wand

Some believe that football is more than a sport, they tend to say, that it is a religion.
And sometimes there I kind of believe it, too. One obvious sign of the spirital approach of the game ist hat there are chapels within the stadions. In Germany there are at least two. One is in the Arena of Schalke 04, a football team from the densely populated Ruhrpott area. Schalke has a massive fan-community behind them and therefore they demanded such a religious place for praying. The other one is within the Olympiastadion in Berlin. It was initiated by the effort of one person: Pfarrer Dr.Felmberg, who is a protestant priest. Felmberg is a sport-priest and i didn´t know that the church is having these kind of specilalized services. Well, because he is a huge fan of Hertha BSC he thought of having a chapel in the Olympiastadion, hence they renovated and rebuild the stadium for the worldcup the time was right. But things haven´t been so easy. The chapel was throughly financed by donations and it was ready 2006 right in time. But the FIFA complained big time and saw its souvereignity in danger. Because they wanted to have the same facilities in every worldcup-stadium, they ordered the police to close the chapel. Also there had been voices that demanded special rooms for other religions, which is reasonable. But Felmberg putt he pressure on and engaged the bishop of Berlin and politics to open the chapel again. During the WC many players used the service before the games and there is one famous picture with the Italian player Canavaro praying with the golden Ball of the final in his arm. The chapel is situated between the players rooms and the VIP-area. Before the league games there are also services and very well asked for are Baptizing and weddings in the prettiest chapel in the world. It is very beautiful with the round golden wall behind the priest.

Photographer:
wil6ka
Uploaded:
2007-11-28
Tags:
berlin cross football hertha lomo union
Camera:
Lomo LC-A+ (available in our shop)
Film:
Kodak Elitechrome EBX
City:
Berlin
Country/region:
Germany
Albums:
LOMOs of Germany