Walldorf

At around the end of September I ordered six tickets for the German second division match between SC Freiburg and St Pauli match in the 2. Bundesliga for Sunday afternoon, 21 October, for myself, John, Berenice, Perry, Scott and Karl-Heinz. Any match involving the self-styled anarchists from the famous district of Hamburg is always an interesting affair, I thought. Seeing that the annual Walldorfer Kerwe was also taking place that weekend - a fest I've never been to - John and Berenice invited me to come up on the day before to check out the new abode they've purchased in downtown Walldorf, go and watch a spot of local football, have a few beverages at the fest and watch the Rugby World Cup Final later in the evening.

A propos football: FC Astoria Walldorf were playing FC Kirchheim/Teck at home that afternoon. The cost of a season ticket at Walldorf is all of 40 euro - extremely good value as this equates to just eight home matches over the whole season. Theoretically, you could get your money's worth by Christmas. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, John had bought himself such a ticket at the start of the season, so he just sauntered in through the turnstile while we plebs had to pay 6 euro to get in.

Just to put this in perspective: FC Astoria were promoted from the Verbandsliga Nordbaden last season and now play in the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg - that's technically the German fourth division, but after the second division all clubs are amateur, and the lower the level the more split up regionally leagues become, so it's hard to compare with, say, England. By way of comparison, SV Weil play one level lower in the Verbandsliga Südbaden.

Anyway, the match finished 5-1 to Astoria. John, Berenice, Perry and Paul also watched the match with me. Quite an entertaining match featuring a lovely goal from a free kick. The visitors scored first, but FCA came back strongly and ran out comfortable winners. Here's a short 20 second clip - with drums and all from the Astoria "ultras" who were stood next to us in the Haupttribüne. Incidentally, for those of you who are geographically inclined, Walldorf is situated close to the Hockenheimring and will realise that the trees in the background of the second photo are typical of the area surrounding this most famous of grand prix circuits.

After returning from the ground, we headed to the Kerwe and enjoyed an assortment of snacks and some aperitifs, including some vile drink called Schneeflöckchen during Happy Hour (or - as the Walldorfer locals would phonetically say - "Häbbi Auer"; see photo below). Paul - whose wife and kids were far away in Wiesbaden that day - stayed on with myself, John and Berenice, and also watched the rugby with us. After the final whistle, we headed back out into the chill October night (it couldn't have been more than 4C) and met up with Perry again in town for a further few beverages before calling it a day at 1 a.m.

Next day was the trip to Freiburg, but that's the subject of my next post.