VfL HALLE 1896 (Stadion am Zoo)

NOFV OBERLIGA SUD, VfL HALLE 1896 4-0 ENERGIE COTTBUS II, ATTENDANCE: 118

Following on from SpVgg Bayreuth on Saturday, our Sunday game took us on a very interesting journey North through the old DDR to the city of Halle (Salle) the birthplace of George Frideric Handel.

The journey also involved a change of train at Zwickau, where the old Hauptbanhof gave an idea of the old East Germany.

VfL Halle 1896 are the oldest football club in the city of Halle and were founder members of the DFB (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) in 1900. The football club have been playing at their Stadion am Zoo since it was opened in 1910. The ground has a large uncovered stand on one side and a massive old open terrace on the other.

There is a clubhouse but today we opted to drink our Köthener from the patio chairs outside the door!

The club play in the NOFV Oberliga Sud (level 5) which is basically the old East German Oberliga, which came into being after reunification in 1990.

Energie Cottbus reserves (cue audible gasps from the groundhopping purists) were the visitors to VfL Halle's today, a 4th v 5th encounter, but in truth an end of season dead rubber. It was a baking hot afternoon and the pace of the game never really got above pedestrian.

The game had 0-0 written all over it until in the 68th minute Robin Huth finally broke the deadlock to give the homesters the lead. No sooner had the dust settled then Matthias von der Weth (70) doubled Halle's advantage.

Huth scored his second from the penalty spot in the 81st minute before Stephan Schammer (86) completed the scoring.

Both teams finished the game with 10 men apiece after Franz Hausdorf (Cottbus) and Pascal dos Santos Coelho (Halle) received straight red cards, both for serious foul play.

Robin Huth scores from penalty spot (left) The melee after the

foul by Franz Hausdorf's that led to his red card (right)

The final whistle of the game brought down the curtain on season 2013/14 as far as I was concerned, so once again I'd to thank all who have took time to read my inane ramblings. Until next time....

SpVgg BAYREUTH (Hans Walter Wild Stadion)

BAYERNLIGA NORD, SpVgg BAYREUTH 3-2 ASV NEUMARKT, ATTENDANCE: 905

Programme was free
but note the wrong date

As the 2013/14 season wheezed out it's last breath, a pal suggested a Bank Holiday weekend jaunt to Germany to round things off. With the main leagues all wrapped it up, it was time to watch some lower level stuff.

An early morning flight took us from Stansted to Nuremburg, then a local train took us 60 miles north to the town of Bayreuth. This northern Bavarian town is famous for  Richard Wagner's opera house, where an annual festival of the composer's work takes place.

We were there not to indulge in any operatics but to see the local football team in action as SpVgg Bayreuth were aiming to finish the season in style after aleady wrapping up Bayernliga Nord (level 5 in Germany) title and, with that, promotion to the Bayern Regionalliga. 

The club have been in existence since 1921 but the closest they have ever come to being put on the international map, so to speak, was losing the Bundesliga promotion play off in 1979.

I met up with friends who had travelled down from Hamburg and as you can imagine a few beers were consumed. They were still in state of relief after The Dinosaurs maintained their Bundesliga place last week after beating  Greuther Furth in the relegation/promotion play off.

It was whilst we were sitting a bar by the Hauptbanhof the heavens opened, and I mean opened. The rain started to lash down and there were rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning. Suddenly the thought of a P-P (or V-V) rushed through my mind but there was no need to worry and the game went ahead.

The Championship celebrations
start with a bang!

The impressive Hans Walter Wild Stadion was rocking as the homesters seen off (just) an already relegated ASV Neumarkt to get the Championship party going.

The 'Old School' took the lead in the first minute thanks to Lorenz Hoffman. Sven Bauer equalised for Neumarkt in the 6th minute before Julian Pötzinger (33) gave Bayreuth a half time lead.

Free beer! Danke!

Markus Auner (52) netted a second equaliser for Neumarkt before Thimothy Nicolaus (73) scored the winner for the Champions.

At the end of the game, and to no doubt help the celebrations, free beer was served to the fans on the terrace - a very nice gesture in my opinion!

At the end of the game we were invited back to the Bayreuth supporters club, where we were made most welcome. It is basically contained within an old factory close to the train station but it has a museum with an impressive archive. A woman, whose husband had died, gifted his collection to the fans and there is a superb selection of memorabilia, including every programme since the war. As a football anorak, it was a privilege just to be able to have a peek at some of the items on display. A great way to end another great day in Germany.

A lovely old pennant on the wall in the Bayreuth
supporters club

SpVgg GREUTHER FURTH (Sportpark Ronhof)

2.BUNDESLIGA, SpVgg GREUTHER FURTH 2-0 SV SANDHAUSEN, ATTENDANCE:16,165

After a night on the Bavarian ale (where I'm pretty sure in my beery haze I seen a bearded woman singing on the television) and a top Bavarian breakfast, I set off for a nice Sunday journey up the B300, A9 and A73 to Furth, which is just a few miles north of Nuremburg.

I was off to visit Sportpark Ronhof (or the Trolli Arena as sponsorship now dictates) to see if Greuther Furth could finish their season off with a return to the top flight.

The current incarnation of the club began in 1996 with the merger of Spielvereinigung Furth (who were founded in 1903) and TSV Vestenbergsgreuth (founded in 1974). SpVgg Furth were the more established team winning the German title in 1914, 1926 and 1929.

The fans march to the stadium ahead of the game

The merged club reached the Bundesliga for the first time in 2012 but were promptly relegated after just one season. The club are aiming to bounce back at the first attempt with a victory today. This will either be automatically, if Paderborn fail to win, or, most likely through the play-off.

Ilir Azemi and Zoltan Stieber scored in the second half but Paderborn's 2-1 win over Aalen (there was a massive eruption of noise in the ground when Aalen took the lead) now means Furth will face a two-legged play off against Hamburg for the right to play Bundesliga football next season.

FC AUGSBURG (SGL Arena)

BUNDESLIGA, FC AUGSBURG 2-1 EINTRACHT FRANKFURT, ATTENDANCE:30,660

With the season drawing to it's conclusion, I nipped over to Germany this weekend for the final round of Bundesliga games. With two of the highest ranked teams/grounds I needed to visit in Bavaria both at home, this seemed the ideal time. As an added bonus both of the home teams still had something left to play for.

First up was the Bundesliga clash between FC Augsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt.

Augsburg have enjoyed their best season in their history, but a victory over Frankfurt, plus Mainz failing to beat Hamburg, could see them in next season's Europa League.

Augsburg have come along way since their formation in 1907. After years of yo-yoing between the lower divisions they finally reached the top flight in 2011. This happened a couple of years after the move to the current ground, the club moving from Rosenaustadion in 2009. 

The new ground is well out of town and is a typical new build, somehow reminding me of a visit to Hoffenheim's ground a couple of years back. It was at least a 20 minute ride from the main station to the ground, but as with most German games it is free with your match ticket.

Unfortunately for the Homesters, their European dream died as Mainz beat Hamburg 3-2, this was despite finishing off their season with a 2-1 victory.

Joselu headed home to give Frankfurt the lead after 15 minutes before Ragnar Klavan equalised after 28 minutes when his initial header came back off the crossbar, but he was able to poke home the rebound.

Andre Hahn scored what proved to be winner, with 10 minutes remaining, in his final game for the club before moving to Borussia Mönchengladbach this summer. The final results meant Augsburg finished 8th in the final standings.

All that was left was to get the tram back into town and find a bar in which I settled down to watch the delights of the Eurovision Song Contest on a big screen, believe me it's taken seriously on the near continent!

EASINGTON COLLIERY (Welfare Ground)

WEARSIDE LEAGUE SHIPOWNERS CHARITY CUP FINAL, EASINGTON COLLIERY 5-3 ASHBROOKE BELFORD HOUSE, ATTENDANCE: 250 (est)

When Chester City were drawn away at Easington Colliery in October 2000 instead of joining my mates for a day out in the North east, I declined the invitation to continue my mission to "do the 92" by heading to Adams Park to watch Wycombe Wanderers lose 2-1 to Bristol City. 

So today I travelled to the former mining village in County Durham, where scenes for the 2000 film Billy Elliott were shot, to right that wrong of 14 years ago.

Easington Colliery Welfare were originally formed in 1913 but disbanded in 1964. Easington's biggest day came in 1955 when 4,500 spectators packed the Welfare Ground to watch the Colliery lose 2-0 to Tranmere Rovers in the first round of the FA Cup, the only time that Easington have reached the first round proper.

The club were-formed in 1973 and in 1980 the Welfare amalgamated with Easington Rangers to form Easington Colliery AFC. In 1985, Easington were elected to the Northern League 2nd Division and won promotion at the first attempt, finishing runners-up spot behind Newcastle Blue Star. 

The club spent two decades in the Northern League before relegation but returned for one season in 2011/12. The club now play in the Wearside League, which is step 7 of the pyramid.

Today Easington were taking on Ashbrooke Belford House in the The Shipowners Charity Cup Final. This competition, one of three Wearside League cup competitions, was inaugurated in the 1898-99 season by Alderman Ralph B. Annison. The money raised from the competition went to the Boys' Orphanage in Sunderland, most of the boys in the Asylum being from the homes of lost seaman. 

The bank holiday crowd was larger than Easington's normal attendance and whilst queueing for ones half time cup of Bovril, the exasperated girl behind the counter was heard to ask "Where have all these people come from? She was certainly kept busy at the interval as the pies ran out!

The final itself was a superb game and a fantastic advert for this level of football.

Easington came out flying and were four goals to the good within 30 minutes. They could easily have doubled that advantage with efforts cleared off the line, a missed penalty and numerous other chances. Ashbrooke looked shell-shocked.

Ashbrooke then scored what every one assumed was a consolation goal but added another just before the half time whistle to give them a glimmer of hope.

Ashbrooke came out for the second half a revitalised team and had Easington pinned back for most of the 45 minutes. They grabbed a third goal and an equaliser seemed inevitable. Sadly, for them, the moment never arrived though they went very close and had an effort scooped of the line.

Easington were reduced to 10 men as Luke Page recieved a second yellow card. However as Ashbrooke pushed forward in the latter stages they got caught on the counter, resulting in another penalty and this time there was no coming back as Easington won the trophy for the first time since 1979.

Easington's decisive third penalty is slotted home
with only moments remaining to make it 5-3

Just for the record, the Easington Colliery goals were scored by Nick Doyle, David Laight, Farran Pope and Michael Pattison (2).

The Ashbrooke Belford House goals were scored by Nathan Burrell, Mark Green and Stephen Bogie.

Easington Colliery - Shipowners Charity Cup Winners 2014