VfB Stuttgart wanted to awaken the “spirit of Marbella” at the weekend against Eintracht Frankfurt with a short trip to the south. Went wrong! But that doesn’t always have to be the case, as shown by two extremely curious stories from the Bundesliga – and from an English Champions League participant!
In the 1975/76 season, VfL Bochum was once again deeply stuck in the relegation battle – just like VfB Stuttgart today. And since one or the other measure had not worked before, those responsible decided on a special trick: In the two-week break between the 28th and 29th match day, VfL Bochum traveled to the alternative stadium Schloss Strünkede before the important game on May 1st in Herne for a short training camp on the sunny island of Gran Canaria. A daring experiment in the middle of the season – as it quickly turned out. Because the warm weather there made some VfL players really thirsty.
And so, one evening, the professionals from the Ruhr area tried to compensate for the extraordinary loss of fluids, regardless of alcohol levels. That worked surprisingly well. Unfortunately, the somewhat tipsy Jupp Kaczor promptly returned to the hotel a little too late in the late evening hours of this wonderful day under the Canary sun. All doors were already closed. And so the Bochum class striker, still in a good mood but a little worried, developed an adventurous idea: he wanted to jump over the outer wall of the hotel and into the interior of the facility with a traffic sign that had been removed. A crazy plan – which first failed and, to make matters worse, also aroused the interest of two police officers.
It happened the way it had to. Kaczor could only communicate with his hands and feet and was therefore taken to the police station and put in the drunk tank for one night. When the VfL striker didn’t show up for breakfast the next morning, the whole story was exposed. Coach Heinz Höher was pissed off, but immediately had a solution ready. And so he said to Kaczor: “If you score against Cologne on Saturday, this is forgotten. If not…!” Needless to say, VfL Bochum actually won 1-0 against 1. FC Köln at the weekend. And the scorer of the day was of course: Jupp Kaczor!
The golf club thing
Different history, different country, different time. In 2007, Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez wanted to prepare his team for the Champions League game in Barcelona with a little trip to Portugal. The motto was: clear your head for a few days, forget all your worries and focus completely on the important game. That also worked great – until the last evening before leaving for the game. What exactly happened that night will probably never be clarified.
It is clear that the next morning the Portuguese police took the Polish keeper Jerzy Dudek out of the hotel in handcuffs. Together with his colleagues Robbie Fowler and Jermaine Pennant, he is said to have caused extensive property damage to several cars the night before. Since witnesses only claimed to have seen him with a baseball bat, Dudek was taken to the station for further clarification.
The real “highlight” of the night’s activities, however, took place between John Arne Riise and Craig Bellamy. Since the sober Norwegian had steadfastly refused to take part in the karaoke session of the other players in this drunken group, Bellamy had freaked out on behalf of his comrades and had – watch out! – Attacked Riise with a golf club. Luckily, Bellamy only hinted at the shot, so the Norwegian’s injuries were limited. The action nevertheless earned the Welshman the eternal nickname “The nutter with the putter”.
“don’t google me”
Ben Redelings is a passionate “chronicler of football madness” and a supporter of the glorious VfL Bochum. The bestselling author and comedian lives in the Ruhr area and maintains his legendary anecdote treasure chest. for ntv.de he writes down the most exciting and funniest stories on Mondays and Saturdays. More information about Ben Redelings, his current dates and his book with the best columns (“Between Puff and Barcelona”) can be found on his page www.scudetto.de.
The highlight of the story: The nightly antics would probably never have come to light if Liverpool had not won the game in Nou Camp 2-1 in the end. Because the shooter of the first Liverpool goal was – of all people – Craig Bellamy. And he celebrated his goal with a suggested golf swing.
Of course, the Cardiff man had to explain to the press afterwards what that special goal celebration was all about. Needless to say, Norway’s John Arne Riise of course scored Liverpool’s second goal of the night, completing the story once and for all. Incidentally, Craig Bellamy once said, recalling his wild, escapades-ridden professional days: “If I ever get around to writing a book, it’ll be called ‘Don’t Google Me!’.”
Conversely, we can only guess what “went wrong” in the six-day short training camp of VfB Stuttgart under the Spanish sun. But who knows: Maybe the “Spirit of Marbella” will be introduced to the Swabians with a little delay.