Dortmund vs Hannover

[pete 2,499]

I am going through to watch this game on Sunday. We are going with about 15 guy's from my work. I will miss the rangers game which is a bummer but hopefully i will be a great experience richer. As for the price. I paid 31 euro's including the ticket and the bus. The guy that arranged it apologised that he had charged us too much and has arranged for two crates of beer on the bus with the extra money. German football does seem to be still at a family price.

 

I will post some photo's on Sunday night if sober enough.

[JMS 0]

I am going through to watch this game on Sunday. We are going with about 15 guy's from my work. I will miss the rangers game which is a bummer but hopefully i will be a great experience richer. As for the price. I paid 31 euro's including the ticket and the bus. The guy that arranged it apologised that he had charged us too much and has arranged for two crates of beer on the bus with the extra money. German football does seem to be still at a family price.

 

I will post some photo's on Sunday night if sober enough.

 

Always had a soft spot for S.04 myself mate but look forward to the picture's

[pete 2,499]

Always had a soft spot for S.04 myself mate but look forward to the picture's

 

I was at the Shalke v Rangers game. Stadium and Complex are incredible. Somewhere on here are the photo's.

[pete 2,499]

On Sunday at 13.30 together with 18 colleagues from my work, we left on a Dortmund supporters bus from Gronau just over the Dutch-German Border for the +-90 minute Journey to Dortmund. After driving for just five minutes we made our first stop. We were stopped outside a licensed grocers where crate after crate after crate of beer were loaded on to the bus. A few bottles of soft drink and some cool-boxes with rolls and schnitzel and meatballs were also loaded.

Straight away crates of beer were being passed down the line and almost after every 8 rows of seats a crate blocked the passage.

A paper was handed out with with information of times of the coming games and ticket availability and price. Also on the paper was the drink and food list.

1 euro for a bottle of beer, cheap as chips, and we had already paid for a few crates in the price of our ticket. The room between the seats of the bus was minimal and after trying all ways to put my knees i decided to stand in the passage. God knows how people can go on long journeys on these buses.

 

We raced down the motorway with the rain throwing it down and bottle after bottle and crate after crate of beer seemed to come and go. Thankfully we had two piss-stops planned for the journey and they were welcome indeed. After the beer started to take effect the songs started to come and the excitement for the game started to mount. Funnily enough after a few Dortmund anthems it was clear that more of their songs were about their hatred of Schalke, other than over Dortmund.(Seemed familiar.) One of Their songs was the German version of Blue and White *****. I refused to join in with that one of course.

 

Arriving at the Stadium we got off the bus and had to join a long queue where at the end we were searched for any weapons. On entering the catacomb of the stadium we were confronted with a flight of stairs and more stairs and more stairs. My thighs were starting to burn when we at last reached the level where we could enter the playing area. Of course we had to get a couple of beers in first. 5 euro's for a half-litre with 1.50 deposit return on the plastic jug.(3.50 for the beer). Stupid bloody system as they wouldn't fill up the jug you had. You had to pay 5 euro's for beer and jug every time and hunt for a check-point to get your money back.

 

On entering the playing area to look for our seat we were confronted by yet another massive and very steep climb. again the old thighs were starting to burn before we found our seat. The view was good but if i went any higher my fear of heights may have kicked in, and we were not near the top yet.

 

As for the game itself i can say there were two beautiful goals in a 1-1 draw, both very similar, in that they were both shots cracking off the under-side of the bar. Hanover played a more relaxed passing game and Dortmund were a bit hectic with easy ball loss. But the only other excitement that the fans had was when it was flashed up on the screen that Schalke were losing 2-1(ended 2-2 in the last minute).

The second half was total crap. I even reverted to talking about work with a colleague.

The stadium for me was a massive big block of cold grey Cement with stairs stairs and more stairs. A bit like climbing the old Gorbal flats. The seating area did look impressive with 84.000 seats but it is very steep.

Sorry but their rivals Schalke's Stadium impressed me a lot more but i will admit i was stone cold sober when i was there.

 

It took us ages to get back out of Dortmund making the journey back a long haul. Unfortunately the speed of the beer didn't seem to slow down and i have been paying for it for two days now. I 'll never drink again! Well at least not to the weekend. The Dortmund supporters treated us great and i had a fantastic time and hopefully will repeat it in the future.

 

I promised Photo's of the stadium but unfortunately my camera Ckufed up and i am waiting to get some from a colleague(he phoned in sick for two days) When i get some i will post them.

[Jon 0]

Pictures from Pete........

 

 

 

[Jon 0]

 

 

[JMS 0]

Some good photo's there pete, as you say it looks some height up.

Cheers for that.