Berlin Football - Tennis Borussia Berlin v SC Staaken (6th Tier)

[GuyGermanLatic]

Thanks to Tom, he pointed me in the direction of Berlin's own league 6 levels under the sea of association football. Living here in Berlin is a bit hectic as you have quite a few clubs on your doorstep and picking between the few can be quite hard - especially when you mention to a person you're looking at watching a game. I was already aware of some clubs, especially ones near me, who were playing in the Berlin-Liga so today, with just 2 hours until kick-off, I decided to go and watch Tennis Borussia Berlin from the well-to-do district of Charlottenburg take on SC Staaken from dirty ol' Spandau across the river.

 

Anyway, here's my report of how it went, what it was like and how much better than watching Bradford it was.

 

It must've easily been 28°C here yesterday. For the past week we've had weather which takes an arrogant :censored: of those family members we have who live abroad and moan when there's a "slight breeze at the beach today." Sadly it wasn't sticking around. For the 1 day it rains in Berlin a year, today was that day and the heavens opened up just as I hopped on the underground to get to the overground ring line.

 

It took about 20 minutes with the overground ring train which was fairly decent considering they tend to be located in the middle of nowhere, these grounds. As I switched train to the line heading to the ground, I noticed probably less than a dozen fans wearing the purple and white colours of "Tebe." Getting off the train I must've walked with about 6/7 guys through a quaint park which is a bit strange seeing as normally you can't move when a league game's on in Berlin.

 

As you exit the park you see the Mommsenstadion right in front of you. What you think is a tired-looking gate is, in fact, a tired looking gate. These however lead to the terraces which were all shut due to the small numbers regularly showing up for matches as it is a multi-sport stadium. However, despite it sounding somewhat run-down, a rather modest double-tier stand is a nice sight - and somehow quite a ringer for the Looker's Stand if it had been abandoned somewhere in the 1980s.

 

Photo from Google Images

 

Paying only 5€ to get in, it was a really nice welcome to be sat in the top tier with the rain off me even if I did have an umbrella beside me. At the turnstile however (more of a window where you can just walk past) the guy happily assumed I was a student not even asking about my age or - most importantly - if I was actually a student. Nevertheless I saved 2€ on a full-priced 7€ ticket - 'ave it!

 

Inside the ground was generally really nice. Nicely decorated halls along with 3 floors and a fan shop was a really welcoming change to what I've seen before at some English grounds. The top tier was separated into 3 sections in terms of who sat where: one for standing, the other simply for wooden planks to sit on and then a small section for genuine seats.

 

Photo from Google Images

 

Out of the 10,000 the ground can hold, a modest 195 showed up today to watch the boys in purple take on the blue Staakeners. Of course, as this is Europe, there was firstly the ultra section who sang for pretty much the full 90 minutes. From "God Save the Borussia" to "I Just Can't Get Enough" and even "Nobody likes us, we don't care!" they sang it all - in English too. For the 6th tier of football, I have to say they truly were some brilliant fans. In the centre of the stand, where I was sat, pretty much sat the majority of normal people coming to watch the game. At the end of the centre sat the "main stand" fans. Let me put it this way: if you think Oldham fans are bad for moaning THESE guys are 10x worse. Even when Borussia managed to pull of great chances and have shots on goal they'd shout how bad they were or something of the likes. Generally both funny and piss annoying at the same time. The away fans occupied the other far end with a decent following of about 20. I say "decent"...

 

My picture of pre-match training. Top class.

 

The match was something. SC Staaken occupy 2nd whereas Tebe find themselves 13th out of the 18 teams in the Berlin-Liga. The first 45 minutes were scrappy. The wet surface had a massive impact on play with not a single shot on goal coming from either side. It seemed they were quite equally match although Tebe were quite decent in making cheeky paces around the stone defensive wall of Staaken's men.

 

With only a few minutes gone in the second half, Tebe almost played like a league team. Great passes began bringing great chances and as they attacked in Staaken's box a cross hit the arm of one of their defenders meaning a penalty to the home side! With an absolute hammer of a shot it was 1-0 to Tebe. The match continued the same way until near the 90th minute the exact same happened again! This time, however, in Beckham style, the ball went flying way over the crossbar landing in the puddles forming on the running track surrounding the pitch. It ended 1-0 which was a very decent score for an extremely entertaining 90 minutes!

 

On a side note, Tebe's right-back is one of the best players I've seen in a lower league. His skill, vision and pace pretty much gave Tebe every single chance they had and ran around others so well - sign him up, Johnson!

 

Sadly their striker is :censored:. He stood in front of goal so many times but seemed to want to wait for support instead of taking a shot. Very frustrating and he didn't deserve to play with such a performance like that. However, their number 17, a fast midfielder, slapped in a few decent free kicks from at least 30-yards out making the keeper really work.

 

Another one of my pictures. The place was bouncing by this point, just after the first goal.

 

All-in-all it was actually a brlliant match and had a great community feel to it. Perhaps it wasn't the best football in existance but what really is? Latics, of course. For the price and reach of the ground I'd definitely go back to watch another match of that. I wanted to get a scarf to add to my collection of grounds I've visited outside the UK. There were only 2 in the small, cramped shop located in the mainstand but this "friendship" scarf was just beautiful. Forza Borussia!

 

In lasting frienship

 

I'm off to watch Hertha Berlin v Energie Cottbus tomorrow for their last game as champions of the 2. Bundesliga. I could write another if anyone found this worth reading. I guess there might be a bit more to write about tomorrow at the Olympiastadion. Come on!

Edited May 18, 2013 by GuyGermanLatic

[Matt]

Great stuff mate.

[Forte_Baby]

Glad you liked the suggestion always had a soft from seeing them near the top on teletext in German to days when i worked in Mcdonalds and a German lad called Till supported them. Sadly when they have a bit of success they seem to over do it and get demoted. Glad you enjoyed it keep saying i will watch them one day.

[ceskylatic]

I look forward to your report later from the Hertha game Guy.I've an interest in German and Czech football (hence the name Cesky) and go to games when possible (Hamburg,Munich,Prague,Plzen mostly) so am interested in any news,reports you can share.

Cheers