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"Tomorrow's match is off."
"Why?"
"Due to rain."
Everybody looks up and somebody asks sceptically:
"What rain?"
"Don't ask, the game's off tomorrow."
There was light drizzle but you couldn't say it was raining.
The background: At the end of 1989, Bayer 04 signed the East Germany international Andreas Thom. The boss Reiner Calmund wanted to present him to the public and our own fans at a home game. And ideally without the diversion of another Bundesliga match. How he managed to have the match before Christmas called off will always remain a puzzle to me. Because the weather was good and the rain absolutely minimal.
The match was then played on 17 February 1990. Andi Thom got off to a flying start in front of 12,000 spectators at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. He was in the right spot for a diagonal ball from Andrzej Buncol. Martin Kree made it 2-0 from the penalty spot just before half-time. After the hour mark, the Pole Marek Lesniak sealed the win with a third goal. The match ends in a well-deserved 3-1 home win. The Werkself are second in the table after Matchday 21 level on points with FC Bayern.
The only bad news was an injury to midfielder Cristian Schreier who was in outstanding form. He had to leave the pitch on the half-hour mark and was sidelined for the next two months. Fifth place at the end of the season was enough to qualify for the UEFA Cup.
Harry Gniech was born on 14 October 1951 in Leverkusen-Schlebusch. At the age of six, he joined SV Bayer 04, initially in the athletics section. The boy actually wanted to play football, but was only allowed to switch to the football team when he turned nine. Harry quickly established himself as a playmaker in midfield. Despite his talent, the path from the youth team to the first-team squad was a long one back then. In the 1973–74 season, his former U19 coach, Friedhelm Renno – who was by then in charge of Bayer 04’s first team – selected him for his first match with the professional squad.
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Henrique Adriano Buss, known as Henrique, was born on 14 October 1986 in Marechal Cândido Rondon, a town in the Brazilian state of Paraná. At the age of 13, he joined Coritiba FC and made the step up to the first team in 2006. Henrique helped the team gain promotion to the Brazilian top flight and then moved on to Palmeiras FC. After just five matches for his new club, the 1.85-metre-tall centre-back was signed by Barcelona in 2008 for ten million euros and loaned to Bayer 04 for one year for a fee of €400,000.
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Constant Djakpa was born on 17 October 1986 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He started playing football at the age of five. He took his first steps in professional football at Stella Club d’Adjamé, before moving on to Sogndal IL in Norway. His path eventually led him to Germany via the Romanian club Pandurii Târgu Jiu.
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In this video you can see impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 from the month of October. It's not always about the beauty of the goals, but also a reminder of special games and players.
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In the first week of October 1966, professional footballers decided to take an unusual step – they went on strike. They felt compelled to resort to this action, which was relatively uncommon until then, to give greater weight to their demands for fair pay. They reasoned that, with three draws, they were entitled to a bonus; at the very least, a points bonus of 75 Deutschmarks that was agreed before the start of the season.
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