Mecklenburg


Actually, the official name is Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Now you first thought would be of course, "so where is Nachpommern?", but in fact, Pommern (Pomerania) is pretty much in Poland these days, so why even bother.

The most important town in this region ROSTOCK. This was the big port city of the GDR, but now it's just another decaying ship town. Despite a lot of bad press from some rather notorious neo-Nazi attacks a few years ago, you will want to check out the town. The city has moved forward, and it's basically like any other city in the east. However, the local soccer club, Hansa Rostock, makes the trip worthwhile. Hansa has developed into the leading former GDR club, and has a dedicated following. Right on the Baltic coast is the fishing village/tourist hub of WARNEMÜNDE, which is a major tourist destination, with lots of decent seafood restaurants. This is easily reached by the streetcar from Rostock, as it's practically a suburb. There is a little soccer club too, SV Warnemünde, so you should be able to escape the tourist crowds for a bit and clear your head.

The rest of the province is in definite need of government grants to develop soccer. The capital SCHWERIN, does have a club 1.FSV Schwerin, but it's basically mired in obscurity. The town is at the western edge of the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte (Mecklenburg Lake Plateau), which has all sorts of lakes. If you're from Minnesota, you'll wonder what the big deal is, but it's another popular tourist destination. No soccer here.

In the leftover rump of the province of Pommern, there are a couple of famous towns, STRALSUND and GREIFSWALD, whose hey day was probably in the Hanseatic League, which was a forerunner of the Oberliga Nordost-Nord. Since for the most part, the only Hansa we're interested in is back in Rostock, (although there is also a good Norwegian beer named Hansa) you probably won't want to stick around too long. Greifswalder CS is probably the best soccer team in this northeastern region. Also in this area are Germany's two largest islands, Rügen and Usedom. The former is a famed tourist destination which is overrun in the summer time. The latter's main claim to fame is the shabby town of PEENEMÜNDE, of the famous WWII V-2 rockets.


(c) Abseits Guide to Germany : www.abseits-soccer.com