Culture Archives ⋆ Page 2 of 11 ⋆ An Old International

Hertha’s best Pal

Hertha BSC have been struggling in the league not only recently, but throughout the season and for the best part of the last two at least. If the successful play-offs against Hamburg at the end of last season saved them from the drop, this time round, the inevitable seems inevitable (The preventable is unavoidable): Hertha…

a not so well aged post

This post has aged within a day of its conception. Read for yourself. Just a few years ago, Rostock was the envy of Magdeburg supporters. For one, the most successful coach Magdeburg had post-1990, Jens Härtel has guided Rostock to promotion to Bundesliga 2 in 2021 and managed to stay up the following season. This…

This time of Year: PSG and the quest for European glory

There is somenthing wrong with Paris Saint-Germain and the Champions League: the Parisians simply can’t win it no matter how hard they try. It is this time of year again, when PSG crash out of UEFA’s most important tournament and find their season in ruins. There used to be a running gag about Arsenal crashing…

People in white clothes

The German TV pundit and former player Sandro Wagner has come under fire after a comment on TV in which he called the traditional dress of the Qatari men, the Thawb, a bathrobe. This was insensitive and he has acknowledged his mistake and duly apologized. This is an example of cultural insensitivity not only by…

Stadium 974

In the sea of poison surrounding Qatar 2022, it is difficult if not outright impossible to find a little drop of water. It exists however. Some innovative and little known fact is that the Ras Abu Aboud Stadium near the port of Doha has been built using modular shipping containers, which beforehand have been used…

Whose Culture is it?

Jürgen Klinmann’s remarks about Iran come at a difficult time for the country. He has a point however. Being a television pundit always comes with the possibility of an ensuing debate of what has been said by a group of so called experts before, during and after a sporting event. Sometimes this is resembles much…

Like flies to dog shit

Some aspects of sexism seem to be attached to women’s football just as flies will hover over a pile of dog shit. This image is but one of many examples. A screenshot from a screenshot from a tweet. The headline reads as translated: Will this hot bum shoot us to Euro glory? It refers to…

Jens vs. Jahn

A short reflection on events three ago and the present: Jens Härtel was sacked after Magdeburg were defeated by Jahn Regensburg in November 2018; in 2021 Härtel beat them twice. It is almost three years ago to the day that Jens Härtel, Magdeburg’s most successful coach since 1990 had to go after his team lost…

Joshua Kimmich and the vaccin: It is complicated

With another corona winter just around the corner, football seems to have missed something. It is clear that Joshua Kimmich will be looked at differently since stating that he is not vaccinated yet, arguing worries about the consequences. This may be a fair point but does a huge disservice to football and more importantly, to…

Euro Hools

The new season in the Europa League and Champions League is just a few days old and the centre stage besides the football was taken by violence. How has it come to this? A new wave of violence related to football fans rolled across Europe during the first encounters of this season’s Europa League competition.…