On a sunny Easter Monday we ventured down to Bad Tölz about an hour to the south of Munich on the fantastic Bob train.
Although it was a Kreisliga A game (10th tier), the thrill of an action-packed Bad Tölz derby lured us down.
The ground is situated by the river Isar which eventually runs all the way back into Munich and for the level it’s quite an impressive ground. You’re greeted by a nice clubhouse with a lovely balcony, showcasing a great view of the surrounding countryside and the Alps or Voralpen (foothills) – not sure.
Of course there was the obligatory bar and grill, which sold bottles of a very tasty local beer. I’ve never had Hofbräuhaus Traunstein’s Helles before, but on a warm day, it was chilled to perfection. The grill offered a choice of the standard sausage or what is essentially pig neck steak in a bun. Always tastes nicer than it sounds.
After such a nice introduction to the ground, we were quite excited about what should be a tasty match-up as it was a local derby. In addition, with both teams in the top 4, one not lacking in a bit of quality.
That expectation was quickly shattered as the first 10 minutes were probably the worst football we’ve seen in Germany. Nobody had any composure and although you might think that might lead to some heavy tackles and pumped-up supporters, what we got was unfortunately just really crap football: balls being played out of touch under no great pressure and messy, scrappy tackles. But not the good kind.
I think actually one of the issues was that the grass was longer than it needed to be. The general playing surface wasn’t great either to be honest. Although there was no mud and it was a dry pitch and good weather, it was bumpy and the long grass meant that the ball was holding up and passes were short when it did get played on the ground.
After about 10 / 15 minutes, the initial hectic element to the game settled down and players probably lost a little bit of their early enthusiasm. This meant it developed into a much better game and we got to see a couple of fairly decent players: the standouts being a composed central defender for SV who looked like Edgar Davids, and the defensive midfielder for Rot-Weiß playing what used to be called the “Makelele Role”, who dominated the midfield and showed some good composure on the ball.
The first half ended with a nicely taken goal as an SV midfielder latched onto a long ball and skipped past a ‘tackle’ or two and slotted into the net. Following that there was finally a bit of passion, as the mini-Makelele and a gobby forward for SV squared up and a pushing match ensued. It was summat and nowt in the end, but it did promise that there might be a bit more action in the second half.
Unfortunately, half time came at the wrong time for those of us who were hoping for some more derby flashpoints, as both teams carried on the second half in a the way they’d played most of the first half. Personally when choosing a derby in a satellite town, I had hoped we’d see something resembling a wedding party between warring families: still open wounds and bad blood being brought to the fore, but we got as much fight as you get at a tea party with the vicar.
As I said, the second half was as passionless as the first and again we had to wait for the end of the game for more action – mirroring the first, a penalty scored by SV (to make it 0-2) and a second yellow for mini-Makelele.
The final whistle brought the most passion as SV celebrated the win like Souness in Turkey. I was waiting for a flag to be planted in the centre circle but it wasn’t to be.
Final Score: 0-2
No highlights to be found, sorry.
