When the SC Freiburg Bundesliga footballers step out of the dressing room and onto the lawn of the Europa-Park Stadium before their home games kick off, Christoph Last is very close to the action. The Meinerzhagen native is part of the sports club’s ten-man greenkeeper team
Meinerzhagen/Freiburg – “You enter your workplace, the scenery kills you and you think: ‘Great, I always wanted that!'” This is how Christoph Last describes his emotional state and the magic of the moment he had on April 2nd shortly before the start of the Freiburg home game against Bayern Munich – the first since the beginning of the Corona pandemic that could again take place in front of completely sold-out spectator stands. “I always wanted to work in the Bundesliga, I’ve done that now – and then in such a beautiful area,” the 44-year-old already feels comfortable and at home in Breisgau, especially since he was able to move into an apartment near the stadium thanks to the help of the SCF .
Christoph Last was fascinated by football and the well-maintained pitch of the Bundesliga stadiums from an early age. In his childhood and youth he regularly attended FC Bayern home games for ten years. “I was so impressed by the lawn that I tried to mow it exactly at home,” says the man from Volmestadt. “But I only learned much later what exactly is behind it.”
Standing still was not an option
For example, Christoph Last has worked as a freelancer in landscaping and gardening for a long time in recent years: “Through various measures, I tried to create a lawn for the customer that was more presentable.” Word soon got around about the good quality of his work – up to RSV Meinerzhagen. “My dream of having a stadium ‘for me’ was fulfilled in the city of Meinerzhagen in 2019, when they were looking for a ‘caretaker’ for the facility and I found someone who made the space a heartfelt task. At the same time, it was the heyday of RSV that knocked on the door to the regional league,” says the Sauerland player.
But what followed instead was a hard break: Because the corona pandemic came and suddenly straddled. Football was doomed to a forced break for a long time.
Standing still was not an option for Christoph Last, especially since his Bundesliga dream still existed. “I was looking for training courses to become a greenkeeper on my own, attended courses and worked on golf courses in the meantime in order to have something to do with the element of grass,” says the Meinerzhagener, who also completed a short internship at VfB Stuttgart. He then sent his application to various football and golf clubs – nothing happened at first.
You walk into your workplace, the scenery kills you and you think: ‘Great, I always wanted that!’
But that changed abruptly in mid-January when he suddenly got the long-awaited call from the Bundesliga: “SC Freiburg had pulled out my application from August again.” Of course, Christoph Last couldn’t pass up such a unique opportunity. And so he gave up his job at the city of Meinerzhagen and RSV – of course not without tears in his buttonhole – and followed the call in the direction of Breisgau.
“Where do I have something like that: a club with Bundesliga, third division and women’s Bundesliga football. It couldn’t be nicer for someone who can immediately identify with the club thanks to the people here,” emphasizes the 44-year-old, who also feels completely at home in the Freiburg greenkeeper team: “The employees support each other very collegially. “
And Christoph Last makes another big advantage of his work at SCF clear: Because the sports club is currently enabling him to undergo further training to become a specialist in agriculture for sports facilities. “They encourage me,” says the lawn expert happily.
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