football rambles

 Along with the tour of the stadium, Hamburg lay on a museum ticket and it really is an impressive museum. You would expect it from the 'Dinosaurs' of German football though. The club can count 6 domestic titles, one league cup and 3 Pokal victories amongst its honours, as well as a European Cup and European Cup Winners Cup - as well as a number of near misses.

 I'd really recommend the tour of Hamburg's ground to anybody visiting the city. It goes on for 1 hour 20 minutes. Even though it is in German, Alexander the guide gave us an insight throughout in English as we walked between places in what was really an access all areas tour.

 St. Pauli have their Ultras who have won them friends around the world, but let's be honest Hamburger SV are a massive club. They have had a few difficult years getting stuck in Bundesliga 2. Especially as at the time of writing St. Pauli have got a really good chance at promotion whereas HSV definitely face another season in the second tier. Nevertheless, we visited their stadium tour and museum. More of that later, but first some snaps from around the ground.  The walls of the local Grill Pavilion - it does a mean currywurst and weirdly sells a lot of Astra for this part of town!  This is the view from inside the club shop at the ground. Statue of Hamburg hero Uwe Seeler, as a player he won the Pokal, the League, came second and third in the world cup and the German Golden Boot. He also played pone game for Cork. Kevin Keegan who won the Bundesliga with HSV is still remembered fondly from his time there. View of the stand from outside View from approach to the ground

This week I bought the retro Hamburg SV shirt (the blue one pictured above), which was perhaps a bit of a strange purchase as they are in the same group as Villa in the UEFA Cup, but it's a good shirt and they seem like a decent bunch, although i might not be saying that next month. The 'Bundesliga Dinosaurs' are the only club to have played in every season of the Bundesliga since its inception in 1963. They were formed as an athletics club in 1887 when Der Hohenfelder and Wandsbek Marienthaler came together to form Sports club Germania, they started playing football in 1891 after having it introduced to them by some Englishmen. After World War I Sports Club Germania, Hamburg FC and FC Falke found themselves in a weakened position and decided to get together and form Hamburg SV. The red and white shirts come from the colours of the city and the blue and black crest is that of the oldest of the three clubs Germania. The first 'success' of Hamburg came in 1922 when th...