Who won? That is Dortmund vs Berlin? Wonder why Berlin haven't as yet put together a really successful team. Capital city, lots of kudos, big support potential, presumably lots of money around and potential investors, or are Berliners into rugby or a German sport I've never heard of?
Was 2-2 with Hertha getting a late penalty to equalise, mostly against the run of play. Dortmund look great going forward and they seemed hopeful of a good season in both the Bundesliga and the Champions League.
Went out for some dinner and beers with some Dortmund lads - it’s interesting that they perceive Berlin to be economically less robust as was is in (albeit partly) East Germany. Hertha are the right wing club and Union are the left wing.
I was surprised about a bit of trouble in the ground from the Hertha Ultras, kicking off big time with the police and then giving a steward a bit of a shoeing. The Dortmund lads we were with said this kind of stuff does happen in the Bundesliga and Hertha have a bad reputation for it. The police seemed
very lenient. SYPD would have battered them and this is something I haven’t seen in the UK for 10-15 years at least. One steward had a real pop back though and dropped some absolute bombs!
Other observations were there were loads more younger lads and lasses, kids and teenagers in the crowd. The atmosphere was outstanding and the safe standing section behind the goal was superb all game. What a scene! I was in the family section where the older folk and families were sat, but they still all got involved with the chanting. There was also a club bar at the ground with a band, music, food and loads of local beer. Train tickets from Düsseldorf (about an hour away) were included in the match day price!
The sooner we get a large safe standing section at SUFC the better. The sight of 25,000 young lads and lasses, plus the young at heart, bouncing around and singing for 90 minutes made me realise what we’ve lost at football in England.
