Two Kinds of Football

A Weekend of Sports Viewing in Hannover and Gottingen 

It's always nice to have a weekend with absolutely no commitments, but it's even better in Europe. The travel options are endless, and I have a bucket list of destinations that I need to start crossing off. 

This past weekend I made plans with my Dudley friends Lukas Ebeler and Moritz Dehl to meet up in Hannover. I consider Hannover my home city in Germany, because in 2009 I spent three weeks there through Camp Dudley's exchange program with German YMCA Camp Abbensen. At the German camp I made so many friends, many of whom have attended Dudley through the exchange as well. It seems Lukas has visited Dudley more than any German. I remember him leading one of my canoe trips when I was thirteen; that was one of the hardest trips I've ever been on. 

Before I talk about the visit, I want to mention how much I love having a rail pass. I purchased my multi-country Eurail pass back in July, but the trip to Hannover was my first chance to use it. Basically I can ride anywhere I want within the selected countries. The pass is based on traveling days, too; on each one of the traveling days, I can take as many trips as I need or want. On Saturday's ICE train from Frankfurt to Hannover, I sat down in first class by mistake. Since they often don't check tickets for much of the train ride, I enjoyed an hour or so of first class comfort before being told I was in the wrong compartment. (Maybe I'll do that every train ride). 

Hannover

The city was buzzing when I arrived. Moritz met me at the train station, and for a few hours he took me on a tour of the inner city. I remembered a lot from 2009, but it was really neat seeing the streets, shops, and buildings again. We stopped for a lunch of Doner and walked over to the Hannover 96 Football Club fan shop where I bought a shirt. Everyone was sporting 96 gear, so I had to try to fit in. Plus, I'd grown out of my shirt that I bought in 2009. 

Hannover 96 v Werder Bremen

AWD-Arena was packed on Saturday with 50,000 passionate fans

An hour and a half before the game agains rival Werder Bremen, Moritz and I made our way to the Nordkurve Bier Garten. Only two-hundred yards from the stadium, we could see the masses of people flooding in. Nordkurve is the section of the arena that seats the supporter clubs, and the beer garden also hosted some crazy fans. 

We found seats at one of the eighty or so red tables, ordered a couple Weissbiers, and waited for the game to begin. It was a great time for people spec-tating--all shapes and sizes of Hannoverians were out in support of their club. The tables and benches were packed well before the game, but that wasn't most interesting. About twenty minutes before kickoff, many fans left the beer garden and moved towards the stadium. I guess it's cheaper to drink beer outside the stadium than it is inside. Within minutes many had left to find their seats, but they were replaced at the Nordkurve with a new crowd of supporters. These people obviously didn't have tickets for the game, and their arriving time fit immaculately with the other group's departure. So as the whistle blew for kickoff, the beer garden was again packed with well over a thousand fans, all staring up at the big screen.

The pictures don't do do the number of fans at the Nordkurve justice;
the ring around the tables was up to ten people deep.

The rivalry bout turned out to be incredible. Hannover scored four minutes in off a free kick. We were so close to the stadium that we heard the cheers for the goal before we saw it on the screen. Moritz and I found ourselves getting high fives and hugs from anyone and everyone sitting near us. Then Hannover scored again, and ten minutes in, it looked like the game was over.  But Bremen earned a PK towards the end of the first half, making it 2-1. The visitors thoroughly dominated the second half and scored the tying goal with fifteen minutes remaining. The cheers from all around us had turned to groans. Twice when the score was tied did Bremen have goals called back because of offsides, and from what I could see, either could've been counted. Hannover was now hanging on for a draw. The crowd grew restless; they did not want a tie against their rivals at home. Then, in the 93rd minute, in one of the most thrilling thirty seconds of my life, Hannover stole the ball, played it up to the left flank, and served it in to striker Szablocs Huszti who a spectacular bicycle kick goal. (Click here for the highlights, go to 1:20 for the epic goal). The only time I remember going that crazy for a goal was Donovan's stoppage time goal in the 2010 World Cup, but then, I was not in the middle of a huge crowd of fans or right next door to the stadium. People were standing on tables, showering beer, and hugging anyone they could get their hands on. 

I hope that it won't be long until I make it into the stadium for a Bundesliga match, but that day in Hannover was a pretty awesome introduction to the world of German professional soccer. 

Other Notes on Hannover

The city was still celebrating the victory late into the night, and Lukas, Moritz, and I joined in some of the festivities. Hannover at night isn't loud or unsafe, but people were definitely enjoying themselves after the successful day for their club. 

I stayed with Lukas, and the next morning we managed to find an open bakery (nearly everything is closed on Sundays) and got chocolate croissants. 

That afternoon I sat through a field hockey game, which was the first time I'd ever watched the sport. I'm sure like all sports it can be entertaining when played at a high level, but Lukas's team was so far superior to the opponent that it was hard for me to be excited. 

Shortly after the game it was back to the station where we boarded a slow train heading south to Gottingen, where Lukas goes to university.

Gottingen

It was straight to a friend's apartment from the Gottingen train station, because we had a different type of football to watch. For non-Americans, Lukas and his friends were well versed in the NFL. Here, ESPN America has one game in each time slot, and a German network covers another game. Everyone agreed that the German announcers were awful, so we watched the Eagles-Ravens, which kicked off at 7 PM. I also streamed the Pats game to my laptop, which was a bad decision since I suffered through Tom Brady 3-and-outs and an awful field goal miss. Still, watching football is always fun, and though the Chinese food we ordered was average at best, I really did enjoyed myself.

The next game slated for ESPN America was Jets-Steelers, a 10:15 kickoff. There's a reason I named my Fantasy Football team the Sunday All-Nighters, because we watched straight through the end of the fairly boring game. Lukas and I then said goodbye to his friends, walked twenty minutes back to his flat, and turned on the pre-game for the late 49ers-Lions game. I made it through the first quarter, finally falling asleep at a cool 3:30. 

Gottingen is perhaps the truest university city in Germany. 25,000 of the city's 100,000 residents are students, and another 10,000 or so work for the school. Every building from the oldest, elaborate houses to the new apartment buildings house students. Though I didn't get too much of a chance to explore the old part of the city and walk the pedestrian-only streets, I can tell that it's a nice place to go to school. It's no private American college--no German university is--but it's a great place for education.

Wrapping Up 

It was great to see my see my friends and to spend a few nights in different places. The highlight of the trip was definitely witnessing the Hannover 96 victory, but each day held something different and special. I'm sure this won't be the last time I meet up with Lukas, as we've already begun scheming travel plans for the upcoming weeks. I've got a lot of great trips lined up, ones that I've been dreaming about for months. We'll see where the European transportation network takes me; like I said before, the possibilities are endless.