On March 7, 2020, the all-rounders were on the road with 1860 for the last time, in Jena.
511 days later they are finally allowed to travel again, but Wöll says: "Ois is different."
For decades it was a ritual as unalterable as the lion in the club's coat of arms. Roman Wöll picked up a rented minibus on Saturday night, picked up his all-rounder colleagues at dawn - and then they set off, the trip to the stadiums in Germany. First in the Bundesliga, later in the 2nd and 3rd league - even in the 2017/18 regional league year it was still common for the novel to travel with Fritz (Fehling), Franz (Hell) and Co. Nobody describes the principle of the all-rounder as clearly as 66-year-old Wöll: "You drive there, ideally take three points with you - and then you drive back again."
The last of countless trips of this kind took the loyal 1860 fans to Jena on March 7, 2020. Then came Corona - a never-ending phase of withdrawal. It is probably no exaggeration to say that an all-rounder will be deprived of the elixir of life if he is no longer allowed to travel and watch the lions live. Now, after 511 days, it would be possible again for the first time. TSV 1860 competes in Wiesbaden on Saturday - with the block open for away fans. However: The all-in-one bus - it is history, slowed down by the corona pandemic. Franz Hell said on Thursday: “I neither have a ticket nor do I know whether I will even start up. The year and a half now - they almost weaned you. ”The new normal is for Hell to sit in front of MagentaTV at home while his lions play. Wöll worries about his old companion."He sits on the couch, drinks tea - he doesn't even go to home games anymore." Wöll's diagnosis: "Franz has a crisis of meaning."
Fritz is going with me somewhere.
Franz is doing his thing on his own right now.
Roman Wöll about his old all-rounder companions.
Now you have to say: At Hell, it's not just Corona that has shifted its priorities.
Health is also a problem for the 67-year-old - and hostility from fans who think differently.
And yet: Until the beginning of 2020 it would have been unthinkable that two days before the game everything was still unclear about Saturday.
Wöll summarized his level of knowledge as follows on Thursday lunchtime: “Fritz is going with me somewhere.
Franz is currently doing his thing on his own. ”And as for himself: He's booked with a fan club, with the“ Kasinger Löwen ”, who chartered a coach from Lenting.
Wöll seems satisfied that he can be there for the second game in a row. Real enthusiasm sounds different, however. “Mei,” he says: “It's just not how it used to be. Different people, different process - ois is actually different. The last time I went to Smederevo was by coach. ”A UI Cup trip 20 years ago. Wöll says: “Somehow everything was torn apart. That wears you down a bit. After all, it was more than 50 years that the three of us went out together. "
After all: The friendship did not suffer during the Corona crisis: "I was at the regulars' table with the novel on Monday," reports Hell, "Fritz watched every game with me on Magenta during Corona. Still no sheet of paper fits between us. ”What the three over 60 lions have in common is not only the pent-up annoyance caused by the corona obstacles, but also the advancing digitization, which takes no account of all-rounders. Hell: “I'm an old-school man, I always say. I'm not that fixated with the computer, and I also have certain reservations about the Internet. "
The three of them are stressed that in times of pandemic tickets are only available online and that personal data have to be given meticulously. Hell thinks: "We older people, who have been around sixty for 50 years, are a bit disadvantaged." Get map. And you can't plan ahead either. In the past you were always there, now you get a ticket for a maximum of every third or fourth home game. "
But: Maybe everything has to be brought back to life first. Wöll is looking for a new minibus rental company for whom night returns are no problem. Fehling, 69, wants an end to the corona restrictions. “At some point the whole thing has to be over,” he says, hoping that it would be a fresh start for the all-driver bus: “Well, if I didn't believe in it, then I would be out of place.” And also there is hope at Hell: "I've already got myself a ticket for Lautern." It is the next but one away game. 400 km easy - ideal all-rounder distance. There would be plenty to talk about after 17 months in the all-rounder offside.
