Werder’s press director Tino Polster has once again opted to present us with an intrusive look into the world of Werder Bremen. During the clubs training camp on Norderney, Polster will keep a diary of the events on the island and present them on www.werder.de. The latest Green-White news, detailed information and fun anecdotes surrounding Thomas Schaaf and his men will appear daily.
Tuesday, 30.07.2007, 10:44 am, Norderney team hotel:
On Norderney at the beginning of July, one must be prepared for all sorts of conditions. Strong winds, rain, storms and even a few rays of sunshine from time to time. We are well aware of this, but still we are here for the sixth year in a row for our first trainings camp on the North Sea island.
Even if the weather doesn’t really come as much of a surprise, the locals on Norderney have noticed changes over the years. On the ferry ‘Reederei Norden Frisia’ with the team on Monday morning, I met up with Herbert Visser, the island’s head of marketing. He spoke to me of the diverse amounts of damage caused on the island by storms in recent months – there were even caravans swept away by freak waves – a totally new phenomenon. The question of a climate change would appear to have left it’s mark here.
The organiser of our trainings camp here on Norderney, local man Rudi König, who was 42 on Monday, cannot recall ever seeing the amount of rain that has fallen here in recent weeks – The result of this: The sport pitch ‘An der Mühle’ is flooded in a number of places. Pumps will be put into action today in an attempt to dry the most severely affected areas. Unfortunately the pitch doesn’t have its own drainage system. To add insult to injury, the weather forecast looks bleak at best. Luckily for the Green-Whites it’s a large facility and there are other pitches available which are not so badly affected. If the climate swing is here to stay though, those in charge of sport facilities on the island are going to have to come up with some solutions.
Taking a quick look back at our departure, Horst Kück, our bus driver, was happy to make the ferry punctually as his departure was somewhat delayed by the massive interest at the initial press conference in Bremen. The result of the delay though was disappointment for a number of fans who had waited patiently to view the bus as it approached the ferry but then had to immediately race onboard.
We can of course understand the sadness felt by the children on this occasion, but, the reason we failed to release an exact time for our departure was to avoid exactly such an eventuality. As we arrived, again there were a number of fans waiting on the dock but once again we were not in a position to stop here and hold an autograph signing session – this would ultimately cause traffic chaos. As always though, on Norderney, the players are always open and willing to chat to the fans and sign autographs, given the time.