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February 27, 2003
That's (nearly) it
That's (nearly) it: Although not much of a football (soccer) fan - I spent most of my childhood in a region of Germany that only has one football club - 1 FC Kaiserslautern. Now that part of Germany (the part of Rheinland-Pfalz that is just referred to as "die Pfalz" has really nothing going for it. No real industry to speak of, the wine area of Rhine and Mosel are on the very perimeter, just countryside mainly with a few scattered larger towns. It was the area of Germany where most of the US armed forces were stationed - but now only a couple of bases still remain.
Unemployment is high as many people worked for the US forces (including my parents back in the 70's and 80's.). After most of the Americans left - well the whole area pretty much collapsed and new industry and jobs have been slow to move in. Sad. Anyway - the football club had a very strong following and many people used their Saturday outing to the match to get over other problems. People would make long journeys into Kaiserslautern to see their team play and in that part of Germany you were either for the "1 FCK" or you remained quiet. Very quiet.
Until this season the team played well and was always amongst the best teams in the nation. Suddenly however (obviously this was longer in coming) they are a) bankrupt and b) last in the table. They are currently trying to find enough money to continue playing this season and if they are relegated to the second division then that will definitely be it. Gone. Dead. Not just a football-club full of tradition and home to some of the best German football players - but also another knell for a whole region.
Posted by Matthew at February 27, 2003 10:39 AM