In a seldom seen occurrence at the Flensburg Campus Hall, the entire audience stood in honor of the away team. This level of respect is usually reserved for legendary players, such as handball icon Hans Lindberg, when they play their final Bundesliga game in the German-Danish border region. This act of sportsmanship is often upheld in the so-called “Hell North”, depicting the warmth and reverence for the game and its players.
The standing ovation, however, was short-lived, particularly for the Berliners. They ended the Bundesliga duel against SG Flensburg-Handewitt on Sunday with a tie of 31:31 (17:17). This allowed them to maintain their lead in the table over SC Magdeburg, despite the short-lived ovation.
Despite the energetic support from Flensburg’s standing room curve, the Füchse Berlin remained unfazed during the initial stages of the game. Within the first two minutes of the game, Hans Lindberg, who was still basking in the celebratory mood, scored the first lead for his team. Roughly eleven minutes later, he successfully scored on the counterattack, increasing their lead to 8:5.
Up until this point, everything was going as per the plan for the Füchse Berlin. Not only the Danish players on the Berlin side – Mathias Gidsel and Lasse Andersson – were scoring well, but also the home team started to show their prowess. With players like Simon Pytlick, Kevin Möller and others, the current third-place team started to gradually reduce the deficit from the 20th minute onwards and managed to equalize the score by the break.
From that point, the game turned into a closely contested duel. Berlin took the lead, with Flensburg hot on their heels, and the lead kept swinging back and forth. Both teams remained error-free, with Flensburg having the advantage of goalkeeping on their side. Despite this, Lindberg managed to score two more goals in the 45th minute, making the score 25:23 and bringing them one step closer to victory.
However, the 6,300 spectators in the sold-out hall, excluding a few who were cheering for the foxes, stood up and vociferously lived up to their reputation as the “Eighth Man”. They whistled for the opponents and cheered for the home team, who looked like the likely winners after leading 31:30. Despite the deafening cheers, the Foxes managed to secure a draw thanks to a last-second goal from Lass Andersson. A surprised Lindberg admitted after the final whistle: “We were leading for so long. But even one point is worth a lot. It’s better than losing.”
