A derby with flavor
SV michelfeld meets the first team of TSV rodelsee in a handball match: what would have been unthinkable two years ago is a reality this saturday. And that’s not all – the two teams that have not yet lost any points will be playing in the top match in the district premier league. Four divisions still lay between the clubs in the fall of 2015, before the rodelsee team started its downward journey. In the summer of 2016, ma-ximilian hackner, a rodelsee native who has experienced the entire upswing of TSV, switched to SV michelfeld as player-coach. The team was then champion, promoted and now competes with the TSV rodelsee.
"After the way this round has gone, i’m not surprised by either of them," says rodelsee’s player-coach radovan suchy. He is more surprised that the michelfelders have started so dominantly and consistently with six wins in their new environment. The michelfeld team is not bad, in suchy’s opinion they have two valuable newcomers in do-minic faustmann at the circle and kai roth in goal, "plus hackner is a very experienced player". That can make a lot of difference, says suchy. His rodelseer already played a good role last year as fourth of the bezirksoberliga.
Is the league weaker?
Suchy puts the current surprise duo at the top of the table somewhat into perspective. The level of the bezirksoberliga is a lot weaker this season, which is one of the reasons why both teams were in the lead. Champion marktsteft is gone, the previous round strong reserve teams of high class clubs like rimpar, lohr and waldbuttelbrunn had this time problems. "If you have a bit of quality, you have to be up there," says the 40-year-old slovakian. That he now has maxi hackner, one of his former proteges, as an opponent, "I have no problem with that. I have often had that."He sees this saturday’s match as a normal game and expects many spectators in marktsteft’s sports hall. "Everyone is looking forward to it. It’s a derby that has taste, because so far no one has lost in this round," says radovan suchy.
His opposite number maximilian hackner can only confirm that. "This is definitely something different. Many of my buddies with whom i played in my youth are at the opponent’s side. I still have a very good relationship with rado or thomas paul about that. I am also good friends with thomas endrib and christian robmark."Maximilian hackner will not meet his brother christian, who is currently taking a break to build a house.
Hackner is surprised that he is playing with michelfeld and that the rodelsee team is doing well. "With rodelsee, we didn’t know exactly how they would be this year. Many people have said that we have a good team. Nobody thought it would go so well right away," says the 27-year-old, who was born in rodelsee and now lives in michelfeld. The euphoria of the promotion had already carried his a little in the beginning. "And now the successes have created new momentum once again. When it runs, it runs."
The michelfeld team has proven to be a specialist in particularly exciting games this season. They won four of the six victorious games with only one goal difference, most recently 26:25 against lohrer zweite. The course of the game was clearer than the result, says hackner. Radovan suchy believes it is likely that michelfeld or rodelsee will come out on top at the end of this round. After all, the lead over the chasers is already five points. And what would happen if rodelsee became champion?? "A rough party, what else? No, honestly, I don’t know how the club’s management would feel about it. I didn’t mind mi-chelfeld going up," he says, passing the goblet.
Maxi hackner doesn’t want to waste a thought on the next rough chapter in the michelfeld handball tale. "That’s still a long way off. The team should enjoy it for now."On his team, jurgen dennerlein will be out injured, just like sascha hammer on rodelsee.