Schlagwort-Archiv: Winter

After last week’s look at bigger things, now a look at a smaller idiocy on part of the DFB (German FA).
Last weekend, winter came to Germany. Sort of. There was not a lot of snow, but it was enough to see quite an impressive number of games cancelled in the Regionalliga Nord. Among the games cancelled was Magdeburg’s match in Hamburg’s Stadion Hoheluft against Altonaer FC von 1893.
Altona had been looking forward to the match, because it promised to boost their attendance that was stuck at a meagre 1,107 spectators on average. As 1. FC Magdeburg have the reputation of bringing a considerable contingent of travelling fans, there was much rejoicing in Altona. Then, however, the snow came and the game was cancelled.
In its infinite wisdom, the German FA have since decided to fix December 3, a Wednesday, as the new date. This alone was sufficient to reduce the travelling contingent, as it s a regular working day. But the FA have gone a step further. As Hoheluft does not possess floodlights – or rather, as the DFB consider them inadequate, kick-off time has been fixed at 2pm. That is 2 o’clock in the afternoon, or 1400 hrs. Obviously, this move largely eliminates any chances for a large attendance.
Neither club had desired to play at this date or at this time, but the DFB fixed the date anyway. I think the general opinion is a nice sarcastic „thank you very much“.

The week before, Magdeburg beat Energie Cottbus II with a 3-1 scoreline and moved within one point of league leaders Kiel.