Inevitable and understandable | Local sport

The domestic teams in the soccer group league have consistently welcomed the decision of the Hessian Football Association (HFV) to end the 2020/2021 season. There is clarity – but what can the new season look like?

At the end of March, the Hessian Football Association decided to end the 2020/2021 season due to the corona pandemic and to cancel the season. It is currently only open how to proceed with regard to a possible promotion to the regional league from the Hessen league. This newspaper spoke to the local group league coaches about the situation in the clubs and their plans for an uncertain future.

How do you rate the HFV’s decision to end the season?

Daniel Marx (TSF Heuchelheim): It’s a shame, but ultimately inevitable and understandable.

Frederik Weinecker (TSV Lang-Göns): I am a clear supporter and consider the decision to be absolutely right. The responsibility of the clubs would have been too great if the season had continued. I would not have wanted to put on my shoes that I had brought the virus to the club. We have a lot of volunteers whom we wish not to get seriously ill. Playing soccer is no fun like this.

Michael Delle (MTV 1846 Gießen): That is absolutely understandable, especially since everyone now has planning security.

Bastian Panz (FSG Wettenberg): That was the only right decision. With the increasing number of infections, it would have been utopian to even want to finish the first half of the season.

Dennis Frank (SG Kesselbach / Odenhausen / Allertshausen): The decision is absolutely correct. Regardless of whether we would have finished first or last.

Thomas Brunet (Spvgg. Leusel): This was an inevitable decision that, given what is happening in our society, one does not have to comment on, but has to accept it.

How is the mood among your players and in the club?

Marx: The situation is depressing. The players process the situation differently. Overall, great caution was felt in the occasionally possible training units in small groups. The desire for normality in football is huge.

Weinecker: In the club we agree that this could be the only right decision. The players would have liked to keep playing, but it’s also difficult to keep motivation up over such a long break. The fact that a clear cut has now been made also makes it easier for the players to concentrate on the new round.

Panz: It is difficult to evaluate a season, even if the table shows certain tendencies. We have now been spared relegation for the second time due to the corona pandemic. We consider it a gift that the group league adventure is not over for us. The players want to be back on the pitch, train and play, socialize after the game – and live out their youth.

Delle: The mood is positive, we keep in touch, especially since we also have a lot of young players.

Frank: The mood is excited because everyone can hardly wait for it to start again.

Brunet: Players, coaches and club officials all miss football. For many, this was and has been a leisure activity that was practiced very seriously and intensively with up to four units per week and is now missing.

How is the personnel planning for the new season going? What problems do you encounter here?

Marx: Our squad planning is going well. We started player talks back in November. We are very pleased that we were able to fix most of the players at such an early stage.

Weinecker: As an association, you now have enough time to have the necessary discussions in peace. These have already run with the crowd, the rest will be done soon. However, a lot is not yet clear: When will the new round start? How do the switching periods work?

Delle: We’re trying to keep our players who are in casting. We want to get more sustainability in.

Panz: We don’t have any money and we will continue to rely on our own youth players. The scouting is therefore limited to the question of which player we can fit into which team among the active players. We are also in contact with players who are related to Wettenberg because they live here or played with us when they were young.

Frank: That looks good at SG. I’ve renewed my contract and the squad will stay together too.

Brunet: Before I gave my commitment for another season at the beginning of the year, I got the feedback from my players over the phone about the trend for the coming season. Most of the eleven stay together.

Are there already entries or exits?

Marx: Michael Rohde (Spvgg. Mücke), Luca Baier and Nils Schmidt (FSG Biebertal), Felix Lau (FC Gießen II), Nico Städele (TSG Dorlar), Pascal Remus (SC Waldgirmes II) and Niklas Schäfer (TSV Blasbach) join us. Unfortunately, with Cam Stokes we will lose one of our most important players. He is drawn to Hanover for work.

Weinecker: At the moment, I cannot register any additions or departures with us.

Panz: Michael Wagner, who comes from Wettenberg, will join us from SC Waldgirmes II. Andrée Heimer will take a break for professional reasons.

Frank: We are in talks with actors, but nothing is ready to be said yet.

Brunet: Winter newcomer Marc Schlese from SC Neukirchen / Röllshausen can be used centrally in the midfield and flexibly outside. David Steinbrecher from SG Schwalmtal is supposed to intensify the offensive.

How did you become / become newcomers / talents from junior teams / lower-class clubs? sighted?

Marx: Yannik Pauly, who will join our coaching team from summer, Dirk Leib as the sporting director and I have been exchanging ideas several times a week since November. Overall, we have a very large pool of potential players, some of whom we’ve been observing for years. The fact that you can’t see the players at the moment is therefore not a major concern for us.

Weinecker: Real scouting is difficult in the current situation. I am happy that I have a good network and that I know a lot of people. In addition, I am in contact with my coaching colleagues who are on the same wavelength as me.

Delle: We have promises from our own youth and also many from the current squad, which makes a lot easier for us. Two A-youths from the JFV Mittelhessen have also accepted. With players who could also be interesting, it is difficult because of the aborted round. You couldn’t actually watch them. You buy the pig in a poke.

Frank: That is of course difficult, a lot is done through word of mouth.

Brunet: We will announce a second team again in the coming season and in Gernot Stiebig we have a coach who is supposed to introduce players from our own youth to the first team.

What thoughts did you have when preparing for the new season?

Marx: We have been planning since the beginning as if the pandemic didn’t exist, so that we are prepared when it starts again. I hope that there will be enough time to practice before the game starts again. The risk of injury is very high after such a long break. We are therefore planning eight weeks of preparation, which should also include a break.

Weinecker: There are no concrete ideas yet due to the unclear deadline. But I’m looking forward to the time when it starts again. It will take one to two weeks longer to prepare.

Panz: In the past few weeks, the players had been given a training plan that they should work through. There is also a rough plan for preparing for the new season. But first we have to wait and see when we will be able to train again at all.

Delle: I think that we need one or two weeks more time for the preparation. You have to see that after the long break, the young players cope better with the training load than the older players.

Frank: It’s difficult because you don’t know when to start again. The start is likely to be in mid-July. But you can only plan if you know when the season is to start.

Brunet: I’m not a fan of video challenges, cyber training or similar Star Wars stuff. The players want to kick the ball and not do any kind of run-up all the time. It’s difficult to keep the tension high for such a long period of time. The competition behavior, the duels and the feeling for the ball can only be acquired when it is clear when normal training can start again. For this you have to plan at least six weeks of preparation.

What conclusions should one draw from the corona pandemic for amateur football?

Weinecker: From my point of view, the opportunity should now be used to clarify a few questions: Is a restructuring of the league necessary to enable a shorter round? Does it make sense to split the playing time in two into a promotion and a relegation round? Corona should also be seen as an opportunity here. There are certainly exciting and interesting approaches. You can change football a bit and you are welcome to learn something from other sports – such as a final four tournament.

Panz: You should check whether the statutes cannot include the possibility of allowing the season to be extended after an interruption. Here, however, many aspects, such as a regulation for the changeover periods, have to be considered.

Delle: What the corona pandemic showed us is that you can do a lot virtually. I am mainly thinking of injured players who are gradually coming back. There are now good options, especially for those who do not get physiotherapy, for example. We also all realized how important sport is when we cannot do it.

Frank: What is frightening for me is that in the last twelve months there have been no ideas for the amateurs and the youth as to how things could go on. It is the task of these officials to develop concepts.