Floorball is Back!

Little did we know what was about to happen earlier this year as teams were preparing to play the last 1-2 games of the regular season. Enter Covid19 and all the plans were thrown out the window. It was not only the backoffice of the national association but clubs all over Germany that frenzied into action trying to figure out what happens next. The problem was, nobody knew.
Fast forward 7 Months and I am sure most of the clubs feel like they’ve gone through a mother of all playoffs trying to figure out what is allowed, how to go forward and who is playing where…..and when? The amount of work that the backoffices have done is staggering and kudos to all involved for making it happen.

Corona Complications

So here we are now, about to start a new season in the top level in Germany and it is a small miracle that we have a season to start at all. Currently there are still a whole host of limitations all across Germany that have a great impact on the competition. Varying from whether the teams are allowed to practise together, are they allowed to shower after practise or games, how many people can be in the halls, are fans allowed to a numerous smaller details that all needed to be ironed out. We are almost there. Unfortunately there are still great variances amongst the different regions in Germany. This will mean that the seasonstart will undoubtedly not start at exactly level playing field. There are teams that have been able to practise longer in some parts of the country than others, there are still halls in Germany that are not allowed more than 30 people in the hall at the same time….and this includes the players, goalies, trainers, referees….more or less everyone….for both teams together. So how all this will materialize remains to be seen.

NEW SEASON

So how does the new Bundesliga season then look like. As you might remember, there was still quite a lot of uncertaintly how the league will look like. Well to a relief of everyone, it looks like it is all sorted out.
From what I understand, and please do correct me if I am wrong, we will be starting the season with 12 teams in the first league.

Berlin Rockets
Blau-Weiß 96 Schenefeld
DJK Holzbüttgen
ETV Piranhhas Hamburg
Floor Fighters Chemnitz
MFBC Leipzig (current Champion)
Red Devils Wernigerode
SC DHfK Leipzig
SSF Dragons Bonn
TV Schriesheim
UHC Sparkasse Weißenfels
VfL Red Hocks Kaufering

So there will be 22-round regular season ending on 21.March 2021. After this, the top 4 teams will play play-offs and the last two will face the top-2 from the second Bundesliga for the two positions on top-level. There are some provisions for the possible early end to the season (new wave of Corona for example) that might lead to German Champion being crowned direct after the regular season and potentially the last two going out direct…but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Silly Season not so silly after all…

Usually during the summertime, the teams have been busy not only laying groundwork for the coming season, but also trying to find help from abroad. Traditionally the teams from east have been more succesfull with this for some reason, but with Corona mixing things up, it remains to be seen what the end result is. From DJK Holzbüttgen perspective I can tell that we will be starting the season without any external help…whether this remains so will have to be seen. So it has not really been a Silly Season per se…more likely just Slightly Amusing Season.

So what is to be expected this season. Judging by the pre-seasons test-games….who knows. Weißenfels and Leipzig…or I should get used to saying MFBC Leipzig since the city has now 2 teams in the league, are the ones that will be the teams to beat. One could argue that the test-games are just that….tests and nothing should be concluded from that, but knowing the organizations of the two and their style of playing, I can promise you they will be up there again and it is for us others to challenge them.

Get ready to rumble…..Round 1

What is then going to happen next? Here is an overview of the games that will kick off the 20-21 Campaign.

I am not even going to try to start guessing the results…you just have to see yourself. Usually at this point I would recommend you all to go and see the games yourselves…and better yet, bring a friend…however this time I do suggest you contact the organizing club first as the rules and regulations in regards to how many people (if any) are allowed in the halls varies a great deal. I know for example that at our place in Holzbüttgen, we have reserved seating in the hall for about 100 people (do not quote me on that since I do not know). Whether we will see changes to that in Holzbüttgen or in other halls across the country, remains to be seen.
Part of me hopes that the current situation actually accelerates the plans within the clubs to provide live-streams from their games. So far only Hamburg has managed that but I know the clubs, together with the national association, are working on this.

So let us kick of this season in style….we have 22 rounds of exciting action ahead of us. Add to that the cup-competition which will kick into action I believe in October or so for the 1st Bundesliga-teams (as they get a bye to the second round). With the World-Championships postponed and everything, let us put all our effort on making the best of the situation we have at the moment. The teams need your help now more than ever …so volunteer, become a sponsor…attend the games if you can…support their sponsors.

Until then…see you around!

Cheers,
Kimmo