Regionalliga Nordost | Preussen vs. Dynamo: Football in the West Berlin suburban hell

The relentless Berlin August sun had my brain boiling even before kickoff for the BFC vs. BFC match. The final stop was Alt-Mariendorf—and then on foot into the West Berlin suburban hell, past car dealerships, cheap fast-food joints, dreary gas stations, and even dreary old-new buildings with mowed lawns (enter at your own risk).

Big-headedness and megalomania

Finally, the weary hiker reaches the Preussenstadion. Yes, you read that right, the Berlin Preussen (Preussen) are spelled with a double "s" instead of the beautiful "ß," unlike the Münster Preussen (Preussen) . The Eszett (Eszett) hasn't yet fallen victim to any spelling reform and can continue to romp around in pretty words like Großhändler (wholesaler), Gernegroß (big-headed), or Größenwahn (megalomania). All words from football language, just as our beloved sport itself can rejoice in an Eszett (Eszett). Thanks to its "ß," it becomes the brother of all wholesalers, who can easily indulge its capacity for bragging in the megalomania of a temporary football presidency.

Whether BFC Preussen is controlled by a wholesaler is beyond my knowledge. Although wholesaler-types roam the clubhouse and arrogant chaos reigns, in Lankwitz, one probably still feels like they 're in the depths of Berlin football , when at most three confused outlying Berliners would show up to watch the endemic Prussians chase the ball and get knocked down by the half-baked Berliner Kindl (some claim it's beer).

They'll learn a thing or two in the Regionalliga; the onslaught of 700 Dynamo fans and 320 other curious onlookers filled the stands and away section quite well. After all, Preussen owns the stadium. And that worked to their advantage when it came to fencing in the away section and sprucing up their spotty gem. While clubs that have to play in municipal stadiums often wait two years for the useless district bureaucrat to approve urgently needed renovations or even award a contract, Preussen needed a full six weeks.

Wide-awake stewards, bored police officers

Some stewards were wide awake at the fourth-division match and, with the help of bored police officers, threw a Reich citizen out of the home section during the game. He was waving a Reich citizen ID card around, as open-minded observers of the incident told me. I caught a glimpse of this good-for-nothing, who, as a further indication of his dangerousness, was wearing a towel, along with adapted welding sunglasses with a fan attached, and a T-shirt with the motto: "Grandpas against the left." It could also have been a fixed bayonet, a throwback to old Prussia, which wasn't exactly known for excessive peace. But the old Prussians, who were eager to fight, were fans of the ß symbol and, as such, would have had very little understanding for the double s of football Prussia.

The atmosphere on the pitch was peaceful. The Dynamo players, who had started the season with two defeats, celebrated twice, and the black-and-white Prussian boys once. A peace pipe in Prussian blue!