Football in Wrzburg almost without Wrzburger

When referee Florian Lechner from Hornstorf in Schleswig-Holstein blew his pipe in the Wrzburger Flyeralarm Arena on Sunday evening at 5:02 p.m., a football game was played in Lower Franconia for the first time since 8 March. But the premiere game after the 84-day corona break was unusual in many ways. And not only because the opposing teams from FC Carl Zeiss Jena and Chemnitzer FC were not very enthusiastic about the start of the match in Northern Bavaria and Lower Franconian actors only played a minor role on this sunny Sunday evening. The reason for the start of the game in Wrzburg was a political one: Because no sporting events are currently permitted in Thringen by the state government, the German Football Association quickly transferred the East duel, which Chemnitz won 1-0 in the end, to the Main.

Three empty tribunes

One of the curiosities was that the third division game was a so-called “ghost game”. In other words, a game without spectators, which should prevent the corona virus from spreading. The back straight of the Flyeralarm Arena was therefore just as empty as fan blocks behind the gates. In the main grandstand, a few dozen people with mouthguards were lost: officials of the clubs involved, journalists, paramedics.

Everything around the stadium was pretty much different from a normal third division game in Wrzburg. The beer garden at the Zollhaus, where fans usually meet for a beer or more before games, was well attended, but a good hour before kick-off there were numerous families, but not a single football fan. At the stop at Dallenberg, where trams usually spit out in large numbers, there was a yawning emptiness. Trains only stopped every 20 minutes. And when one came, two or three people got out. The parking lot on Dallenberg, which was otherwise so crowded at home games, was also an empty area, apart from two team buses from Jena and a few isolated cars. Ghost hour on Sunday afternoon.

30 cases on Thringen

Although FC Carl Zeiss Jena as a “home club” was not very enthusiastic about the start in Mainfranken, the Thnringers were nevertheless happy about the support they received here: “Thanks to Wrzburger, especially event manager Andreas Romann”, Jena’s press spokesman Andreas Trautmann previously commented on the preparations for the encounters. The Thringers had brought 30 balls and billboards with them to Mainfranken, but Wrzburger was also involved in the first football game in Lower Franconia. For example as security staff and as a paramedic.

Already two days before the game, the Jenaers had set up their own LED boards in the Flyeralarm Arena. The advertising material set up in the almost empty stadium then prompted the few present to use the services of the Jena oral surgeon Dr. Knut ways to take or to consume products of the company “Thfleiwa”, which produces meat and sausage products in the neighboring state.

Tense matter

The ensuing sporting argument was not necessarily an entertaining affair, which can certainly not be explained by the long sports break that Corona had previously forced on the opponents. The fact that both teams are fighting relegation should also have made the game more of a tense affair. In the end, bottom of the line Jena went empty after the 0: 1, while Chemnitz broke away from the relegation spots with the threes that Erik Tallig made possible in the 57th minute with a remarkable long-range shot.

After the final whistle, the corona rules were a lot different than usual. In the interviews given by the coaches Rene Klingbeil (Jena) and Patrick Glckner (Chemnitz) at Magenta Sport, which had previously broadcast the game, the questions came up on the screen . During the interviews conducted by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk with Siegtorschtze Tallig and Jena’s veteran Aytac Sulu, the questioner stood at a safe distance behind a gang, at least three meters away from the athletes. This shows that everything is far from normal, even if football is played again.

Kickers home game on Tuesday

Not even when the FC Wrzburger Kickers receives FC Magdeburg for the next third division ghost game on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. Then, however, the proportion of Lower Franconia who take part in the game in the Flyeralarm Arena will again be somewhat larger than in the Corona premier game Jena against Chemnitz.

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