The things that divide us
We cross to the east at Point Alpha…
Christian at work
…and realise that east and west are just in our heads.
Peace
It’s the Opening Ceremony today. A time to make friends. Bring it on.
Verld Kupp!
Philip Schlösser
We should have read the signs!
Gymnasium Martino Katharineum
We go in search of the first game of football in Germany — reputed to have taken place in this grammar school in Braunschweig.
I found a PDF (Acrobat Reader required) on the web which has the following to say about the game:
Die offizielle Geburtsstunde des Fußballspiels in Deutschland schlug in Braunschweig. Das genaue Datum ist unbekannt, festgehalten ist lediglich “Michaelis 1874” – der 29. September 1874.
Der Initiator, Gymnasialprofessor und Turnlehrer Konrad Koch, sprach mehrfach davon, das Spiel im Oktober 1874 während eines Spielnachmittags am Gymnasium Martino-Katharineum mit seinen Schülern erstmals gespielt zu haben. Kochs Kollege, August Hermann, hatte sich aus England einen Ball besorgt und diesen einfach in die Schar der spielenden Jungen geworfen mit einem für Konrad Koch Überraschenden Ergebnis: “Der große Eifer, der alle zunächst Herangezogenen beseelte, machte es gleich im ersten Winter möglich, ja nötig, zweimal in der Woche, am Mittwochund dem Sonnabend-Nachmittag zu spielen; dabei war die Beteiligung der Einzelnen am Spiel durchweg rege und unablässig”
Roughly translated, this says:
The official birth of the game of football in Germany took place in Braunschweig. The exact date is not known, but it is commonly believed to have happened on the 29th September 1874.
The Initiator, gym and sport tutor Konrad Koch, spoke often about it, saying that the game was first played by his students in October of 1874 during an afternoon break at the Martino-Katharineum grammar school. Koch’s colleague, August Hermann, had procured a ball in England and had simply thrown the ball into the melee of playing students, with (for Konrad Koch) the unexpected result that “the great eagerness for the game which followed made it possible – nay necessary – to organise regular games on both Wednesdays and Saturdays throughout that first winter, and the enthusiasm of those taking part never waned”.
The Ball
As the World Cup approaches, bakers whip up football fever.
While Chris scoffs his ball…
I eat my goal
Check out England’s victory at the 2006 World Cup…
Use your loaf!
I always knew there was bread in football, but now there seems to be football in bread as well. Spotted this weekend in Hamburg.
Andreas Heller’s Globe in Berlin
FIFA’s artistic director, Andreas Heller, designed a huge globe which has been on show in Berlin. Dirk went along to take the pictures on this page and to play with the interactive exhibits held inside…
