Ballhaus Ost | 34th matchday in the Regionalliga: Cuba Libre in the Berlin rain

Early visitors to the regional league match between BFC Dynamo and FSV Zwickau were astonished on Sunday when masked men got off a bus before a ball scuffle and immediately attacked anyone who even remotely resembled a BFC fan. Glass shattered, skin burst, teeth were ripped from their anchors. It was a short, violent mass brawl – which, according to eyewitnesses, was broken up shortly afterwards by police. Because the popular Späti on Konrad-Wolf-Straße, at the corner of Sandinostraße, was closed, only a few potential attack victims were nibbling their beer there. How a bus full of presumably Saxon villains managed to get unhindered to the Späti opposite the stadium entrance is something only the Berlin Bear, who, as we all know, knows everything.

The attack provided plenty of food for thought for various contemporaries before the game. An astonishing 2,612 spectators were in attendance as the two teams drew 2-2 in a meaningless match. A few hundred Zwickau fans, along with several friends from Dresden's ultra scene , sang and danced their way to the end of the season. The BFC's recently expanded fan base performed a beautiful choreography, with some young foxes even being tempted to display their not-so-shapely bellies in the rain.

Yes, it was somewhat enjoyable to watch the beer-drinking crowds bury the season. The rainmaker sent out five cool drops, certainly not to make BFC Dynamo's eighth-place finish, the best season finish of all Berlin Regionalliga teams, palatable. The game was drizzle, the rain was drizzle, and the consolation Cuba Libres in the plastic cups were drizzled in the same way.

But wait: While Zwickau can head to the Bulgarian Black Sea coast tomorrow, BFC still has the Berlin Cup final ahead of them. Big prizes await, as the cup winners will be thrashed by big Bundesliga clubs in the first round of the DFB Cup, including €200,000 in damages.

So, let's get to work! The game takes place next Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in Berlin's Mommsen Stadium. The opponent is from the village, specifically from Mahlsdorf . Located on the eastern edge of Berlin toward Poland, this corner is Germany's largest contiguous area of ​​single-family and multi-family homes. Our ruling Berlin bald man is said to have once nibbled on communion wine in the village church. A raccoon whispered that to me once, when I got lost in the jungle of single-family homes in Mahlsdorf while looking for some local recreation.

The last word these days once again (indirectly) belongs to Claus-Dieter Wollitz from Cottbus, in whose honor a memorial was erected in Hohenschönhausen on Sunday. A stone block bearing an inscription rests on a roughly ten-kilogram boulder. "This stone presumably hit the victim, CDW, on the head on May 4, 2024, during the home game against FC Energie Cottbus. The consequences are obvious. We apologize."