This is the first entry of my, Bernie Reeves', blog. As the title 'Bernie's Bundesliga' suggests, this will be a weekly supplement of my coverage of the German Bundesliga from my new base in the supremely pretty but rather expensive Munich, Bavaria.
First of all, what do English people, and readers of this blog, really know of the Bundesliga? It's the German equivalent of the English Premier League. But strangely enough, football fans in England don't seem to take that much of an interest in German football. Perhaps its the style of football that German teams are believed to play, ie more emphasis on efficiency rather that flair and invention. Perhaps it's the fact that the world's best players tend to want a transfer to Spain, Italy or England, either for more money and less tax (in the case of the former two) or for the allure of playing in the world's most-watched domestic league, as is the case with the EPL. I myself would, if I didn't have this connection with Germany that I now have after learning the language and living there, admit that German football probably wouldn't interest me. I only chose a German team on Championship Manager 2001-02 (the only real manager game I've ever played earnestly and still the greatest one of its kind) very seldom, and I don't believe I'm the only one who can say that. (It was always Bayern Munich, needless to say. Scholl, Jancker, Zickler, Salihamidzic... it was easy game to play with those guys.) I reckon I'm not far off the mark either when I say that FIFA/Pro-Evo addicts would consider what other team they could be before deciding to be a German team (however I don't play those games so please feel free to challenge that generalisation).
Perhaps its because German football isn't broadcast that often, or to as wide an audience in England, as La Liga for example. Sky sports show hours of Spanish football, to thousands of homes. That's basically the Sunday ritual for all true football fans in England - you play a Sunday League game; then you head to the pub; you watch the first half of that 'super sunday' game (even if it's wigan versus somebody); after maybe eating/showering/tea-drinking during the second half, you watch the second premier league match at 4pm; then you watch either one or both of the La Liga games, timing it so you turn on just as the teams kick off, without working yourself into a strop thinking about how much Mark Bolton gets paid to 'present' and Gerry Armstrong to 'pundit.' As a former enjoyer of Sky, ESPN matches didn't really interest me. And I'm struggling to think when I took a game on ESPN seriously enough to go to pub to watch it. So that also probably has something to do with it, the fact that Bundesliga football, besides the five-minute fixes on footytube which, lets face it, are all you really need, can be slightly inacessible to British audiences.
Maybe it's also to do with the fact that there aren't many English (or British) players or managers in the Bundesliga. Michael Mancienne recently joined Hamburg form Chelsea, which I for one was pleased to see. But how he performs for Hamburg doesn't exactly fill as many column inches as how David Beckham did at real Madrid (granted they're two entirely different situations, but the point still stands I think. There was also that 'wally with the brolly', accent-adopting Steve McLaren, who endured a difficult time at Wolfsburg last season, and ended up being sacked. Serious football fans probably still don't give him the time of day in England.
I've made a few comparisons with Spain in this piece, but the point I'm trying to get across is that the Bundesliga should be better followed in England. The clubs are all financially healthy; there'll be no nonsense regarding financial fairplay like we're seeing with Manchester City right now; club shares are structured that a minimum of 51% are owned by their supporters. This helps to keep the ticket prices affordable, meaning that dads can take their wives and children without burning a hole in their wallet; attendances are second to none in this country, with even Bundeliga II matches having an average attendance which is just under that of an average Serie A game. Indeed there are countless more stats which can show you how healthy German football is right now, even if it still has that reputation for being a dull league.
My final point pertains to whether you would rather see your club or your country succeed. After Germany's disastrous performance at EURO 2000, scoring one goal and exiting with one point after an embarrassing 3-0 efeat to Portugal's reserve team, the German Football Federation called things to a halt and decided changes needed to be made. It decided that, for every professional football club in Germany, a mandatory academy - Leistungszentrum - had to be built. These would feed the clubs with young players, schooled in football and pedagogy, at the same site. Rather like Barcelona's La Masia complex, these kids in Germany live in dorms and train to be footballers, but also take public exams like they would in a norma school, to give themselves a qualification if they do not make the leap into professional football. There is therefore a social advantage to the system in Germany. And as for the footballing benefits? Well, no England fan needs reminding of how Germany's youthful side humiliated England 4-1 in Bloemfontaine at the 2010 Fifa Wold Cup in South Africa. More recently, anyone who cast their eye over Germany's 3-2 friendly win over Brazil last week will have seen just how promising a talent Mario Götze is. German clubs are breeding more and more players like him, because they have to. I would like to see England do well at a major tournament, and players who share Jamie Carragher's attitude of not really caring when England lose are frankly a waste of time. Germany, for generations it seems, have that mentality of performing to their maximum even with an average squad. Now they combine that desire with a squad that boasts more and more quality with each generation. I complain about Germany's national team always performing better than England's, but really I know the reason why (one of many anyway).
Now, that information was intended to make you take note of the Bundesliga. The next issues won't be so long, I promise. As a quick run-through of the Bundesliga season so far, seeing as I'm two weeks late:
Champions Dortmund blew Hamburg away in the opening game but then suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Hoffenheim; Bayern are under pressure to play some entertaining football having only scored once in two games (they lost at home to Mönchengladbach but then beat Wolfsburg away); the surprise teams so far are Hannover 96 and 1.FSV Mainz 05, both having secured maximum points from two games.
This weekend sees some juicy clashes, most notably Bayern vs Hamburg on Saturday.
Be ready for the next issue on Sunday evening. Please feel free to leave comments regarding anything I've said you want to take issue with. Also please feel free to give me any pointers on blog presentation, as I'm new to this game.
My goal of last weekend...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfsCGQYS-Ug
Hau rein,
Bernie
No comments:
Post a Comment