Whatever the Case, Arminia Bielefeld Exists

By: Abby | February 15th, 2008

My very favorite random discovery relating to German geography on Wikipedia is the entry for the “Bielefeld Conspiracy.” Basically, it’s a German internet meme which states that the city of Bielefeld does not exist, that it’s a hoax perpetuated by shadowy figures. The way the theory is proved is in three questions: Do you know anybody from Bielefeld? Have you ever been to Bielefeld? Do you know anyone who has ever been to Bielefeld? Apparently, most people answer no to all three. The city council even published a press release entitled Bielefeld Does Exist! which is an awesome thing to do. Here’s a pretty entertaining Deutsche Welle article on it.

Basically, Bielefeld is a medium-sized city in the North Rhine-Westphalia region. It doesn’t have a whole lot of landmarks, the Autobahn passes through only the outskirts, and the railway station is always under construction. There isn’t much memorable about Bielefeld. Which is something that extends to the Bundesliga club that (may or may not) live there. They’re known as an “elevator” club, bouncing between the first and second Bundesliga. They’ve been in the first since 2004, finishing mainly in the lower mid of the table. Currently, they’re in 15th place, which means they’re two points away from the relegation zone.

Points are vital to both teams right now. Hertha are six points away from the drop zone, so it’s not as fearful as Bielefeld, but getting three points off them would go a long way to stop even thinking about the possibility. Considering we’re the home team we should hope to get them, but it’s never safe to expect anything around these parts. Desperate teams (like Bielefeld) can be surprising. Especially with ex-players, which Bielefeld has. And especially with cranky ex-players, such as striker Artur Wichniarek who has been talking crap against his old club, and especially Dieter Hoeness in the run-up to this game.

But we should be in good form and high spirits after our great win over Stuttgart. Team news is generally good. Steve von Bergen is now un-injured but perhaps not quite match-fit, so it may be the 3-5-2 system that was seen at Stuttgart. With good results. Did I mention we won at Stuttgart?

In non-Bielefeld related news, Bryan Arguez answered some fan questions on an official Hertha online chat- apparently Berlin is cold and he’s an Obama supporter. And he’s single. Anyone want a drive in an Audi?

Hertha have also begun an interesting new ad campaign, which I’ll discuss in detail later next week when I have time- Aus Berlin. Für Berlin. which translates as From Berlin. For Berlin. The idea is to identify the team with Berlin and emphasize the connection that many of the players have with the city. It’s done with Nike and actually looks neat, but it deserves more discussion than the ending paragraph of a match preview, so I’ll give it more thought later.

For now, all my thoughts are for the game against Bielefeld.