Sunday 22nd October 2023 – Regionalliga Nord – Stadion Hoheluft

 

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to sneak a game in whilst travelling for work – blame global event organisers who schedule conferences I need to attend outside the relevant domestic seasons. But finally, I had a chance to combine the two, heading to Hamburg for a few days – I just needed the fixtures to fall in line with my travel plans.

There were certainly enough fixtures in and around the city on Sunday, starting from 10.30am, extending through the afternoon and early evening.  Alas, the Hamburg had played on Saturday, St Pauli were away so I’d have to dip into some of the extensive lower league pyramid for my fix.

I didn’t want to be greedy, nor forget why I was in Hamburg in the first place, but unable to check into my hotel room until after 3pm meant I had to do something, and fortunately that something was virtually on my doorstep.

Back at home I have drawn my active football watching line at Step 6 of the English game, but I had no clue what level I was watching in my first game. I think (checks Wikipedia) that the Kreisliga Hamburg 6 sits within my level of tolerance, but if not, I can claim an accepted exception based on the ground.

A caged 3G isn’t my idea of a fun watching experience but when the ground is in the shadow of the Millerntor Stadium, home of St Pauli and the remarkable Feldstrasse Bunker, a 35-metre-high structure that was designed to house 18,000 during WW2.  Today it is now an apartment complex, overlooking the home of St Pauli, where their 4th team were taking on HSV Bambek-Uhlenhorst III.

A five-minute walk up the road and it was time for game 2 – a tasty Bezirksliga Hamburg Süd game between VfL Hammonia and FC Bingöl Hamburg, at the Sportsplatz Sternschanze.  Again, another caged 3G but overlooked by a superb turret structure.

But these games were mere appetisers for the main course, the Regionalliga Nord game between FC Teutonia 05 and Blau-Weiss Lohne.

The Regionalliga is the regionalised fourth tier of German football.  Above are famous names such as Dynamo Dresden, 1860 Munich and 1.FC Saarbrücken.  Below it’s a far more local affair in the Oberliga.  Whilst attendances at step 3 are a respectable 8,100 on average, at step four it drops to around 1,500, so there was little surprise there wasn’t a queue to buy tickets when I arrived at Stadion Hoheluft, home of SC Victoria, as well as tenants FC Teutonia Altona-Ottensen and St Pauli’s reserves.

Teutonia’s linage is complicated and not one to try to explain without pieces of string and lots of sticky notes.  Suffice to say that their name gives some clue to the various mergers over time.  The club were awarded a place in the restructuring of Step 4 back in 2020 but by their own admission, were still a long way off being ready to take the next step, averaging around 500 fans in the 17,000-capacity stadium.

Ten Euros for a ticket, five for a beer and three for a sausage.  Whatever happened now on the pitch was a bonus, and we didn’t have to wait long before top scorer in the season so far Ole Wohlers netted after just three minutes.  I’d wandered round to take my position on the terrace, wide and steep steps which had manicured grass which would send the stadium assessors in England into apocalyptic fits.  The home support was gathered in the main stand and a small, elevated patio area but no hardcore/ ultras style fans, which is unusual in Germany.

BW Lohne equalised to silence in the 10th minute when Emanuel Mirchev turned the ball into his own net from a corner.  Seven minutes later Affamefuna-Michael Ifeadigo restored the home side’s lead with an effort from the edge of the box.

I took my place in the main stand for the second half, a wonderful structure with a wooden timbered roof and a glitterball.  Perfect for the hardcore, German techno-rock pumping out the speakers as the teams re-emerged.

Teutonia extended their lead, Lohne hit back before two late goals from the home side gave the final score a slightly generous 5-2 look.  It was an odd spectating experience – almost as if the fans were going through the motions.  Perhaps it was normal for this level or just a Sunday afternoon thing? Either way, one short bus ride later and I slipped back into the working world, football tourism would take a back seat for a few weeks.