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Post by Bayern Gull on Dec 19, 2010 16:05:27 GMT
Here are some photos from yesterday's game between FC Augsburg and Hertha Berlin. It ended a 1-1 draw meaning that Augsburg remain top of Bundesliga 2 with Hertha in second place. Yesterday's gate was over 25,000 and confirms a huge concern in Augsburg about their attendances - namely cherry-picking. They got 30,000 for the game against TSV Munich 1860 and a big gate for Hertha yesterday but for the other games there are only 13,000 or so turning up. At yesterday's game they were offering half-season tickets (9 games) for only 89 Euros! These tickets are for the large (and very steep - see photos below) covered terrace behind the goal. The feeling on the Augsburg fan forums is that it is very difficult to persuade people to become fans since most people are very carefully budgeting themselves at the moment (and this in an area where the disposable income is much higher than it is for most people in Torbay). As with every game I go to in Germany I was asked about the game and result on the way home (actually 3 times yesterday) so lots of interest exists but difficult to convert into paying customers. I took the photos below at half-time and had a real problem putting the camera away and getting my gloves back on due to the extreme cold. We had 30-40 cm of snow and it was -11 when I left my car at the railway station and probably not much warmer during the game (note the mist in the photos). Still the roads were clear and the train and tram all on time. Incidentally tram and bus travel is free in Augsburg for 3 hours before and after a game to anyone with a ticket for the match.     |
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Dave
TFF member
Posts: 13,081
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Post by Dave on Dec 19, 2010 18:29:48 GMT
Thanks for the report and pictures Bayern Gull, its great getting reports and pictures from other countries. It does not sound like they let the weather from stopping games going ahead, that sounds a lot of snow and bloody cold as well.
Interesting to learn about the free travel for 3 hours before and after a game to anyone with a ticket for the match. Do you know who picks up the tab? Is it the club itself or the city council, or what ever it’s called in Germany.
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Post by Bayern Gull on Dec 19, 2010 19:47:51 GMT
Thanks for the report and pictures Bayern Gull, its great getting reports and pictures from other countries. It does not sound like they let the weather from stopping games going ahead, that sounds a lot of snow and bloody cold as well. Interesting to learn about the free travel for 3 hours before and after a game to anyone with a ticket for the match. Do you know who picks up the tag? Is it the club itself or the city council, or what ever it’s called in Germany. Most of the teams in the top 2 divisions have under-soil heating and the transportation systems are very well equipped to deal with winter weather. It's worth remembering that Germany's massive export-based economy relies on good transportation links so the country cannot afford for it to be out-of-action for very long. The transportation company (it actually includes water and energy as well) in Augsburg is a private company wholly owned by the city of Augsburg. The local authority considers it an obligation to promote its local sporting teams AND to help the citizens who elected it to take part in the cultural life of the city. |
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Dave
TFF member
Posts: 13,081
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Post by Dave on Dec 19, 2010 19:55:23 GMT
The transportation company (it actually includes water and energy as well) in Augsburg is a private company wholly owned by he city of Augsburg. The local authority considers it an obligation to promote its local sporting teams AND to help the citizens who elected it to take part in the cultural life of the city. Wishful thinking anything like that would happen in Torbay, we have never had any help from any council no matter who was in power. The only time the town hall has ever wanted to know the club, was when we have won promotion and they can get their faces on the TV. Nearly forgot, also when Roberts came to town and promised he could deliver greatly improved sports facilities. |
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Post by chrish on Dec 19, 2010 20:36:09 GMT
Thanks for posting those photos BayernGull. It looks like a very steep stadium. Steeper than the away end at Boston and one of the ends at Lens which was like climbing the North Face of the Eiger.
It seems a shame that they can't fill it week in, week out. Further up the A8 and the A6 you've got Hoffenheim who have a stadium of similar size and they're filling it every week.
What were they averaging at home before the move to the new stadium? A lot has been made of how moving to a new ground has seen both Chesterfield and Shrewsbury double their gates. Giving that Augsburg are top of the league you would hope that more than 13,000 would turn up. Especially when Nando Rafael is scoring a few goals. I saw him play a few seasons ago for Gladbach. Quite a decent player I thought.
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Post by Bayern Gull on Dec 20, 2010 18:33:53 GMT
What were they averaging at home before the move to the new stadium? A lot has been made of how moving to a new ground has seen both Chesterfield and Shrewsbury double their gates. Giving that Augsburg are top of the league you would hope that more than 13,000 would turn up. Especially when Nando Rafael is scoring a few goals. I saw him play a few seasons ago for Gladbach. Quite a decent player I thought. The average gate is almost the same as it was in the old stadium but in both cases the average is made up of a few huge gates and many relatively poor gates. Augsburg have come back up from a very low level of football in the last 10 years (Bayernliga) where gates had dropped to around 1,000 so looking at it another way they have massively increased the core support but cannot hold the cherry-pickers. Yes, Nando Rafael is a good player - scored a good penalty on Saturday under great pressure. He is also ex-Hertha and their players caused a lot of hassle before the kick could be taken. In all 4 players were sent off (2 from each team) - a classic case of the referee over-reacting early on and having to be consistent with the first red card. The game was completely out of his control several times with what Alan Hansen used to call "handbags at dawn" incidents. Augsburg are home to Schalke in the quarter final of the cup tonight (sold out weeks ago - cherry-pickers again!) but midweek games don't fit my work-schedule or family commitments so I won't be there. Incidentally, FC Memmingen did double their gates following the rebuilding of their stadium. Not long after the winter-break ends (it starts after this week's cup games) Augsburg are away to Munich 1860 - I'm going to attend that one. It could be a sell-out (69,000) as it's been close to that even when the teams were not doing that well. |
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Post by chrish on Dec 21, 2010 9:18:44 GMT
What were they averaging at home before the move to the new stadium? A lot has been made of how moving to a new ground has seen both Chesterfield and Shrewsbury double their gates. Giving that Augsburg are top of the league you would hope that more than 13,000 would turn up. Especially when Nando Rafael is scoring a few goals. I saw him play a few seasons ago for Gladbach. Quite a decent player I thought. The average gate is almost the same as it was in the old stadium but in both cases the average is made up of a few huge gates and many relatively poor gates. Augsburg have come back up from a very low level of football in the last 10 years (Bayernliga) where gates had dropped to around 1,000 so looking at it another way they have massively increased the core support but cannot hold the cherry-pickers. Yes, Nando Rafael is a good player - scored a good penalty on Saturday under great pressure. He is also ex-Hertha and their players caused a lot of hassle before the kick could be taken. In all 4 players were sent off (2 from each team) - a classic case of the referee over-reacting early on and having to be consistent with the first red card. The game was completely out of his control several times with what Alan Hansen used to call "handbags at dawn" incidents. Augsburg are home to Schalke in the quarter final of the cup tonight (sold out weeks ago - cherry-pickers again!) but midweek games don't fit my work-schedule or family commitments so I won't be there. Incidentally, FC Memmingen did double their gates following the rebuilding of their stadium. Not long after the winter-break ends (it starts after this week's cup games) Augsburg are away to Munich 1860 - I'm going to attend that one. It could be a sell-out (69,000) as it's been close to that even when the teams were not doing that well. I think most Gladbach fans were quite surprised that he left. He never had a decent strike partner, they either played an over the hill Oliver Neuville who was also injured a lot or this Argentinian showpony called Federico Insua. It's funny you mention the term cherry pickers and you wouldn't normally expect that sort of thing to happen in Germany. When Gladbach went down in 2007 they averaged nearly 50,000 in the second division, this from a city and surrounding area similar to Plymouth. But like Schalke, Dortmund and a few other well supported teams Augsburg don't have that continuity of playing mostly First division football. But Gladbach did have a low one fo 42,000 on Friday night at home to Hamburg. Talking of cherry picking. I see that 1860 Munich got 13,600 at the Allianz Arena against Paderborn last weekend. Where are the other 55,000? It looks like Stuttgart are in big trouble this year. I can't see the bottom three of Gladbach, Stuttgart and Koln not avoiding relegation. Gladbach and Koln can't score enough and Stuttgart can't stop conceeding. I will try and get to Germany in the new year. I quite fancy a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday 4 games in 4 days extravangza! |
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