In the converted Ernst Abbe sports field, Jena’s footballers were finally able to celebrate again in the league after their victory in the Thuringia Cup.
Photo: image/Bild13
On Saturday I wanted to take the Deutsche Bahn straight to paradise in Jena. As you can probably imagine, the journey became very complicated with one change in Halle. The adventure train from Berlin was late, the regional train wasn’t waiting in Halle, I had to rush to Jena via Erfurt. The normal processes of a train journey. I know you know that. It’s still not nice.
Sweating well, I reached the stadium construction site (as if by a miracle, it wouldn’t be the last) in time. I munched on a sausage in the press area, casually greeted a few colleagues, listened to their complaints with a smile and happily climbed into the main stand to watch from the top as the kickers from Jena and Rostock (2nd team) warmed up below. Maybe I should say I tried to spot the players during their drills. Because clever and cunning as I am, I had left my far-sighted glasses in beautiful Berlin so that I didn’t have to watch the possibly sad game of the Jena fifth gods in all its terrible details. By Saturday, Jena had only won one of nine games and was sitting in a relegation zone in the Regionalliga Nordost. Jena and relegation to the Oberliga, yes, unfortunately all of that has already happened.
Ballhaus East
Photo: Anne Hahn
Frank Willman looks at the football between Leipzig, Łódź and Ljubljana.
Thanks to the club’s poor performance, the specter of relegation was chilling in the players’ sporting cerebellums. Nevertheless, almost 3,800 hopeful people came to the construction site to cheer on their favorites. First and foremost, the Ultras, who stand unconditionally behind the team and the proclaimed motto: promotion at some point, if everything fits. By the way, 25 Hansa fans also came to the stadium. Fucking second teams in game operations!
The new stadium in Jena will be great. Hopefully people will embrace it – the Saturday audience filled it to a quarter this time. The acoustics are great, the tartan track has finally disappeared, the spectators sit and stand close to the action, you can see well from every seat, soon everything will be covered. The roar of the 25 people from Rostock was clearly audible, as were the chants of the active Jena fans, you could have sang along to everything. But I didn’t want to. And became stubborn when Hansa took the lead.
Miracle of miracles, Jena suddenly woke up and played 30 minutes of good fourth division football. My heart warmed, I blushed with happiness and breathed deeply in and out. When Jena scored 5-1, I reached the boiling point of frenzy. Farewell to the specter of relegation, now we are rolling up the field from behind.
The next game will take place at Energie Cottbus; In the end there was nothing for Jena to gain there, except Lausitz ridicule and malice from the coach. The old grinder and rabble-rouser Wollitz leads the knout in the land of the cucumber and drives his willing team to the top of the table. Maybe you need the power of evil and pain if you want to survive in the regional league. In Jena, players and the team danced in a circle after the win against Hansa, and everyone seemed to love each other. Cuddling course or whip, I don’t know either.
Back in Berlin, the next day I met fans of 1. FC Union Berlin swaying and singing at the train station: “It’s all good, I don’t give a shit, all the time! Union, yes.” Her club had lost its seventh competitive game in a row the day before, but she didn’t seem to be able to achieve that at all. I envied her. Her loyal spirit nonchalantly drove away pain.
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