Hamburg "Sonntag Doppel"

The conclusion of this particular European football trip concluded in Hamburg, with a double header from the lower tiers of German football...

1045 Oberliga Hamburg
Teutonia Ottensen 4
Wandsbeker TSV Concordia 2
Att: 175 (plus 20 or so tightwads, who wouldn't pay the €6, watching from road)

What better way to blow the cobwebs off than a spot of Sunday morning Oberliga action. FC Teutonia Ottensen regularly play their home games at 1045 in the morning so this was ideal. The ground, Sportplatz Kreuzkirche, is about a 15 minute walk from Hamburg-Altona station and, as suggested in the name, is in the shadow of the Ottensen Kreuzkirche (Church of the Cross). 

FC Teutonia were the Landesliga Hamburg-Hammonia champions in 2017, earning promotion to the Oberliga (level 5 of German football) Hamburg. They are enjoying a good season and they are comfortably in third place in the table (at the start of play today).

However in this league there is only one promotion spot to the Regionalliga Nord and that looks sewn up by TuS Dassendorf, who are 12 points clear at the top, with games in hand.  Teutonia do play the champions-elect in a couple of weeks time in the Hamburg Cup semi-final, so maybe there is still a chance of silverware this season.

Abdel Abou-Khalid gave Concordia the lead after two minutes but Aytac Erman (19, 32) and Georgios Cholevas (23) gave Teutonia a comfortable half time lead.

Two Wandsbeker TSV Concordia players received red cards, Martin Werner after 66 minutes for his second yellow card and  Kevin Zschimmer after 75 minutes for foul and abusive language. In between the red cards Concordia did pull a goal back when Abou-Khalid (73) scored from the penalty spot. However after 80 minutes Erman completed his hat-trick to make the game safe.

The second game of the day was 5 miles across town in the district of Lokstedt. The timings were tight so I had to be on my toes at the final whistle. I had to catch a bus to Schlump station and then jump off at Hagenbecks Tierpark and then walk 10 minutes to the ground. However whilst I was on the bus I received a text message to say kick off had been delayed due to an injury sustained at a earlier match on the pitch. The knock on effect meaning the remaining games were at least 30 minutes behind. The second half of Lokstedt's second team versus Inter Eidelstedt was just kicking off as I entered the ground, so at least there was time for a chill and a beer (or two) in the clubhouse as the temperature began to rise...

1430 Bezirksliga Nord Hamburg
Eintracht Lokstedt 2
HFC Falke 2
Att: 272

Sportpark Lokstedt, on Dörntwiete, is another artificial surface (if you can remember, it is very similar to Luton Town's pitch of the 1980's).

There is a small piece of wooden cover and also a decent view from the clubhouse decking behind the goal. Eintracht Lokstedt are celebrating their centenary this year and there is a display in the clubhouse to commemorate this achievement, including a plaque from the Deutscher Fußball Bund and a signed photo from Germany and Hamburg legend Uwe Seeler (pictured above right).

Eintracht Lokstedt were the league leaders with HFC Falke in 5th position (at the start of play) in the Bezirksliga Nord Hamburg, which is a district league and basically the equivalent of an English County League. In Hamburg the Bezirksliga sits at Level 7 in the German structure.

Today was a chance for me to catch up with friends who follow HFC Falke and chew the fat, sink a few beers and watch a decent game of football. 

Lokstedt raced into an early two goal lead. Mario Beslic opened the scoring after 5 minutes, after a defensive mix up up left him with an open goal. After 10 minutes Tamino Kunter raced through to slot home and double the home sides advantage.

Tobias Leuthold (25) halved the deficit after Falke were awarded a dubious penalty when Lokstedt 'keeper Jan Giesecke pushed  in the area resulted in the referee pointing to the spot. Kevan Hermann (55) equalised for The Hawks in the second half and the game could have gone either way. In the 81st minute Lokstedt had a chance to grab the victory but Nils Kuchenmeister saved Luis Gleich's penalty kick. The resulting draw was a fair result and brought to a conclusion another fantastic week of European Groundhopping. 

All that was left was to head back into town and sink a few more ales at the fabulous Galopper des Jahres! Until next time, a very fond farewell! 

ALTONAER FC VON 1893 (Adolf Jäger Kampfbahn)

OBERLIGA HAMBURG, ALTONA 93 2-2 SV HALSTENBEK-RELLINGEN, ATTENDANCE: 1,000 (est)

For the second part of my Hamburg Oberliga double header I headed west to the borough of Altona. Until 1937 Altona was a city in it's own right before being merged into the city of Hamburg.

Altona Football Club is one of the oldest in Germany having being founded in 1893, initially as a cricket club.

The Adolf Jäger Kampfbahn is a 500m walk from Hamburg Bahrenfeld staion and the ground appears before you as you walk down Freisenweg.

The ground is named after Adolf Jäger, who was a German international, who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics, who played for Altona from 1907 until 1927, scoring over 2000 goals in over 700 amateur matches.  He died during World War II, whilst working for bomb disposal in Hamburg, and is buried in Altona Main Cemetery.

The ground is another example of one of those ground where you just go "Wow!" when you enter through the turnstile. It has been home to Altona since 1909 and, yes, it is showing it's age, but give me crumbling terraces with trees growing through them any day. I would much prefer standing on a grass bank, or a long open terrace, or sitting in an old wooden stand to a soulless modern stadium.

Altona are looking to move away from their spiritual home in the not too distant future. As far as I can gather, from speaking to fans, it possibly won't be for another year or so, as the planning issues drag on.

There are plans to build flats on the current ground and the club relocate to a site on nearby Memelland Allee. It was supposed to be all done in time for the beginning of the 2016/17 season but it could drag on into 2017. Considering the move was mooted as long ago as 2008, who knows when it will finally happen?

Altona are the third largest supported team in Hamburg and a large number of their fans are left leaning in terms of their political views. There were plenty of anti-fascist, anti-racism, and anti-homophobia stickers and banners posted around the ground.

I was introduced to Jan, who writes/edits the Altona fanzine All-to-Nah and he produced a copy that was written completely in English. A very good read too. There were also plenty of Dulwich Hamlet supporters present today, as the respective clubs have a fan friendship. It all made for a pleasant afternoon.

The game was an entertaining draw.  Jan Novotny (18) headed HR into the lead before Enrik Nrecaj (32) doubled the visitors lead. There was a quick response from Altona when Cody Shields (34) fired home to reduce the deficit.

Altona came out for the second half with more attacking purpose but despite their efforts it appeared that HR were going to hold on for the win but, as the game moved into stoppage time, one last attack resulted in the ball falling to the feet of Mustafa Hadid and he blasted home to earn Altona a deserved share of the spoils.

Post match was spent wandering around the city of Hamburg before having a few nightcaps in the superb Altes Mädchen, the weekend certainly finishing a lot better than it started!

UHLENHORSTER SPORT CLUB PALOMA (Jonny Rehbein Sportplatz)

OBERLIGA HAMBURG, USC PALOMA 5-1 SV LURUP, ATTENDANCE: 150 (est)

After finishing Saturday night, in the wee small hours, at a fun fair in St Pauli, my alarm went off at 9am. I had a choice; either roll over and have another couple of hours sleep or drag myself into the cool Sunday morning air for the first game of a Hamburg Oberliga double header?

I managed to make the train to Dehnhaide where a 10 minute stroll soon found me at the Jonny Rehbein Sportplatz, on
Brucknerstraße, where USC Paloma play their home games. 

The ground has a clubhouse but little else in the way of football furniture. The pitch was an artificial surface but none of your modern day 4G technology, this was your 1980’s Luton Town model. I dread to think of the players slide tackling on this surface!

Uhlenhorster Sport Club Paloma was formed in August of 1909 by a group of students and it's name is taken from the Spanish word for dove, hence the club crest. 

The club's biggest successes have been in the 21st century when they won the Hamburger Pokal twice, beating Viktoria Hamburg in 2002 and SC Condor in 2014, to earn a place in the DFB Pokal first round proper. In 2002 Paloma lost 5-0 to Bundesliga side 1.FC Kaiserslautern and 2014 they lost to another Bundesliga side TSG Hoffenheim, who beat Paloma 9-0.

USC Paloma have played in the Hamburg Oberliga (level 5 in German football) since 2014 though they are struggling this season. Indeed looking at the statistics before the game, it hardly seemed to have had the makings of a classic as second bottom Paloma hadn't won in five games and rock bottom SV Lurup had only drawn one game all season. It turned out to be a decent watch, though a little one sided, with plenty of goals.

The game was virtually one way traffic as Paloma looked like scoring every time they went forward. The only surprise was that it took until the 16th minute for the first goal to arrive, Ahmed Osmanov firing home. Paloma skipper Mladen Tunjic made it 2-0 after 20 minutes with a superb overhead kick. He soon made it 3-0 after 24 minutes. If it wasn't for some fine saves by Lurup goalkeeper Michael Glamann (and some intervention by the woodwork) it is no exaggeration to say the scoreline could have been treble that at the break.

The second half continued in much the same vein as the first, however Lurup did manage to get out of their own half and have some efforts at the Paloma goal. Milos Ljubisavljevic made it 4-0 to the home side after 76 minutes before Tunjic (81) completed his hat-trick to make it 5-0. Shafi Karimi scored a stoppage time goal for Lurup, but I doubt that was any consolation whatsoever.