From the dream: No money, no promotion, no team

Elmshorn. The dream of first division football in Elmshorn was very close, but then everything turned out differently. The newly promoted Fighting Pirates had registered their first team for the GFL season 2021 on time in November. Less than six weeks later, those responsible also returned their GFL 1 license at the end of the year on time. Reason: The financial risk in difficult Corona times is too great; the targeted budget shows an enormous shortfall. If the decision had not been made now, an association penalty in the low five-digit euro range would have been threatened in the event of a failure to show up.

The return of the license results in the dissolution of the first team

The consequences of the license return are glaring. The first Elmshorn men’s team is disbanding, the Fighting Pirates II under head coach Michael Schernick should originally start in 2020 and will now be the first team in the state league in 2021 – provided the Corona situation allows regular play.

“We have worked for a really long time to make sure that it still works and has swirled around since the beginning of the Corona situation in March 2020. If this time has taught us anything, it is the difficulty of planning something long-term. You had to take what was possible. Things that were still possible one week were no longer possible the next, ”says Pirates President Sylvia Nowak.

In the end, 150,000 euros are missing from the targeted seasonal budget of 500,000 euros

In times of these uncertainties, being able to set up a secure budget for the 2021 season did not work. Those responsible for Pirates around managing director Herwig Eggerstedt, board members Nowak and Hauke ​​Seger, as well as head coach Jörn Maier and the former managing director Anissa Nowak wanted to collect up to 500,000 euros.

Nobody wants to officially talk about exactly how many euros would have been available in total. The club’s press release mentions “at least 150,000 euros”, which is still missing. “We really wanted to make GFL 1 football possible, but at that point we just had to pull the rip cord. That is simply the most sensible decision, ”said 53-year-old Nowak.

Sylvia Nowak looks back on more than five years of board work

In 2015 she took over the board post from Jörg Lorenz, who died in 2019. But their club vita is much longer. Son Jannik is now 26 years old, at the age of eight he started playing football for the Pirates. Sylvia Nowak took care of the team. Her daughters Anissa and Celina also started in the cheerleading division. This will continue after the end of the footballer.

“It’s sad and bitter. And it’s like saying goodbye, ”the Pirates President honestly admits. Finally, there was a five-year plan to get the Pirates into GFL 1. With a professionalisation of the structures and great competence on and off the field. To get ahead in football you also need money – the feeding house around company founder Herwig Eggerstedt paved the way from the regional league to the top as the main sponsor.

Pirates are completing their five-year sporting plan on time

In 2019, the company was promoted to GFL 1, and 2020 should be the icing on the cake of the success story. The pirates confidently aimed for a place in the play-off ranks. Nobody wanted to end up as cannon fodder – more was padded than spilled. Then Corona came – and the pirate ship first hit a leak, only to sink with delay.

“Actually, I’m not a fan of the salami tactic, but there was no other way. We all learned a lot during this time. Now it has finally been decided ”, said the President, who would have wished for“ greater accommodation ”from the Elmshorn economy in spite of everything, knowing full well that because of the crisis, the money in other companies is no longer as loose as it used to be.

Nowak, who can completely devote herself to her independent work in the Elmshorn Youth Welfare Service to distract herself, doesn’t want to hide her sadness: “That was a family project, a real affair of the heart and a big part of my life. Let’s see how it turns out in the future. But for the moment the chapter is over. “

Newly founded league is also a problem factor when looking for players and sponsors

What influence did the announcement that there would be a European football league with a Hamburg team have on the Elmshorn Retreat? The coaches Patrick Esume – football pioneer, TV presenter and founder of this ELF -, Andreas Nommensen and Sören Hauff and sports director Max Paatz left the club. A large part of the Pirates team then also flirted with the leap into a professional league.

“Of course that had an impact. It didn’t just affect us. Many other teams in the north also had inquiries for the team in Hamburg, ”said the Elmshorn native. The Hildesheim Invaders also did not register for the GFL 1, in future the newly founded German Knights 1367 Lower Saxony will compete in the European League of Football.

But even with this new football league, nobody can predict what the virus will ultimately allow. In addition to six teams from Germany, one team each from Poland (Panthers Wroclaw) and Spain (Costa Daurada) should complete the European League of Football.

Head coach Jörn Maier is also withdrawing

Head coach Jörn Maier has been on board in Elmshorn for the past six years. He is one of the founding members of the Pirates, who founded the club in 1991, which then represented a department in the Elmshorn MTV. He, too, will leave the sunken ship as the captain and last man. “Of course it is a shame that we cannot reap the fruits of our years of work,” says Maier. “There is now also melancholy in it, of course. Our goal was to move up to the first division. And we also achieved the goal. Then Corona came and prevented us from playing what was presumably also a good 2020 season, “said the 49-year-old, who will probably take a break this year. Depending on how the situation develops, Jörn Maier might not be the only one who won’t be active in football after 2020, even in 2021.

– .