Hamburg Info-Thread Q&A

[smj]

I was asking the other day, if a thread would be appreciated where you as fans of FFC can get information about Hamburg as a city, hotels, the stadium, Germany...well, everything you like to know. Of course I can't guarantee if we can give an exaxt and perfect answer to all questions and solutions to problems. But sometimes it helps a lot, if a native speaker can check a certain website for info or just tells something about general topics like nightlife and life in Germany in general.

We started such a thread when we welcomed Villa- and Manchester City-Fans in last years European Cup and I reckon it's easier for you and for us if we sum all this stuff up in one thread.

So I'd like to encourage other german users on here to take part and will start tomorrow to supply you with some general info about public transport, the city, the stadium and so on.

Greetings from Hamburg

[White Noise]

Greetings to you SMJ and thanks for starting this.

Could I start by asking what your fans are like as a group and what sort of welcome they will give to Fulham fans and also what are your thoughts on Hamburg's season and how you are playing at the moment? Thanks.

[smj]

Greetings to you SMJ and thanks for starting this.

Could I start by asking what your fans are like as a group and what sort of welcome they will give to Fulham fans and also what are your thoughts on Hamburg's season and how you are playing at the moment? Thanks.

Of course I can only express my personal opinion about most of the aspects.

Generally I would say, that our fan base is very big. We have over 60.000 members and with a capacity of roughly 57.000 for league games the place is packed for every game. As HSV is one of the most traditional clubs in german football, you find all sorts of fan groups. May it be old traditional fan clubs, Ultras, unorganized fans ( of couse, not every german needs to be organized, don't even think about prejudices ;) ) and whatever you can imagine.

It's a shame, that the club is forced to change the standing area to seating areas due to UEFA-regulations. We don't like it, to be honest, we hate it.

Be sure to be welcomed in Hamburg as we are used to welcome people from other countries, Hamburg - and not only talking about football fans - is a very open city that has not only links with the whole world ( due to historic reasons like trade/harbour etc. ), it understands itself as a part of worldwide partnership. And has ever had strong links to Great Britain.

I can't remember one single occasion with problems with foreign fans. Of course you find idiots whereever you go, but expect to be welcomed as guests and don't hesitate to speak to people. I'm sure you'll have a great time.

Well, our season! We started brilliantly and after roughly one third of the season seemd to have lost some of it. Our coach is somehow a bit unexperienced, but for me one of the main reasons is an injury list throughout the whole season which I've never witnessed in my hole live. Most of our key players were out several times and most of them for many weeks and some of them for months. For the moment, the team is trying to secure international qualification. It looked like we could make it into Champions League, but we lost too many points on the way.

Petric is out for sure, Jansen (german international) is out, Elia (dutch international) is out. Zé Roberto came back from a long injury a few weeks ago, so is Guerrero, who was out for 6 months. Several other players are missing, but I don't want to bore you.

Here you find the statistics of our season

http://bundesliga.de/en/liga/clubs/hamburger-sv/index.php

What do I expect for this very moment? Well, honestly I can't predict anything. We might play in a sloppy way, or we might give you hell on earth. Everything is possible and nothing predictable. But I can assure you, that our defense is weak and our offense is strong. I'd only wish, we would have all our players healthy, then I could sleep very much better. ;)

[finnster01]

Top post Mr smj  :045:
Very informative and useful
Thanks for sharing that.

[smj]

Some pictures of the stadium

http://www.stadionwelt.de/sw_stadien/index.php?folder=sites&site=stadionfotos_detail&id=177&ordner=kompakt&page=1


You'll like it!


This is your area

http://www.stadionwelt.de/sw_stadien/index.php?folder=sites&site=stadionfotos_detail&id=177&ordner=gaeste&page=1


Air view

http://www.stadionwelt.de/sw_stadien/index.php?folder=sites&site=stadionfotos_detail&id=177&ordner=luft&page=1

[FatFreddysCat]

Cheers SMJ, I  hate the fact  that idiots that wont even go to the game are giving your club poo on our official board, I fully expect our fans to drink with your fans on the whole and have a great time both home and away, with obviously our fans coming out much happier. All this joining with ST Pauli is total bollocks, if you beat us, i'll be totally pissed off, but from what i've seen of the Germans i wont have no problems with you lot. I'll tell you what if you come to Fulham and we go through i'll buy your beer all night, if you go through you can buy mine. Either way if you want to meet up in Fulham ( i cant afford to go to Hamburg, i'm saving for the final  :59: ) i'll take you to Fulham pubs and i garantee you'll be well looked after. The Idiots causing trouble on the officail board are 3/4 people and quite possibly all the same person, and you wont see them on the night. May the best team win, unless were really bad, then in that case may the worst team fluke it :dft012: .

[Steve_orino]

Great info smj and a very honest post...

We'd probably be more concerned about our back 4 if not for the team-defense that our manager employs.  We've had some injuries back there as well as dips in form but we seem to be past that now.

Here's to a good game!

[smj]

Thanks FatFreddysCat !

I'm still trying to make it to your place, but I'm still facing severe problems to adjust it with work.  :016:

Tomorrow I'll post some more info. Now I'll go to bed, if I won't be at work in time, it will reduce my chances to convince my boss a lot.  :dft012:

[FatFreddysCat]

Oh , just so you know, that isn't me in my photo thing. i've been stiched up by Admin, and a certain Fox from France. I only wish i was that skinny  :002: . If you make it over, i'll make it my duty to see you have a good time, Most Fulham fans are very friendly, but im sure the few i'm with will deter any problems that could arise, although i'm 99.9 % sure you wont have no problems, Fulham is a great place, you'll love it, infact we have a few German Fulham fans, Mr Fulham for one will help you  out, i think he's from Hamburg.

[finnster01]

We also have a German queen

[Mr Fulham]

Be sure to be welcomed in Hamburg as we are used to welcome people from other countries, Hamburg - and not only talking about football fans - is a very open city

I'm from Heiligenhafen, Schleswig-Holstein and I can only confirm what you say about Hamburg as a City.

But I have to distinguish City and HSV fans - it's not very "open" when you welcome ManCity-fans with a chant like : "A train is riding from Manchester to Auschwitz", is it?

That chant, sung by four dozen (!) HSV-Fans in front of their arena, changed my mind about that club.
Many of my mates are Hamburg-fans, I'm often in that City, I love Hamburg.

But the fan base isn't undisputed in Germany. There have been some racism allegations - fans chanting racial slurs against their own players - as in the case of Timothee Atouba, or, most recently, in the case of Paolo Guerrero.

Don't get me wrong - those incidents are no individual cases. The fan-scene is often denigrating and - frighteningly - sometimes quite racialistic.

[smj]

Well Mr. Fulham, never heard of that incidence, to be honest. Which doesn't mean that it didn't happen. As I said: You'll find some idiots and even racists in every larger group of people, especially when you're talking about more than 50.000. I'm quite astonished that I never read about this in any message board as me and many others were writing and reading in two City-Forums for several weeks.

I assume, all you can do as the majority of fans is to keep your eyes and ears open and try to keep those guys out of any arena in the whole world and if not possible for that very moment show your guests, that they are very welcome. You see, since I was a child travelling through Europe- with or without my parents - I was called a Nazi for so many times and it never came to my mind, that this would be the general opinion about a 15year-old boy just trying to have a good time.

Don't misunderstand me, I fully believe you witnessed those racist scumbags and of course I wished that wouldn't happen at all. That fans were chanting racist songs against players simply isn't true. There was one incident 2 and half years ago, when one guy insulted Atouba, true. And now one guy insulting Guerrero, but it seems there were no racist insults. Jut insults that media interpretated as racial, because these were hinting at a foreign player. Bad enough, but for sure there were no groups of racist people singing chants. Let's keep this as it was. May I ask you, which team you support?

[smj]

Here's the link to the official website for public transport in Hamburg.

http://www.hvv.de/en/index.php

Reeperbahn has it's own stop. But I can also recommend Landungsbrücken, it's just a 5 minute walk up to the Reeperbahn and gives you brilliant view on the harbour, especially at night. When you stop there, why not visit the tower bar of Hotel Hafen Hamburg, a great view over the whole harbour area while having a good drink before entering Reeperbahn where you should be happy to see the wall in front of you after a few hours and pints.  :011:

[KCat]

 Oh !!! Mr Fulham  give over,  what about our lot and the Dam Buster Tune .................old fart that usually moan all match long sang it and did the dive bombing  mime  all during the home game against Wolfsburg ............................. .That was soooooooooooo embarrassing   :034:
.......and there is some geezer with a flag that says 'England and Proud' with his name on it  ( what has that got to do with Fulham) .......................and also a red had of ulster flag, what have they got to do with Fulham  
We are the easiest going fan base in the Premiership but we still have some cretins,      

I am really pleased that our final  TWO (!!) games are in Germany and not in  Italy or Spain  
The Germans are top drawer  ( without their beach towels  that is   :038:)


 

[smj]

( without their beach towels  that is   :038:)


 

Got mine already prepared here, where are you going on holidays?  :dft003:

[smj]

The tickets for the second leg had been on sale this morning; sold out within 5 minutes.

[KCat]

I have always got a 'German' hotel in Portugal as the buffet breakfast are always brilliant,  great cold meats and cheese lovely bread and loads of fruit. As I am not a sun lounger (burn too easily)  it never bothered me  :013: .......and great evening entertainment  ..........................beats baked beans and rubber eggs any day !!!

From Hanover  airport what is the:
1        quickest way to  Hamburg  (method and how long)
2         Is there a bus from the airport direct to Hamburg ????  (how long does it take)

[Chopper]

( without their beach towels  that is   :038:)


 

Got mine already prepared here, where are you going on holidays?  :dft003:

Quality reply  :011:

Thanks smj for taking the trouble to post.

[smj]

I have always got a 'German' hotel in Portugal as the buffet breakfast are always brilliant,  great cold meats and cheese lovely bread and loads of fruit. As I am not a sun lounger (burn too easily)  it never bothered me  :013: .......and great evening entertainment  ..........................beats baked beans and rubber eggs any day !!!

From Hanover  airport what is the:
1        quickest way to  Hamburg  (method and how long)
2         Is there a bus from the airport direct to Hamburg ????  (how long does it take)

Take public transport to Hannover Main Station and then a train to Hamburg which will take roughly 1:30 or even less, depends on the train.

Check these links

http://www.hannover-airport.de/index.php?id=22&L=1

http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml

On the left side you can type in your destination and time and whatever and it'll search you several connections. If you have further questions, there's a english spoken call center of the Deutsche Bahn. Number is

+44 (0)8718 80 80 66

I think they are doing a good job, from what I've heard.

If you are a group of people, don't forget to ask for special rates or group tickets. That might save you a lot of money. Even if it means you have to take slower trains. But I can tell you, that for the link between Hannover and Hamburg it's okay to choose slower regional trains. There's something called "Niedersachsensticket" which is valid for 5 persons under special circumstances and the total cost for the whole group is something about 25.- EUR one way.

Or think about hiring a car as a group. Free mileage is included anyway, ask for full isurance, which is included very often. Take CDW for full coverage in any case ( not for being drunken though ;-) ) with a self behalf of 500.- or so. Dont't pay more than 100.- for a compact car like VW Golf including all costs for 24 hours. Renting a car at airports and railway stations usually is roughly 20% more expensive, added as a fee. But on the other hand it takes more time and is more complicated to search a downtown office, and costs additional money for cab or transport.

I checked if there's a direct bus from Hannover AP to Hamburg, I know there is one from Bremen and Lübeck, but couldn't find anything similar for Hannover. Give me a little bit of time and I'll try harder. :-)

Edit: Phone your Queen and ask for royal horses! Her family is from Hannover!  :dft012:

[smj]

According to officials, 4.000 people tried to book tickets for the away game at Craven Cottage this morning within 3 minutes. Assuming huge percentage of them were online to book for other persons too and the evident fact, that some didn't even try or couldn't reach the server, they could have sold roughly 6.000 tickets within a few minutes.