Hockey: The secret world champions – district of Munich

The hockey players at TSV Grünwald reacted at lightning speed: the German men’s national team had barely won the penalty shoot-out against Olympic champions Belgium when the Grünwald team celebrated their success on their Facebook page: “We’re world champions,” says the post, which was published on Tuesday German Hockey Federation (DHB) was posted last week and shared by TSV. Division manager Michael Bork, himself a former Bundesliga player with the multiple German champions in Rüsselsheim and now chairman of the DHB Foundation, is enthusiastic: This World Cup victory is something “very special”, he says. “The three victories in the shootout alone – that really grabbed everyone who tuned in.”

But the reactions that gathered below the Facebook post were anything but euphoric for a reason: the public hardly noticed anything about the great sporting success. The tournament taking place in India could only be followed on a pay-streaming station, with ARD and ZDF there was not a single minute of broadcasting. “There is a German team in the World Cup hockey final and nobody is broadcasting it live,” writes one user. Many others strike similar tones.

Gabriele Lemmle is really angry about the neglect of her sport: “The very low media presence does not make it so easy for us to get children excited about our sport,” says the head of the hockey division at the Spielvereinigung (SpVgg) Höhenkirchen, which calls itself “Grasshoppers ” to name. And Vera Florentz, who is responsible for youth work at ASV Munich, based in Unterföhring, takes the same line: the fact that television is a niche market makes it particularly difficult to find advertising partners. “Sponsorship is practically non-existent,” she says.

The few hockey clubs in the district are booming. And that despite the fact that there are two very large clubs next door in the state capital: the men’s and women’s Bundesliga club Münchner SC and the former German men’s champion HLC Rot-Weiss Munich. But the fringe sport of hockey is also booming in the commuter belt. It doesn’t matter when you travel from Unterföhring to Ismaning in spring or summer, the sports facility at Poschinger Weiher is always busy, even under the glaring floodlights in the evenings.

All years of the hockey department of the ASV, which has had its sporting home in the district since 1969, practice there on two artificial turf pitches. Founded as an “Academic Sports Club” in Dresden, after the war and the division of Germany in 1952, the members reunited in Munich as part of a new club with the divisions hockey and tennis, so to speak. A merger with the hockey department of Jahn Munich followed in 2001. The Academic Sports Club now has almost a thousand members, 850 of whom are young people. “During Corona, the number of children in particular increased because we offered continuous training,” says Vera Florentz.

Gabriele Lemmle can also cite this for her club: “We haven’t shrunk because of Corona,” she says. The department has around 250 members, making it one of the largest within the SpVgg Höhenkirchen after the footballers. Shortly after the division was founded in 2007, there were major problems finding a venue. The Grasshoppers’ calls were only heard after many years, and they now have two artificial turf pitches. You get along “super well” with the footballers, says Lemmle. “It’s also very harmonious on match days, we have an interesting relationship.”

In Unterföhring there are even plans to expand the hockey field with a third training field. “There will be grants, but for us as an association it is of course a heavy burden,” says ASV youth leader Florentz. Division manager Bork in Grünwald would also like a second hockey turf. The TSV currently has a special pitch available for this sport and also uses the hybrid turf in the amusement park that the footballers hardly play on anymore. He has become too hard for the kickers. “We are very happy that Mayor Jan Neusiedl always supports us,” said Bork, who is therefore hoping for a permanent second place.

The hockey officials have enough arguments in favor of their sport: It is a year-round discipline: the indoor season runs in winter, also with league operations. In addition, the equipment is affordable, except for the protective armor for the goalkeepers, which is usually paid for by the club. “The sport is technically demanding, but the athletic factor still plays a role and you have to play with your head,” says ASV official Florentz. Hockey is an outdoor alternative to volleyball and handball, especially for girls. “And it has to be said that the teenage girls also like to look smart in pretty skirts when they play sports,” says Florentz with a wink.

Open detailed view

And yet the hockey clubs in and around Munich have a common problem, and that overshadows everything: there are not enough certified coaches. After all, the Höhenkirchner Grasshoppers have a full-time coach, the former Spanish youth international Carlos Escriba Linero. “But he urgently needs relief and that’s harder to find here than in hockey strongholds like Hamburg,” says Gabriele Lemmle. Michael Bork adds that the situation is also difficult at his club: “We’ve been looking in vain for two years, but I can reveal that Grünwald pays well.” The problem is obvious, according to the former first division player: “Hockey is not nearly as widespread as other team sports, which is why there are fewer coaches who have specific training.”

Without appropriate trainers in the youth it is difficult to get to the top, but at least the ASV has ambitions to play at a higher level. The men’s team was recently promoted to the regional league, the third highest division. But it’s not easy to keep one’s own top players, as next door in Munich-Lerchenau the Bundesliga club Münchner SC is at home, says Vera Florentz. At TSV Grünwald, they often had to let their best players go in the past – or the talented players stopped playing the sport abruptly during puberty. “We have 400 members in the department, but constant problems with the 15 to 18-year-olds,” says Bork. “That could be due to one or the other at the school, or because there are many other leisure activities in Grünwald.”

In Höhenkirchen they have enough active players in all years, the youth teams are already successful, now the adults from the association league should also play their way up. “In the past we often had the problem that the best left us when we were young, but lately some have always come back,” says Gabriele Lemmle, referring to the former U16 national player Michael Huber, today one of the cornerstones of the Höhenkirchen team men’s team.

Open detailed view

As in all sports clubs, nothing would happen in hockey without volunteers. Marketing expert Lemmle even made it onto the Executive Board of the European Hockey Federation (EHF) a year and a half ago with her expertise. In her home club, the head of department attaches great importance to integration. Only in the summer did the Grasshoppers organize a hockey day for mentally handicapped people, and two refugee families from the Ukraine who had already played hockey there were also welcome in Höhenkirchen. “They are now back in their homeland,” says Lemmle.

In addition to his commitment, the Grünwalder Bork also invests financial resources in the sport. He organized two international women’s matches between Germany and Spain in the amusement park before the 2016 Olympic Games. Almost 2000 spectators came. In the run-up to the 2018 World Cup, Bork made a top-class four-nation tournament possible despite the high organizational requirements imposed by the DHB.

So it’s not the fault of the hockey clubs in the district that the most recent German World Cup triumph went by the public quite quietly. But the next opportunity for collective enthusiasm is already waiting in summer: in August, the European Championships for men and women will take place in Mönchengladbach. “Of course we’re hoping for our summer fairy tale,” says Gabriele Lemmle.