Two Games in Four Days Part 2 - Bayern

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.