SV DARMSTADT 98 (Stadion am Böllenfalltor)

2.BUNDESLIGA, SV DARMSTADT 0-0 KARLSRUHER SC, ATTENDANCE: 15,200

For the second instalment of this weekends German trilogy I, along with a group of friends, headed south to the state of Hesse as SV Darmstadt faced Karlsruher in a second division clash.

SV Darmstadt 98 were founded in 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt before merging with Darmstädter Sport Club 1905 to become SportVerein Darmstadt 98.

Darmstadt had two seasons in the Bundesliga (1978–79 and 1981–82) but in recent times the club has seen plenty of struggles. Financial problems led to relegation to the Oberliga Hessen in 2007 and in March 2008 Darmstadt entered insolvency proceedings with debts of over €1 million.

Darmstadt were still promoted to the Regionalliga Süd in May 2008 and undertook various measures to avert bankcruptcy, such as a friendly against Bayern Munich, but investors financial contributions eventually secured the club's future.

Since then the club has risen through the leagues, though in 2013 the club was initially relegated from 3.Liga but Kickers Offenbach was refused a licence for the new season and relegated to the Regionalliga instead.

In 2014 Darmstadt finished third in league and beat Arminia Bielefeld in the play offs, on away goals, to secure promotion to 2. Bundesliga. They are currently 3rd in table and could be on course for a return to the top flight for the first time in 32 years.

Disproving the idea that the trains in Germany always run on time, due to a delay we missed our connection at Frankfurt and were late getting into Darmstadt. After dumping our stuff at our hotel we jumped on a bus to the ground which then proceeded to crash into the back of a car en-route, which meant walking the last few metres on foot.

The Stadion am Böllenfalltor, which has been Darmstadt's home since 1921, is simply a fantastic example of a proper old school ground with it's vast open terraces. Sadly, the stadium in it's current form is doomed as it is due to be redeveloped within the next couple of years.

My tickets were in the guest section and this meant a 15 minute walk through the woods to the entrance as you could not directly walk around the stadium. This meant arriving with minutes to spare before kick off but luckily it also meant missing out on hearing the fans sing THAT bloody song!

There was plenty of perspiration but no inspiration in a match sadly lacking in clear cut chances. It was quite obvious from early on that this game had nil-nil written all over it. The closest either side came to scoring was in the first half when Darmstadt goalkeeper Christian Mathenia pulled off a tremendous save to deny Karslruher's Daniel Gordon.

The game was held up for a couple of minutes in the second half when the Karsruher fans decided to put on a pyrotechnic display (click here) I got a great view from where I was stood.

Post match it was a taxi back into the city centre where we ended up in a bar recommended to us by my mate's Darmstadt supporting friend. It was Kareoke night and, as the beer went down, I was coerced into doing my finest Johnny Logan impression. Luckily for the bar owners, I didn't empty the place!

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.

SSV JAHN REGENSBURG (Jahnstadion)

2.BUNDESLIGA, SSV JAHN REGENSBURG 1-1 ERZGEBIRGE AUE,

ATTENDANCE: 6,771

Sport- und Schwimmverein Jahn 2000 Regensburg, to give their full name, were founded in 1907 when a football team was created as part of a larger sports club which began in 1889.  The Turnerbund Jahn Regensburg, which took its name from Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, whose ideas of gymnastics greatly influenced German sport in the 19th century. The footballers and swimmers left their parent club in 1924 to form Sportbund Jahn Regensburg.

A merger with Sportverein 1889 Regensburg in 1934 to form Vereinsname Sport- und Schwimmverein Jahn Regensburg did little to improve fortunes and the club have spent most of their existence in the lower leagues of German football.

In 2000 the football team left to become an independent club, hence the 2000 in the club name, and were joined by players from SG Post/Süd Regensburg in 2002.

The club faced financial difficulties and narrowly avoided bankruptcy in 2005. They plunged to the depths of the Oberliga Bayern in 2005–06, but Jahn won the title the following season and were promoted again to the Regionalliga Süd. Due to a reorganisation of the leagues in 2008, Jahn were founder members of the newly created Liga 3. 

The club struggled down in the lower reaches of the table before finishing in the play-off positions in 2012 and gaining promotion to Bundesliga 2 after beating Karlsruhe on the away goals rule.

They are currently bottom of the league, so it is safe to assume a quick return to Liga 3 is likely.

The Jahnstadion was the ground i'd been looking forward to visiting since this trip was planned and it did not disappoint. The ground is a proper a old ground with vast open terraces. Built in 1926 It was used for football games during the Olympic games of 1972. There is, what looks like, a temporary stand behind the goal but apart from that the ground gives the impression it has changed little from the day it was built.



 

The game was a decent affair, with the goals and most of chances coming in the opening 45 minutes. The point though doesn't really help Regensburg with their battle against relegation.

Kevin Schlitte gave the visitors the lead after 12 minutes before a scrambled equaliser from Koke after 25 minutes. The game was marred by a serious injury to Jahn skipper Andre Laurito, who left the stadium in an ambulance.

The was just time for one more beer in Munich before catching our flights home and a top draw (in more ways than one) euro weekender was at an end.

FC SANKT PAULI (Millerntor Stadion)

2.BUNDESLIGA, FC St PAULI 0-0 ENERGIE COTTBUS, ATTENDANCE: 26,578

It was with a banging head and tired limbs that I awoke from my slumber on this cold Sunday morning. Luckily the hotel I was staying in was only 10 minutes walk from the Millerntor Stadion, home of FC Sankt Pauli. Today The Buccaneers of the League were taking on Energie Cottbus in a Bundesliga 2 clash.

A chance to visit both Hamburg clubs in one weekend was the prime reason for choosing this weekend, but a visit to St Pauli has been long anticipated.  

It's very hard to summarise what has been said about St Pauli a thousand times before but  the club is famous for it's unique culture, it's stance against fascism, racism, sexism, homophobia is well renowned and has many left-leaning fans attracted to it's values.

Formed in 1910, the club led an undistinguished existence, though they were founder members of the Bundesliga 2 in 1974, until the mid 1980's when their transition began. The ground is in the shadow of the Reeperbahn, Hamburg's notorious red-light district, and also the centre of the city's nightlife (hence my head this morning) and a fan scene built around this. Unfortunately I never got a chance to have a drink in the Jolly Roger.

With it's "cult" status the club began to rise up the leagues and spent the next decade or so flitting between the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. The club were virtually bankrupt around the turn of the millennium though and ended up back in the Regionalliga. However, after fund raising efforts they rose again and returned to the Bundesliga for season 2010/11, though went straight back down. They are now currently mid-table in Bundesliga 2.

The Millerntor ground has been the home of St Pauli since 1961 and has been more or less re-built in recent years as redevelopment has taken place. Any character the ground had once upon a time has certainly disappeared these days. The latest stand to be redeveloped was actually fully open for the first time at today's game, the new die Gegengerade, which has now brought capacity up to around 29,000.



The new die Gegengerade, open fully for the first time today



One thing the re-building has not done though has affected any of the atmosphere as the noise was superb today. From the teams walking out to the chimes of AC/DC's Hell's Bell's to the final whistle the crowd got behind their side.
This was despite the fact the game was a pretty grim spectacle, as after a decent opening when both sides looked like they were going to score, the game petered out into a drab affair which ended goalless. A bit of anti-climax in all honesty.

Nonetheless, another fantastic weekend in Germany and roll on March when I will be doing it once again!