Sunday 30th September 2012 ko 9.00am

B Klasse München Gruppe 4

VIKTORIA MÜNCHEN II 2 (Rebel 5p 77)

FC BOSNIA I HERCEGOVINA II 3 (Kaltak 27 Nergic 41 Becirovic 73)

Att 10 (h/c)

Entry €3.50

No Programme

I honestly can’t remember attending an earlier kick-off, but with an 11.00am a few hundred yards away this was an opportunity not to missed! The alarm went off at 6.20 and Lee and I quietly regretted that final bottle of Wiessbier we’d quaffed the night before. With Andreas opting to make his way back to Stuttgart today, it was 4 Englishmen who left Regensburg at 7am and made our way 130 km south to München, or Munich if you’d prefer.

We passed the Allianz Arena, the iconic home of Bayern München and 1860 München, then the Olympic Stadium, long since rebuilt after the 1972 Olympiad where the likes of Mark Spitz and Olga Korbut shone, and the whole event was marred by Black September terrorists killing 11 members of the Israeli team and one German Policeman.

That seemed a million miles away as we headed into the southern suburbs, even the streets had cobbles, giving the place a homely, yet timeless feel. When you’re this early and nothing much is open, there’s little else to do than listen to the rustle of branches and contemplate the leaves just beginning to change to autumnal shades of gold. Or as an alternative, watch a game at the eleventh level of German football!

The Sportanlage Wackersbergestraße was the perfect place to spend a couple of hours of a Sunday morning. There was coffee in plentiful supply, and as the teams trotted out they were accompanied out by church bells calling the faithful to prayer. And yes, this was a game between 2 reserve sides, the first elevens following at, well eleven! And in case you’re wondering, yes there IS a C Klasse!

The standard was as poor as perhaps you’d expect, although the game always held your attention. Whilst the visitors named 5 subsitutes that seemed to be more in hope than expectation, and when Zahib Negic didn’t appear for the second half he wasn’t replaced. It didn’t seem to worry them unduly because while Viktoria played the better football, it was the Slavs who were the more clinical in front of goal.

As we watched, an elderly gentleman arrived, presumably as much for the first XI game as for ours. He found a chair from the picnic area and his favorite spot. From there, he took out his sandwich and bottle of beer from his plastic carrier bag, and quietly settled down for the morning. A Vikoria fan explained that he does this every week, his wife sleeps in on a Sunday, so he’s allowed out but must be home for lunchtime!

With the first elevens warming up behind one goal for the main event, we made our way to close to the exit in one corner, and when the final whistle echoed around the stirring neighbourhood we dashed back to the car. We had only a few minutes to get to the next installment.