Conquering… 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig
I love a tick, me. Any tick, too. A football stadium, a city, a country I haven’t visted before. They all go on the list. You’d probably catch me at the end of the bar taking photos of Wertherspoons’ carpets if Tim Martin wasn’t such a deplorable prick. Are unique carpets in those places still…
Conquering… Stadion am Halberg (Wiesbaden)
‘Right, come on. Chuck some sunscreen on. We’re going over to Wehen for the afternoon.’ ‘What?!’ ‘We’re going to Wehen, come on.’ ‘What’s Wehen?’ ‘It’s a small town a short bus ride to the north of Wiesbaden’ ‘Where’s Wiesbaden?’ ‘It’s a city a short bus ride to the south of Wehen, now hurry up’. My…
Conquering… SV 1921 Guntersblum
I’ve been thinking a lot about my life again recently. I’m an adult nowadays apparently, have been for a number of years if the rumours are to be believed, and this means I have to start taking on certain roles and responsibilities that a younger version of myself was able to ignore. The main question…
Conquering… VfR Nierstein
Do you ever find yourself contemplating the decisions you’ve ever made in life? Why did I not talk to that nice girl in the bar last week? Why did I not apply for that job? Why am I sat on a train travelling to Nierstein? On second thoughts, what the hell is a Nierstein? Your…
Conquering… VfB 09 Bodenheim
August was great fun, wasn’t it? Damals. I took those fleeting summer weeks for granted, I think. The meeting new people in my new home city, the going to the football on a Saturday afternoon, the stopping for a quick drink in whichever watering hole took my fancy. What I’d give to be able to…
Conquering… SV 1913 Niedernhausen
The core concept of groundhopping is a strange one to me. We travel a frankly ridiculous number of miles over the course of months and years for what is, ultimately, an expensive way of killing time. The ticky-ticky nature of our weekly excursions is questionable at best and then in the evening’s I log on…
Conquering… TSG 1846 Mainz-Kastel
Gude! Na? Schon lange her haben wir uns nicht gesehen! Not a lot has happened since March, has it? You might have read about a few people around the world getting the sniffles. I only glanced at it briefly whilst eating my cornflakes, something to do with bats. I wouldn’t worry too much. Just to…
Conquering… SpVgg Ingelheim
My year-long exodus in Germany is sadly coming to an abrupt finish at the end of the month, signalling a temporary pause to my love affair with the city of Mainz. The sudden onset of an impending upping of sticks sent my groundhopping senses spiking once more, and so random football was searched out to…
Conquering… TuS Marienborn
It’s the 26th June 2019 and I’ve found myself perched on a grass bank in Mainz-Marienborn, lapping up some of the early evening sun that’s still blaring down on Germany during this mid-summer heatwave we’ve been experiencing. In my head I’m flicking through some of the posts I’ve been reading on groundhopping sites. ‘It’s still…
Conquering… TSG Pfeddersheim
One day, I´d like to put into words exactly what it was that originally drew me into the idea of ´groundhopping´. Why do I do what I do? Why do I analyse fixture lists looking for my next potential fix of obscurity? Why, on a sunny Saturday lunchtime, was I travelling south on a train…
Conquering… BFV Hassia Bingen
One of my favourite features of studying at a German university is the ease of which I can discover the local area. That’s not to say it’s particularly difficult in England, but for the semester fee I pay (just short of £300) I get a travel ticket for the local region, alongside a host of…
Conquering… SV Wehen Wiesbaden
New year, new me… right? I don’t normally buy into that screech of delusion but I’ve decided to make an exception this year. 2019 will finally be the year that I get back into blogging and sharing my experiences across European football for audiences small and large. I know what you’re thinking already, but don’t…
Conquering… FSV Mainz 05 II
I’m not here to blow my own trumpet and brag about the fact I’ve the opportunity to live and study abroad. I also won’t involve the obvious politics that could potentially hinder opportunities for future cohorts of students. I will simply, however, point out that taking part in the ERASMUS programme is one of the…
Conquering… FSV Frankfurt
First of all, Herzlich Willkommen. I’ve missed you, too. My 2017/18 season may be over but my exams nearly are too, and that’s as good an opportunity as I need to sack off revision and talk bollocks on the internet about how I watched football somewhere three months ago. Stick with me here. German football…
The Stadium Trotter 