture paints a thousand words . . . or so they say.

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Sticker City

Hertha-Covid Blues!

What A Night That Was

The Good, the bad and the ugly

Liking the new Hertha

Here we go again

Winning isn't everything

The sun setting on the season

A man of his word

Fog on the Spree

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