TuS Makkabi Berlin - Ground Renaming Ceremony

Commemorative plaque

Speeches and distinguished invited guests (no TeBe in attendance)

Julius Hirsch Tribute

Berlin's only Jewish club, TuS Makkabi Berlin, held an event today to celebrate the renaming of their new ground from 'Sportsground Eichkamp' to 'Sportsground Julius Hirsch'. The story of Julius Hirsch is remarkable and worthy of a post in itself, but I'd like to comment on the event as a fan of TeBe.

Makkabi club chairman, Tuvia Schlesinger (I think) gave a talk thanking all of the relevant parties for attending, the politicians from the BVV (local council), the chairman of the Berlin FA, Schulz, the family of Julius Hirsch, Frau Dr. Swantje Schollmeyer, responsible for the touring exhibition, representatives of the Jewish Community, and local neighbours and training facility sharers, SCC Charlottenburg. No one from Tennis Borussia was there in an official capacity. This despite the invitation being extended to TeBe. There were TeBe people present, including press spokesman Hagen, a well-known journalist season-ticket holder, and 4 fans, but all as individuals wanting to support the day.

The chairman continued by thanking SV Babelsberg 03, current league leaders, for playing a friendly match before the unveiling of the plaque to Julius Hirsch, saying specifically (paraphrased):

"We chose B03 because of their engagement against racism, in particular in the case of their away match vs BFC Dynamo, which they boycotted because of this club's refusal to deal with the obvious right-wing Nazi presence in their club's support".

He then went on to talk about the renaming, how thankful he was to all the politicians and the local council for all their support, how it was great to finally get a home after so many years of renting grounds all over Berlin and being homeless, then he felt the need to say this, which set alarm bells ringing in my head (paraphrased):

"We'd like to thank the council for their financial help in buying land and developing the grounds, all paid for thanks to the taxpayer, we're aware that some of the pitches in Eichkamp are shared by other local clubs, our neighbours such as SCC and TeBe, and we'd like to stress that these grounds are free to continue to be used by these clubs as often as possible, when necessary."

Now I knew why he said this specific sentence, and who he was referring to, after having read Lila Kanal (TeBe Forum) over the past week with regard to the background, and I felt thoroughly embarrassed, as a TeBe fan, for our club and in particular, our chairman. Here's why:

The Chief Executive of TeBe, Peter Antony, obviously felt his nose was put out of joint by these parvenus, these nouveaux riches, he felt, revelling in his current Victim status, that it was an affront that TeBe was not invited to play the friendly match (all sources gleamed from the publicly accessible Lila Kanal):

der scc und tebe trainieren seit über 50 jAHREN auf dem eichkampgelände. zur feier der umbenennung haben uns der stadtradt naumann in zusammenarbeit mit tus maccabi eingeladen. der stadtrat freut sich in diesem zusammenhang anläßlich dieses festes uns zum spiel des tus maccabi gegen den ( so wörtlich) tabellenführer der oberliga nord sv babelsberg einzuladen.
find ich doch sowas von nett. deutlicher kann man nicht aufzeigen was dem bezirk an tebe und auch an dem scc liegt.

TeBe and SCC have been training on the Eichkamp grounds for over 50 YEARS. Councillor Naumann invited us to the renaming session in cooperation with Makkabi. "The councillor, in connection with this celebration, is delighted to invite us to the match between Makkabi and the, and I quote, 'League leaders of the Oberliga North', SV Babelsberg." That I find SO nice of him. It can't be made any clearer what the local council thinks of TeBe and SCC.

1. Is it Makkabi's fault that they haven't been able to find grounds and have had to move from land to land like nomads for the last '50 years'? And now that the grounds belong to them, why shouldn't they call it this?
2. As for Babelsberg, they can invite who they like. Babelsberg have done a lot of good work in the last few years in the fields of anti-racism and anti-semitism. In addition, they approached Makkabi to offer their assistance. What did TeBe do? Also, it makes perfect financial and sporting sense to invite the league leaders, they are better than us, a better opponent and have more fans = more money for Makkabi. Good on them.

So one day TeBe are just the poor 'Jew pack' that everybody hates and persecutes, and the next day we're going to split hairs about what the ONLY Jewish sports club in Berlin want to call their new home? And persecute them as a result? Incredible.

nach der diskussion um die umbenennung ( scc und tebe waren dagegen - beide vereine haben daran erinnert, dass es viele jüdische sportler gibt die einen bezug zu berlin haben ), der unstimmigkeiten mit den neuen plätzen für maccabi ( laut stadtrat sind die beiden neuen kunstrasenplätze nur für maccabi und unsere a jugend trainiert auf nem platz der schlechtesten qualität) und einigen anderen vorkommnissen, ist dies nun das i tüpfelchen.

After the discussion regarding the renaming (SCC and TeBe were against it, both clubs recalled that there are a lot of Jewish sportsmen who have a connection with Berlin), the disagreement about the new pitches for Makkabi (according to the councillor, the new artificial pitches are only for Makkabi and our youth team has to train on the worst pitch in terms of quality) and some other incidents, this is just the icing on the cake.

So TeBe objected to the ground being renamed after one of only 2 Jewish players EVER to play for the German national team, because he's not from Berlin? Seriously? That has to be some kind of joke. And what the hell has it got to do with TeBe again? What Makkabi call their ground is their business, we brought no rational reasons to the table why this renaming was inappropriate, our reason was 'We're against it, he came from Karlsruhe'. Incredible.

As for this pitch business, it would seem that Mr. Antony has misunderstood the councillor, or has been fed false information. Hence the need for the Makkabi Chairman to set the record straight at the renaming ceremony.

I found it embarrassing that Mr. Antony cut off his nose to spite his face, and that TeBe were not represented officially at the ceremony. I find it embarrassing that the Makkabi Chairman felt the need to even say such a thing. And I wasn't alone.

With such statements on Lila Kanal and such pedantry and rubbing up people the wrong way, does he really wonder why Makkabi did not feel ANY urge WHATSOEVER to invite TeBe to play them? Not attending as a result is childish and amateurish.

The comments section is there for feedback and response, or to point out any inaccuracies or mistakes, and to clarify anything, feel free to use it.And yes, I'd be happy to repeat my sentiments to Mr. Antony and exchange views face-to-face, it's fairly clear who I am, at the latest when the N. Ireland flag gets put up.

A report on the day is on RBB, a big thanks to Endi for the photos.

By the way: The re-match of Altglienicke - Makkabi II takes place tomorrow, at a neutral venue. Here's the info:

22.01.2007

VSG Altglienicke II - Makkabi Berlin II

Anstoß: 19:30 Uhr

Sportplatz: Lohmühlenstr. - Kreuzberg

Why it's worth going along? Check out what happened last time:

Anti-semitism, Germany, Football