Hansa Rostock

DKB-Arena (Capacity: 29.000)

Hansa Rostock - VfL Bochum (2:2, 3:5p) (DFB Pokal, 1st Rd)
1:0 Janicke (36.), 1:1 Aydin (52.), 2:1 Kostal (55.), 2:2 Ginczek (72.)

Attendence: 12.700
Cost: 17 Euro
Programme: Kogge (1 Euro)

Lining up for ticktes

 

Not what you'd call an orderly line-up for food & drinks

 

The 2 inches of rain prior to the match wasn't enough

 

Kick-off time

 

Any sign of advertising was removed

 

The away fans

 

Time for a show of scarves

 

There was plenty of rain during the match!

 

Bochum celebrating the win after the penalty shootout

 

Plenty of merch available

 

Stadium looks good at night

CLUB HISTORY: (wiki)
F.C. Hansa Rostock is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the former East Germany and have made several appearances in the 1. Bundesliga. Rostock currently compete in the 2. Bundesliga after finishing 2nd in the 3. Liga during the 2010–11 3rd Liga season, earning promotion.
The club was established on 1 November 1954 as the multi-sport Sportclub Empor Rostock. The football squad, however, couldn't be recruited from local Betriebssportgemeinschaften like the squad of the handball section, so a transfer of BSG Empor Lauter's squad from Lauter to Rostock was considered. The area around Lauter, near the Czech border, was well-represented in East German football by competitive sides including Wismut Aue, Fortschritt Meerane and Motor Zwickau, so politician Karl Mewis ordered the re-assignment of the footballers of Empor Lauter, over the futile protests of the team's local supporters, to Rostock. This was not an uncommon occurrence in East German football, as clubs were regularly re-named, re-structured, dismantled, or shuffled from city to city at the direction of well-placed communist officials.

The wholesale transfer of the Lauterers to Rostock part way through the 1954–55 season led to the disappearance of that association from play. A new club was formed in 1956 as BSG Motor Lauter and on 1 August 1990 it took up the tradition of the original side to play as Lauterer Sportverein Viktoria 1913.
Newly formed SC Empor Rostock took the place of the former Lauter-based club in first division play in November 1954. They finished second the next season, but in 1956 plunged to 14th place and were relegated. They quickly bounced back, rejoining the DDR-Oberliga in 1958, before going on to become a very competitive side with a series of three vice-championships to their credit from 1962–1964, as well as several appearances in the final of the FDGB Pokal. The re-organization of East German sports in 1965 led to the association's football department becoming independent as Fußball Club Hansa Rostock, which was designated as one of the country's 11 football clubs, "focus clubs" intended to groom talent for the development of a strong East German national side. The new club's name acknowledged Rostock's history as one of the major trading centres of northern Europe's Hanseatic League.

By the 1970s the club was consistently finishing in the lower half of the league table and was relegated to the second division DDR-Liga for a single season on three different occasions late in the decade. They returned to form in the 80s and as the football leagues of the two Germanys were merged in 1991 after the re-unification of the country, Rostock won its first national championship in the last ever season of East German football, played out in the transitional NOFV Oberliga Nordost. They would also capture the last ever East German Cup with a 1:0 win over FC Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt.

The club's timely success earned them a place in the Bundesliga alongside Dynamo Dresden when the league was briefly expanded from 18 to 20 teams for the 1991–92 season to accommodate two former East German teams. Hansa was unable to stay up and was relegated after falling just a single point shy of the club ahead of them. Three seasons of tempering in the 2. Bundesliga would return the club to the top flight for the 1995–96 season. In ten years spent in the Bundesliga the team's best results were a pair of sixth place finishes. In spite of frequent placings in the bottom half of the league table, they would persist as the only former East German side able to consistently challenge the well-heeled clubs of the west. On 1 December 2002 Rostock became the first club to field six foreigners from the same country in a Bundesliga match (Prica, Lantz, Wibran, Jakobsson, Arvidsson and Persson – all Swedes).

Rostock had a very poor first half in the 2004–05 season, earning only a single win and five draws in 17 matches. They were unable to recover despite the late arrival of Finnish striker Jari Litmanen and at season's end were relegated, leaving the former DDR without a club in the top flight for the first time since re-unification. Like other East German teams they were the victims of a harsh economic reality as the wealthier, well-established western sides bought up the most talented eastern footballers as their clubs struggled to survive financially: Rostock's Stefan Beinlich, Oliver Neuville and Victor Agali were just three players sent west for cash. After two years in the 2. Bundesliga the club returned to the top flight for the 2007–08 season, but was again relegated.

The club's poor form continued in 2009–10 and they finished third last. With this season, a new promotion/relegation format accompanied the introduction of the 3. Liga and Rostock found itself in a playoff versus the third place third division club FC Ingolstadt. Hansa lost both legs of the contest and was sent down to the 3. Liga, while Ingolstadt won promotion to the 2. Bundesliga alongside the top two third tier teams which advanced automatically by virtue of their finishes. Their stay in the 3. Liga, however, was a short one as they earned promotion back to the 2nd Bundesliga at the first attempt in 2010/11.

HONOURS:
East German champions: 1991
East German vice-champions: 1955, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1968
East German Cup: 1991
East German Cup finalists: 1955, 1957, 1960, 1967, 1987
2. Bundesliga champions: 1995
German Indoor champions: 1998
German Under 17 championship runners-up: 2005

STADIUM HISTORY: (wiki)
The DKB-Arena is located in the German city of Rostock in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Within Rostock, it is situated not far from the city centre in the Hansaviertel part of town near several hospitals of the University of Rostock and a small forest called Barnstorfer Wald'. Moreover, an icehockey stadium as well as several training pitches of Hansa Rostock are just adjacent to the Ostseestadion.
Rostock's DKB-Arena can be reached easily from all parts of Rostock by public transport, using buses (stop Ostseestadion) or the S-Bahn (stop Holbeinplatz). Public transport is free with a valid ticket for a home match three hours before and two hours after the actual match.
The stadium was newly built in 2001 on the site of a former stadium built in 1954. At the end of the 1960s a new 700 lux lighting system was added, which is still in use today.
The total capacity of 29,000 places includes 1000 "business seats" as well as a standing capacity of 9,000. During international matches the 9,000 standing places can be turned into 5,000 seats thus allowing for an audience of 25,000. Moreover, there are 26 business lounges for premium partners and sponsors.

Hertha BSC

Olympiastadion (Capacity: 74.500)

Hertha BSC - Real Madrid (1:3) (Testspiele, 27. July 2011)
1:0 Ebert (18.), 1:1 Ronaldo (29.), 1:2 Benzema (32.), 1:3 Benzema (47.)

Attendence: 74.244
Cost: 16 Euro
Programme: Offizielles Stadionmagazine von Hertha BSC (2 Euro)

Heading into the ground

 

The 1936 Olympic Flame was held here

 

Maifeld, next to Olympiastadion is capable of holding 200k

 

The stands slowly filling up

 

Me and my man-sized beer!

 

The teams entering the pitch

 

The Ostkurve and their scarves

 

Free kick from Ronaldo heading into the back of the net

 

Joining the masses on the way home

CLUB HISTORY: (abseits guide to soccer)
Hertha, founded in 1892, is the most popular Berlin based club and the flagship of Berlin soccer.
It was actually founded by four teenagers in the Wedding district as BFC Hertha 92. Since they were not yet of age, they had to get their uncle to be the Club president. They took their name from a steamship called Hertha, whose smokestack happened to be painted blue and white.

By 1905, the first major success: winning the city championship. Despite continued success, the club was still financially poor, and their ground was sold out from under them. (Guess that made them "homeless".) In 1920 however, they merged with Berliner Sport Club. This new squad was built around goalkeeper Paul Gelhaar and wonderful forward Hannes Sobek. In 1925, they made their appearance in the German semi-finals, losing in overtime to FSV Frankfurt. Next season, they got to the championship, losing 4-1 to Fürth. 1926/27/28/29 they were again in the finals, losing all. Finally in 1930, they edged Holstein Kiel 5-4, with Hans Ruch scoring the winner in the 87th minute, The next year they defended their title, when Sobek scored twice as they beat 1860 München 3-2. However, they were to be edged out by Minerva Berlin in the league the following year, and were unable to defend their title.

Hertha would end up as the 2nd ranked team on points of the Weimar era, 1920-33, behind only 1.FC Nünberg. In the 3rd Reich, results were not as strong for Hertha, as they ranked only 21st, with only 3 Gauliga titles to show. The post-WWII years saw mostly mediocre results, but a spurt at the end of the 1950s allowed them to sneak into the new league that would take Germany to footballing heights.
As founding member of the Bundesliga, Hertha was again a power in the 1970s, highlight being reaching the semifinals of the UEFA Cup in 1979. Things started downhill then, eventually leading to several years of Bundesliga exile.
Bottom was reached in 1986, when Hertha fell out of the 2.Liga and dropped down to the Amateur Oberliga Berlin. Attendance dribbled down to an average below 1,800, from a club that had averaged 44,000 back in 1971. To make matters worse, Hertha crashed in the promotion rounds, and the Oberliga had to be repeated. Hertha popped back into the Bundesliga in 1990, but in that horrible season, they finished dead last. Berlin was once again plunged into darkness. In fact, with the collapse of the GDR, BFC Dynamo quickly became a non-factor as well. This probably made berlin the largest city in the world without 1st division representation. Perhaps the sole highlight was in 1993, when the amateur squad reached the finals of the DFB Cup, losing 0-1 to Bayer Leverkusen. Finally, the "run" ended in 1997, when Hertha managed 3rd in the 2.Liga, and gained promotion.

With Hertha now back in the Bundesliga, and major financial backing, fans and the media looked for this Berlin club to regain it's status as a powerhouse.
The 1998-99 season turned out to be a wonderful surprise for Hertha. The team got off to a decent start, and battled all the way, qualifying for the Champions League. Michael Preetz won the scoring title, becoming the first Hertha player ever to do so. The next season was expected to be even better, but the team never seemed to live up to potential in the league. Nevertheless, they qualified for the UEFA Cup, and had a nice run in the Champions League. Combine that with an average attendance of some 55,000, Berlin soccer was back on top. Hertha seems to have justified the optimism with several decent finishes, although the ambition to challenge for the title looks still a bit remote. The recent squads have been built around Brazilian playmaker Marcelinho, who may turn out to be the best Brazilian ever to never pull on the yellow jersey. When he was let go, the club began to flounder again. Once again, the great potential was unrealized, and the Berlin fans continued to suffer...In 2009, coach Lucien Favre put together a squad that displayed minimalist football, but seemed to grind out results. They led the table at times, and certainly challenged for the title and Champions League. But in the end, they were bitchslapped by last place Karlsruhe on the final week, and missed an opportunity for 2nd. A good season, at least for the Berlin fans. However, 2010 proved to be an absolute disaster. The club and fans were expecting a title run, but instead they sucked and finished a sensational dead last.

HONOURS:
League

* German Champions: 2
o Winners: 1930, 1931
o Runners-up: 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1975
* 2nd Bundesliga Champion: 1
o 1990
* Oberliga Berlin Champions: 8
o 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933
* Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg Champions: 3
o 1935, 1937, 1944
* Brandenburg football champions:
o 1906, 1915, 1917, 1918, 1925–31, 1933

Cup

* DFB-Ligapokal: 2
o Winners: 2001, 2002
o Runners-up: 2000
* Berliner Landespokal: 13
o Winners: 1920, 1924, 1928, 1929, 1943, 1958, 1959, 1966, 1967, 19761, 1987, 19921, 20041
* DFB-Pokal: 0
o Runners-up: 1977, 1979, 19931
* Intertoto Cup: 4
o 1971, 1973, 1976, 1978


STADIUM HISTORY: (wiki)
The Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium) is a sports stadium in Berlin. There have been two stadiums on the site: the present facility, and one that is called the Deutsches Stadion which was built for the aborted 1916 Summer Olympics. Both were designed by members of the same family, the first by Otto March and the second by his son Werner March.
The current Olympiastadion was originally built for the 1936 Summer Olympics in the southern part of the Reichssportfeld (today Olympiapark Berlin). During World War II, the area suffered little damage. After the war, the British military occupation used the northern part of the Reichssportfeld as its headquarters until 1994. From 1951 to 2005, the Olympischer Platz had a giant antenna transmitting for all the portable radios in Berlin.
Aside from its use as an Olympic stadium, the Olympiastadion has a strong footballing tradition. Historically, it is the ground of club Hertha BSC. It was also used for 3 matches in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. It hosted six matches, including the final, in the 2006 FIFA World Cup and was renovated for that reason. The German Cup final match is held each year at the Olympiastadion. The stadium sees use in other sports as well; at one point it held the world record for the attendance of a baseball game, thought to be over 110,000.

Last Hertha BSC visit:
Hertha BSC vs SC Paderborn 07, 03. April 2011

SG Nordring

Tesch-Sportplatz (Capacity 1.000)

SG Nordring - SV Empor (0:2) (Bezirkspokale, 25. August 2011)
0:1 Ragemann (28.), 0:2 Gasdekowski (88.)

Attendence: 60
Cost: Free
Programme: Nil

Eisern Union stickers are everywhere!

 

The 2 teams for today's match

 

Time for kickoff

 

SV Empor about to score from the corner

 

And here they are celebrating the goal

 

Looking towards Dunckerstrasse

 

View of the pitch from next to the bar

CLUB HISTORY: (wiki)
'SG Nordring Berlin' is a German association football club based in the capital city of Berlin. The club traces its roots back to 22 November 1893 with the establishment of 'Berliner Fussball Club 1893'. 'BFC 93' became one of the founding clubs of the DFB (Deutscher Fussball Bund) at Leipzig in 1900. They played top flight city football in the Markischer Fussball Bund from 1904-07 before slipping to lower tier competition

In 1918, the club merged with 'Berliner Normannia 08'to form 'Berliner Sportvereinigung Normannia 1893'. The union was brief, however, and was undone the following year. In 1933, 'BFC 93' found a new partner in 'Berliner Sport Club Eintracht-Borussia 01' which was itself the product of a 1911 merger between 'Berliner Sport Club Borussia 02' and 'Berliner Sport Club Eintracht 01'. The team then played as 'BSC Eintract-Borussia 1893' Berlin until the end of World War II when, like most other organizations in the country including sports and football clubs, it was dissolved by occupying Allied authorities.

New clubs were formed soon after the war and the former membership of SC became part of' Sportgruppe Nordring' in 1945.'SGN' joined East German competition and took part in just a single season of top flight postwar play. The team briefly resumed its postwar identity in 1948 before being re-organized as 'Sportgemeinschaft Nordring' the following year. They enjoyed some minor success over the years at the local level. The first and second teams won division titles in 1958, and the first team made appearances in two district cup finals. The club narrowly missed promotion in 1984 on goal difference and then went through a difficult period as it struggled financially.

Following German reunification in 1990 the club was known as 'SG Nordring 1949. The team currently plays in Berlin's Kreisliga A (IX)

Hertha BSC U/17

Gebhardtplatz, Olympiapark (Capacity: 500)

Hertha BSC - FC Hertha 03 (3:0) (Testspiele - U/17's, 23 July 2011)

Attendence: 80
Cost: Free
Programme: Nil

Looking across the halfway line

 

The pitch is surrounded by a nice healthy hedge

 

Looking down the pitch

 

View of the field

 

FC Hertha 03 on the attack

 

Standing on the hill behind the goal

 

Another view of the pitch

 

Full time

Rotation Prenzlauer Berg

Tesch-Sportplatz (Capacity 1.000)

Rotation Prenzlauer Berg - SV Buchholz (0:5) (Berlin Bezirkspokale, 22. July 2011)
0:1 E.Anders (1.), 0:2 Otto (13.), 0:3 Jost (15.), 0:4 Schmoldt (40.), 0:5 Otto (49.)

Attendance: 35
Cost: 1 Euro
Programme: Nil

Poster for the tournament

 

Teams entering the field

 

Bucholz celebrate after scoring the opening goal

 

Looking across the pitch

 

Looking towards Dunkerstr.

 

Another view of the pitch

 

Plenty of patrons hiding under the BBQ tent

 

Another wet and miserable game was had

 

The ticket booth and entrance