For the oldest fans of the Hamburg Sports Association or HSV, the last home win against Holstein Kiel is a distant memory. It happened more than 60 years ago, on November 25, 1962, when the team led by star striker Uwe Seeler achieved a 3-2 victory in front of 14,000 people at Rothenbaum Stadium, despite the rainy weather.
Back then, Konrad Adenauer was the Federal Chancellor, John F. Kennedy was the US President, and LED lamps and polio vaccines were introduced. The reigning soccer champion was 1.FC Köln, and a liter of petrol cost around 30 cents.
Horst Schnoor, the goalkeeper for HSV during that historic match, still remembers the game vividly. He says that even then, games against Holstein Kiel were always intense and close. “The people from Kiel have always given us a hard time,” he adds. “Yesterday, as today, they were unpleasant opponents because they were totally aggressive.”
Schnoor also praised Holstein Kiel for their remarkable team spirit, calling them real feared opponents back then. However, he is skeptical about the upcoming match on Saturday at the Volksparkstadion, saying, “The game in Karlsruhe really shocked me. The way the 4-2 defeat came about gives me little hope for the weekend.”
It remains to be seen whether this long-standing eight-match winless streak against Holstein Kiel for HSV will finally come to an end. However, for their devoted fans, the hope of witnessing history in the making is what keeps them coming back to support their team.
