A brisk, breezy winter Saturday; it’s 7th against 18th in the Bundesliga 2 and an early train to Karlsruhe. Hospitality lounge (ie free drinks/food) at the match today – and the first rule of hospitality lounge club is, get in early and absolutely cane it.
Acknowledgment: ‘Tor! The Story of German Football’ by Ulrich Hesse.
As I enjoy the scenery & the Deutsche Bahn tomato soup (recommended) I am reading about Walther Bensemann, who is relevant to today’s destination.
Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Charlton, Alex Ferguson, Marcello Lippi, Joachim Löw, Clarence Seedorf and (of couse) the 1954 World Cup-winning squad are all previous recipients of the Walther Bensemann prize – a prize awarded for outstanding contributions to the game.
Bensemann (1873-1934) was a founding pioneer in German football. He was a key force in the development of Karlsruhe* as an early regional powerhouse in the sport. He went on to found Kickers Frankfurt (now ‘Eintracht’) and Kickers Karlruhe. As Uli Hesse (see acknowledgment) drily notes, ‘there was one British expression he was particularly fond of’ ; because he then (in 1920) founded this:
Still with us today.
Always ‘kicker’, never ‘Kicker’- we could call it the Bible of German Football, except the Bible isn’t published twice weekly (thank God) and nobody bothers to read the small print.
*both FV Karlsruhe & Phönix Karlsruhe were future National Champions, the latter evolving later in Karlsruher SC, who I am seeing today.
