Mainz II

Ground: Stadion am Bruchweg

Visits: 1

Date: 10th May 2013

Match: Mainz II - Eintracht Frankfurt II 2-0 (Regionalliga Südwest)

Attendance: 400

On Friday evening there were plenty of matches in Regional- and Oberliga to choose from. Staying the night in Switzerland (Aarau) I looked at matches in the Frankfurt area. To my delight I found out the match between Mainz II and Eintracht Frankfurt II in Regionalliga Südwest had (for security reasons) been moved to a 2pm kick-off. Later in the evening I could then go to Mannheim vs Worms in the same league. I left Aarau at 06.40 and at 11.08 my ICE train rolled into Frankfurt Hbf. As in recent years I stayed at the nice Europa Style Hotel. Mainz is around 40 minutes by S-bahn from Frankfurt ans shortly before 1 pm I was at Mainz Hbf. Mainz II play their matches at Stadion am Bruchweg. This ground is of course the old home Mainz 05 and as I didn´t have the chance to visit the ground for a first team match I was pleased to be given this opportunity. The ground is made up of both terracing and seats and in total the capacity is 20 200. For Mainz II this capacity is more than enough. The ground is not far from Mainz Hbf but I had some problems finding the way. I walked up a hill, through a park before actually finding myself next to the ground. Once there I waited for some other groundhoppers.

On Friday morning I read my e-mails from the train and there was a mail from Stephan, the Kaiserslautern fan I met in August when I was in Kaiserslautern. As a student in Mainz he doesn´t have to travel far to get to Stadion am Bruchweg. He and his brother (Christoph) met me outside the ground and we enjoyed the nice weather over a drink. I had no idea how many fans would actually turn up for this match. Only the Haupttribüne was opened up and the visitors from Frankfurt was given the rightmost block. In total only 400 was inside Stadion am Bruchweg for this match, maybe not so high-risk after all. In the end Mainz II won the match 2-0. Not the best of matches, no atmosphere at all but an interesting ground well worth a visit. After the match I got a lift back to the train station and once there I said good-bye to Stephan and Christoph. I am sure we will meet up soon again! At 16.20 I boarded a train to Mannheim for the second part of this double-header, Waldhof Mannhein vs Wormatia Worms.

stadion am bruchweg, outside