“Fun for a night”
Last year’s winner wasted cup – hockey champion painted plates
By Sebastian Schneider
6/5/2023 5:37 p.m
The joy of the Mannheim women is great: For the first time, the field hockey ladies win the German championship. But one crucial thing is missing – the championship trophy. The last year’s winners from Düsseldorfer HC are said to have loafed around.
In their third final, the Mannheimer HC women’s field hockey team finally won the German championship for the first time. After a whole season without defeat, the team prevailed 4:3 in the penalty shootout against UHC Hamburg on Sunday. The final was 1-1 (1-0) after regular time. The goal of dreams has been reached, the German championship. But something crucial is missing in this great moment: the championship trophy. The silver plate did not appear in time for the defending champion, Düsseldorfer HC. Instead, there was only a blue pennant for the championship celebration.
The bowl was still there at the 2022 Düsseldorf championship.
(Photo: IMAGO/foto2press)
Call the spokesman for Mannheimer HC. Valentin Heyl speaks of a “very unfortunate circumstance” to ntv.de. “That things are lost – happens. Losing the master trophy is extremely unfortunate,” says MHC spokesman Heyl. The trophy, which is the reason for the anger, they could no longer find in Düsseldorf. The defending champions would have turned everything inside out: the changing rooms, the clubhouse. According to Heyl, the people of Mannheim also tried all channels in advance: the association, the hockey league and the people of Düsseldorf themselves. All without result. No bowl.
The farce about the championship trophy also has a sporting history. The Mannheim women had lost the previous two finals – in each case against Düsseldorf. This season, the defending champions were eliminated in the quarter-finals. So at the end of the season they didn’t have much to do with the bowl.
And now? The Mannheim women were still able to celebrate on Sunday. It wasn’t just the pennant. The hockey players took a white plate from the restaurant and wrote “German Champion” on it. “That was maybe quite funny for the evening. But we would like to give our girls the real plate,” says Heyl, hinting that the right bowl should find its way to his team as soon as possible. Incidentally, the Düsseldorf team does not face any consequences as a result of the loss, according to the league.
Düsseldorfer HC has not yet responded to inquiries from ntv.de.