The training of the SV Leonberg/Eltingen players is not going well, but the Alligators have set themselves a big goal: promotion to the regional league.
Of course, it’s not exactly fun to train outdoors in five degrees above freezing in a light drizzle. But, as they say in Northern Germany: Wat mutt, dat mutt! Even if the Leonberg Alligators practice their movements and improve their fitness a few hundred kilometers further south on the field, the motto “What must be, must be” applies to them. For footballers, the start of winter is always the time when the big players lay the foundations for the upcoming season. Where things get tough, intense and physical and where old and new pass routes are practised. In extreme cases even when icicles form on the nose. “We have some things on the list,” says coach Fabian Hoyer, “we want to push them through. After all, we have plans for the new season.”
After the Alligators had consistently made their way successfully through the lowlands of the leagues in recent years and found a pleasant new living space in the Oberliga in 2022, the past round brought with it an unknown innovation: the players from the SV Leonberg/Eltingen didn’t have a championship to finish and didn’t celebrate the ascension. And since they weren’t really satisfied with it, coach Hoyer and department head Luis Turian decided together for the 2023 season: The Alligators should become champions of the Oberliga and move up to the third-rate Regionalliga. “We have to formulate our request like this,” emphasizes Fabian Hoyer, “we played well at the top of the table last season.”
Sounds good, but it’s not that easy to implement. Not because Hoyer lacks the necessary professional qualifications or his team lacks the level of play and fitness, but because the capacity of the club is extremely small. Basically, the footballers and the entire football department of the SV have only one artificial turf pitch available, the hybrid grass (mixture of natural and artificial grass) has been closed almost continuously for weeks due to the humid climate. And the three grass pitches are unlit, so practicing after 5pm would feel like bewildered moles fighting over a football, rather than strong-willed alligators.
Footballers and soccer players share artificial turf, which is particularly painful for players in a sport whose game is designed to gain space. Alligators in (too) small cages. Sometimes up to 40 guys with helmets and shoulder pads romp about a quarter of the sports field, some traveling from Pforzheim, Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart: if an amateur covers that many kilometres, he should be able to complete a decent unit. Otherwise it would be a waste of time. “We have to plan each training session down to the smallest detail,” says Hoyer, “so that we can make the most of the training time and available space.”
The association launches an appeal to the city
Half a football field would be enough for the team, but that’s not to be hoped for, and that’s what frustrates the Alligators, from the big shots on the offensive line to the nimble wide receivers. Tobias Müller knows this well, but even the managing director of the club can only helplessly shrug. “It was clear to the departments concerned that there would be bottlenecks due to the space situation prevailing in the cold season,” says Müller, “and I also know that a second artificial turf would help us enormously.” it has the necessary areas, but not the necessary financial resources: the production of an artificial turf field costs between 600,000 and 700,000 euros. Now the CEO is not one who wouldn’t dare to formulate the complaint loud and clear, but so far his appeals have fallen on deaf ears in the city administration. “It’s not just about football, it’s about sport in general,” emphasizes Müller, “sport unfortunately doesn’t have the status it should have in Leonberg from a socio-political point of view. “
There is movement in the team
Alligators can only wait and see, which they spend not drinking tea, but training and studying the playbook in which the moves are collected – after all, promotion is the goal. Manager Hoyer still hasn’t assembled his entire squad for this major attacking move, two giants of the attacking line have left the club, a key defender is being courted by the Stuttgart Surge of the European Professional Football League, there will be a few more rounds revealed in the squad. It is all the more important that those who will certainly wear the Alligators jersey next year are already preparing for their difficult task. “We’re making the best of the situation,” Hoyer says. If it’s good enough we’ll see in the summer.
