Samstag, 20. September 2008

WE112I: The punishment for arriving too late to the match: five minutes less time to play football.

LSG Goseck 5:1 ESV Merseburg Old Stars
(suspended 65th due to fading light)

Friday, 19th September 2008 - kick-off time 18.21 (planned: 18.00)
Unofficial match
Result: 5:1 after 65 min. (35/30) - Halftime 3:1
Goals: 1:0 2nd (?), 2:0 10th (?), 3:0 23rd (?), 3:1 31st (?), 4:1 40th (?), 5:1 51st (?)
Bookings: None
Sent-offs: None
Ground: Waldstadion (cap. 1,000; 50 seated)
Attendance: 25 (5 away fans)
Match quality: 3.0/10 (below average)
Ground No. 249 (new ground; this season: 19)
Sporting event No. 661 (this season: 28)
Kilometres that day: 55 (by bike)
Km this season: 7,155 (4,810 car, 1,510 public transport, 825 bike)
Number of football matches since the last goalless draw: 77
Number of weeks since the last week without any sporting event (Aug 1st-6th 2006): 112

Goseck, a village of slightly more than 1,000 inhabitants, is not famous for football. Their team LSG (Landsportgemeinschaft) only started in unofficial matches in the recent years and although they ran records with that - 200 visitors are really, really rare in unofficial matches - they are not better known than ESV Merseburg Old Stars, their opponents that day. But Goseck is famous for the reconstruction of a sun observatory that stood 7,000 years ago at the edge of the village. Furthermore, there is a medieval castle at the other edge of the village.
The football ground - called Waldstadion - is also situated at the periphery. In the woods - as the name claims.
When we arrived there after a bicycle ride of more than an hour and 27km, there were many Goseck players and few fans, but no-one from Merseburg. We ate a Bockwurst in a roll with too much ketchup for 1€ only. Until there were nine players of the visiting team available and the match kicked-off, 20 minutes were over. Originally, the match was scheduled at 18.00. However, Goseck put pressure on Merseburg right from the beginning. After 2 minutes they took the lead.
In the fifth minute, another Merseburg player arrived and was allowed to enter the match. Still one player less - and that missing player shouldn’t arrive.
Nonetheless, Goseck went on scoring goals: after 10 minutes their second goal and after 23 their third goal. Few minutes before halftime, Merseburg countered successfully.
In the second half, it was the visiting team that put pressure on the home team, but the home team that countered successfully. After a while, they added two more goals to their tally.
The match found an earlier ending than expected, because the referee - right in that decision, but a very disturbing and fussy guy: too strict decisions on hand play and offside - decided to suspend the match after 65 minutes. 5 minutes were left when it became too dark to play under regular circumstances.
After a match suspension after 84 minutes due to superiority of one team last June in the Czech Republic, now a suspension due to fading light after 65 minutes followed. There are missing the following reasons for match suspension: attack on the referee, floodlight failure, sudden bad weather, crowd trouble and serious accidents. Sooner or later I guess I will witness such scenes also, but a match suspension should not be seen as ideal - even not if you don’t need to pay for watching the match as this time in Goseck.
So, that’s the punishment for arriving too late to the match: five minutes less time to play football.

For more photos see:

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