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Germany clubs defiant despite Hanover scare
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BUNDESLIGA chiefs insist it will be business at German league stadiums across the country this weekend, although security will be tightened in the wake of Tuesday’s bomb scare in Hanover.
Hamburg will host second-placed Dortmund; the match tomorrow is the first of nine league matches with the top game in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday when Schalke hosts Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich.
“At the weekend, I will have no other feelings than usual when I enter the stadium,” Bayern captain Philipp Lahm told local Munich paper TZ.
“You can’t really do much to protect yourself, we know that, but if I thought like that, I would do nothing more with my life.”
After the national team experienced last Friday’s Paris terror attacks first hand, German football was again left shaken when Tuesday’s Germany-Netherlands friendly in Hanover was called off due to a bomb threat.
“The (Hamburg-Dortmund) game will go ahead, without question. Any capitulation would cause outbreaks of happiness in Syria and other places,” Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said. “We have to carry on with our lives, or the terrorists have won.”
The Bundesliga has been shaken by recent events after Tuesday’s game was called off just two hours before kickoff and the stadium quickly evacuated.
It came less just four days after the German team spent Friday night at the Stade de France as their international friendly took place during a night of terror attacks across Paris which claimed the lives of at least 129 people.
The week’s events have sparked a security debate in the league, but Hanover 96 president Martin Kind called for calm.
“Football will have to deal with a lot of subjects after yesterday, especially about security,” said the 71-year-old. “The DFL (German Football League) must drive the discussion, so that we can all find the answers together.”
Yesterday morning, Hanover called off a training session in preparation for Saturday’s match at Borussia Moenchengladbach, due to the previous night’s bomb scare in its stadium “for logistical reasons”.
“Our game at the weekend will definitely be played and we shouldn’t allow ourselves to descend into hectic thinking,” said Kind.
Cologne has also announced it will be stepping up security for Saturday’s game against Mainz. “The visible presence of law enforcement officers will increase,” said the club in a statement.
But the Cologne coach insists it’s business as usual. “We’re planning the week as normal,” said Peter Stoeger.
The bomb scare in Hanover meant a German international was called off for only the third time after fear of rioting in Berlin in 1994 saw a Germany-England match cancelled.
A game against Chile was also cancelled in November 2009 following the suicide of Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke.
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