Corona in sports in Hamburg: the last moments before the lockdown

Hamburg. One of them mourned when he thought again this week about those days that will forever remain the strangest in our lives: the last moments from before. CloseWhen this word “Corona“I’m still a little unsure and above all flutters in the air without being recognized, smiling happily or even being ignored. Then it all got to be totally different. Sports Reporter From the evening newspaper, remember.

HSV game: There is a train that does not go anywhere

Friday, March 13th, was a historic day for the herpes simplex trend for several reasons. Because HSV had already wanted – shortly before the impending shutdown – to play the first ghost game in club history at SpVgg Greuther Fürth. And the German Football League had already decided in the morning to suspend the match for the time being due to Corona.

At noon, however, it was said that the ball should keep rolling this match day. So, while the HSV entourage was having lunch at the Sheraton Hotel in Nuremberg, Bayern Munich coach Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, not far away, assured that the continuation of the match was a top priority (“It’s all about finances at the end of the game. Day”) The Hamburg journalists took off. To Fürth on ICE 587. At the time, no one knew it was going to be a train ride anywhere.

But around the time that Fürth arrived at 3:38 PM, DFL changed his mind. “According to the current developments related to the Coronavirus: the German League has decided to postpone the 26th round of the German Bundesliga and the second German League,” read the statement, which was sent shortly thereafter. The consequence? Greasy pizza at the train station, some phone calls and the next train from Fürth to Hamburg. On board the train, he wrote the “Refusal Facts” article about the postponement of the first match related to Corona and the safe feeling that HSV will not play football for a while after Friday the 13th of this month.

Kidding about the Chinese buffet

Ball kids who had to wear black plastic gloves in order to hand tennis professionals yellow balls – this photo is the one that burned itself out in the reporter’s last experience of normalcy before Corona. In the Daviscup duel between German and Belarusian men on March 7, 2020, there was no one who did not consider this measure practical. Of course, one had heard of this virus that was spreading. But the sterilizing dispensers were prepared in a hurry and most visitors to Castillo Düsseldorf were left unused. 3,000 people were allowed to view aces. Distance, which the Rhinelander generally does not appreciate, was not an issue. Behind closed doors – no one was wearing masks – jokes were heard about a Chinese buffet in the VIP room with leftovers from an animal market in Wuhan. Colleagues who avoided traveling to North Rhine-Westphalia were expelled and described as hysterical.

However, returning to the hotel was my first encounter with the new reality. According to a decree of the state government, the dining room must remain closed. Only 3,000 people celebrated a 4-1 victory for the German tennis men, and not even ten hotel guests were allowed to eat together. By comparison, tennis was still played a lot in 2020, at Rothenbaum in Hamburg in September even with 2,000 spectators. The Davis Cup finals in Madrid, for which German men qualified in Dusseldorf, have been postponed by one year until November 2021. We have long been accustomed to children’s ball with gloves.

Longing for Sandhausen

Oh Sandhausen, dream about a place for a soccer fan! 9,872 spectators gathered on Sunday 8 March at the Hardtwald Stadium in the small town of Baden to watch the SV Sandhausen match against FC St. Pauli in the second division. Smells of sausages and beer. Groups of fans stood close together, sang, celebrated and swayed. There were gaps in the stands that had nothing to do with the rules of distance. The match ended 2-2 and was really meant to be forgotten – if not an unforgettable experience. Due to circumstances.

This was St. Pauli’s last game so far at a “full” stadium. Although the epidemic was already on its way, at that time he was in Sandhausen. I heard about it in the news, China, Bologna, it was getting close, but it was still far away.

The S-Bahn from Mannheim via Heidelberg to Sandhausen was filled with St. Pauli fans. They had beer with them, and had lunch on Sunday on the train. The police officers looked suspicious, but did not escalate. Everything is good, everything is as always. The group of fan choirs has only expanded in Hamburg: Pauli and Corona – we’re dying anyway! “Funny. And now all together. We went in the narrow bus to the stadium, close to each other, of course no one wore a mask. Himmelman was strong, and there was only Benatelli from St. Pauli’s starting lineup last Saturday in Karlsruhe. Another time. Oh.” Sandhausen! Ah

A sentence like the sword of Damocles

In today’s perspective, the 34:28 home win looks like the initial spark of what Verein Hamburg is experiencing these days. As the leaders of the schedule, second-tier handball players will be sent for promotion to the Bundesliga in March 2021. The performance on March 8, 2020 was Division One. The match against SG BBM Bietigheim was “close to optimal” (coach Torsten Jansen). The offensive and defense vortex of Leif Tissier & Co. She is the benchmark for an upcoming debut. A year ago, it was also the last professional handball match of the 2019/20 season, which was later canceled, which kicked off nationwide.

Late on a Sunday afternoon, 3,117 fans took up residence at the Hamburg Sports Hall for the last time. For the last time, they cheered for the team loudly, and after the match gathered in Enab to chat about “their children” and closely followed the press conference around the hall. It has already appeared to many: “Who knows when this will be the next time.” You should be right.

Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) followed a moderate interview about the epidemiological situation in “Bild am Sonntag” that morning at 9:02 am via Twitter: “Safety first. Therefore, more major events should be canceled.” At 3 PM: 08 pm, the German news agency finally supported Spahn’s proposal to ban events with more than 1,000 visitors. Soon a sentence was circulating before, during and after the Hamburg handball match at 5 pm, like the Sword of Damocles on the game evaluation: by players, fans and officials. On March 12, the second division suspended its operations for five days of matches until the end of April before it was canceled.

Marooned at the end of the world

On a Monday morning in New Zealand, Leonie Meyer didn’t know what to do next. The kiel skater needed a father’s advice, which is why the phone rang on Sunday evening in Hamburg, 12 hours 18,000 kilometers from Klaus Lamm. The club manager and sporting director of the North German Regatta Federation (NRV) took the time to try to calm down the member of his Olympic team. You have to stay on the bottom. There, in Auckland, it can still train, and the epidemic has not been as advanced as it is in Germany, where nothing will soon be possible on the water and in the water, Lamm said.

The 27-year-old Meyer is stranded on the other side of the world. On Facebook, she shared with her followers, friends, and even the Evening Newspaper her turmoil. On the other hand, she is doing well in New Zealand, since the end of February, she has been training under the best conditions of her sporting life, during her internship at North Shore Hospital. On the other hand, the medical student wants to return to Germany in the eighth semester, to help local clinics full of patients, to be with family and friends in times of crisis.

A few days later, New Zealand too was locked down, the island country itself locked down from the virus, his mother’s advice was outdated. Two scheduled trips to return to Germany were canceled, and the German consulate could only be reached by announcing the tape. The German kite race champion returned to Kiel only on April 8 when the federal government’s repatriation program was resumed.

In September she took second place in the mixed tournament. Today she says: “The year of Corona taught me that you can plan as much as you want and then everything can change.” At the end of April, Leonie Meyer is expecting her first child – a closed baby.

Corona? Now football!

Friday, March 6, 2020 5:30 p.m. I’m on bus 154 in the direction of Hovesteig. A stone’s throw away, on the artificial turf stadium in Slomanstraße in the Videl region, the FC Kosova and ASV Hamburg’s promotion candidate are dueled within 90 minutes. Sixth league, more precisely: Landesliga Hansa. In fact, I always use the flight to prepare for the game. But now it’s all about one thought: Will I shake hands with the coaches before the match? The Hamburg Football Association recommended that all teams refrain from shaking hands before the match. Because of the Corona virus. I still wear my glove on the bus.

I arrived an hour before the match started. Coaches and teams are still in the cabin. I’m talking to two big ASV fans about the game, and suddenly Corona is no longer playing a role. Finally Daniel Saqr came to me. Saint Pauli is a former professional and coach of Kosovo. Reflectively, I take off my glove and shake it. I’m just being polite. And I feel uncomfortable. Before kick-off, the two teams greet each other with fists, as recommended by Al-Ittihad.

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Some guys laugh. Corona? Now football! The emotional game ends 1: 1. Shortly before the final whistle, Dorian Bella from Kosovo sees the map of traffic lights. authorized. Bella doesn’t think so. He speaks intensely with Referee Mueller. “Dorian,” shouts a hawk, annoyed. “Dorian, come down! What else do you want there?” In the circle, ASV coach Ghazi Mustafa encourages his players to fight for promotion. Shortly thereafter, amateur football in Hamburg temporarily left the stage.

Mike Taylors Letzter Talk

No one who spoke to spirited Mike Taylor could understand why the Hamburg Towers managed to put down such a long streak of defeats in the German Basketball League last season. It was the same for me during my first press tour with the coach. On March 5th, we sat in “Towers Time Out” near edel-optics.de. I was allowed to help (finally!), None of the reporters had time.

In the café’s bistro, the 47-year-old provided further evidence of his unwavering optimism ahead of the game in Göttingen – despite seven straight defeats, along with a drop to the bottom of the table. On March 13th, just days after bitter defeat again in the 95:10 ratio, coach Marvin Willoughby informed the players of the season’s hiatus. It should continue after four weeks. Puff cake. The canceled season was synonymous with saving the zodiac, but it was also synonymous with Taylor, who could no longer prove that he really managed the transformation. And I had two conversations with Taylor after that. The beginning and the end.