On Sunday evening it became cozy in the Berlin Olympic Stadium, almost like Advent. It was the second half of the game between Hertha BSC and SC Freiburg (2-2) when more and more spectators turned on their mobile phones and the stands looked as if thousands of fireflies had strayed into the stadium. Their mating season is months ago.
Of course it wasn’t like that. No fireflies anywhere. The sea of lights should rather have had its origin in the fact that a majority in the stands had a similar thought as Hertha coach Sandro Schwarz on the sidelines: “I also thought for a moment: It could be a bit brighter here,” said Schwarz, who is the best Health pleased and therefore had no reason to quote his quasi-compatriot Goethe, who said “More light …!” on his deathbed. should have demanded.
What could be recorded: the feeling was not deceptive. For months now, the German Football League (DFL) has been testing how far energy-saving measures can be taken, and this also applies to the floodlights in the stadiums – including for games where they are no longer needed in full. That means: in games that were kicked off during the day. In the past, the lights have also come on, because sometimes blatant differences in the lighting conditions on the pitch have to be compensated for so that the viewer on the TV screen can even see the ball.
VfB Stuttgart lets the stadium shine like the sun king makes the palace of Versailles shine
In the context of the tests, “how far” means above all: without impairing the TV signal, which, in case of doubt, goes around the world. On Saturday, for example, the top match between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich was carefully illuminated to 100 percent; but that wasn’t the privilege of the Clásico. VfB Stuttgart also let the stadium shine like the Sun King in the Palace of Versailles in the game against league leaders Union Berlin (0:1) – so be it thrifty Swabians. And at Hertha? The floodlights were dimmed to 50 percent, as the club confirmed.
The test was scheduled in consultation with the DFL and its subsidiary Sportcast, DFL and Hertha said. While the photographers working around the field on Sunday complained that the light wasn’t enough to take decent photos, a spokesman for the broadcaster Dazn said the picture quality hadn’t suffered. There were no complaints from customers either.
Hertha’s coach Sandro Schwarz said on Monday morning that he felt the darkness had had no impact on the game; Goalkeeper Oliver Christensen, who made it 2-2 through Kevin Schade, commented on his mistake in the 78th minute with self-critical words, not with references to the lighting conditions. Previously, Dodi Lukébakio (34th/hand penalty) and Suat Serdar (61st) turned the lead through Daniel Kyereh (22nd) – and thus provided circumstantial evidence that night vision devices are not needed to shoot the ball into the goal. So have all the points been set so that the lights can go out at Hertha?
At least Hertha is no longer in power-saving mode
In any case, the need to save energy is likely to increase over the course of the winter, and not only in Berlin. The idea of playing the games during the day if possible has been discussed here and there, but this debate is currently on standby. At Hertha it was heard on Monday that the test should be evaluated with everyone involved, after which it would be decided whether to make adjustments. Incidentally, the floodlight is not even the biggest power guzzler. The information came from VfB Stuttgart that the LED lamps accounted for only two percent of the electricity consumption on a match day on Sunday. The Berlin Olympic Stadium also switched to LED some time ago.
Anyone who isn’t running on power-saving mode in Berlin: Sandro Schwarz’s team. Freiburg’s temporary coach Lars Voßler (head coach Christian Streich was prevented due to Covid) said he was happy with the point his team got from Hertha – the ultimate praise for Hertha. Schwarz explained on Monday that the data analysis indicated an energetic performance. “244 sprints, that’s very good, 134 of them in possession, the rest against the ball – outstanding!” he said.
Above all, he is pleased that his team “played football very well”, especially in the second half, and showed good positioning and freewheeling behavior. This was also due to the fact that Stevan Jovetic, who was called up from the start for the first time this season, played well in the spaces between the opposing defensive lines.
In any case, the Hertha curve cheered the players for their efforts. The only downside is that the Berliners have only one win in nine games so far and a total of eight points, even though they went unbeaten against Freiburg for the fifth time in a row. At the same time, they have to endure the fact that the football nation is staring at Köpenick in amazement, while 1. FC Union Berlin is the sole leader in the glaring spotlight. An early victory for Hertha would be anything but inconvenient. Because you only see those in the light, you don’t see those in the dark.