Purple and white decline: TeBe is now languishing in the 5th league.
Photo: imago/Matthias Koch
In November the wheat is separated from the chaff. Anyone who spent the Berlin summer wearing shirts and skirts must now dress warmly in order to be able to fully enjoy the joys of lower-class football. Tennis Borussia was once again on the agenda for me and my charming companion on Sunday. At least once a year we go to the Mommsenstadion to honor the nice purple and white West Berliners with a visit. Nowhere in Berlin is the scene more free of discrimination than at TB; you would like to drink a beer with every single fan. Unfortunately it’s not possible because a) even in the top league around 400 people still support TeBe and b) the beer in the stadium used to taste better. TeBe was swallowed by the Oberliga Nordost last year. This is the 5th league, every treasurer’s terror.
Ballhaus East
Photo: Anne Hahn
Frank Willman looks at the football between Leipzig, Łódź and Ljubljana.
In the regional league I once snacked on fine Quartermaster beer and delicious organic food, served by long-haired cute boys. Yesterday we were frightened by three scruffy characters with so-called meat products in plastic packaging and strange beer, where it was better not to intervene about the origin and brewing process. When I repeated my order (too quietly for the zombie at the hatch), he immediately recognized in me “… another one of those little men who have nothing to say at home and even have to do their nails…”.
Wine is no longer available because the casino was closed, the legendary place for every TeBe tasting, where West Berliners could drink Engelhardt for one mark ninety since 1987 (at some point the brewery went bankrupt, then there was honest, very fresh Schulti on tap, handed out by the evil Wessiwirt, Ossis had to stay outside for the first few years after the fall of the Wall). Please, please get the casino up and running again, it can’t be difficult to run the place cooperatively?
Poor TeBe. At least the grandstand where the active scene (200 people) had gathered and sang songs was still standing. The Lichtenberg opponent also came with a hand-counted (thanks to Jörg) 192 fanatics to see their team win 1-0 away in a light drizzle and ten degrees above zero. Of course, TeBe would also have liked to make it to the quarter-finals of the state cup because the coffers are empty and the club has not yet managed to worm its way into Berlin’s football hearts.
On December 3rd you can experience TeBe for the last time in 2023, then there will be a shift in the Oberliga Nordost until mid-February. Before the game, I recommend visiting the Georg Kolbe Museum around the corner, where Lin May Saeed, who unfortunately died in August, exhibited her polystyrene sculptures, which can still be seen. It’s about the subjugation (and liberation) of animals by humans. And never forget: This fits in perfectly with Tennis Borussia! At least as good as the subjugation of 1. FC Union Berlin through money.
I miss the sold-out Union games at TeBe in the 90s and early noughties, but maybe we’ll have them again in a few years, the favor of the football devil is deceptive and mean. This deep thought did not yet move the four purple-and-white flag-waving children, who bravely abused their plastic flags, looked upon with benevolence by their parents, to whom the afternoon of football with their friends gave them the greatest happiness, because true friendship and true solidarity only require a few things.
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