Hamburg win for their President

HSV Hamburg, still spotless in the Champions League, showed an important sign of life in the Toyota Bundesliga: by beating SG Flensburg-Handewitt 33:31 (17:15) the club didn’t only save important points, but worked hard against rumours of the withdrawal of president and main sponsor Andreas Rudolph.

“I seriously think about retiring so that the players and the administration of the club can’t hide behind me anymore,” Rudolph said before the top match against Flensburg. Rudolph invested more than €15 million in the last years to the club that he rebuilt in Hamburg.

The reason he is considering his demission is the sporting situation of the club in the Bundesliga. HSV are seven points behind Kiel after losing some easy matches.

“We can’t be champions anymore,” Rudolph said a few weeks ago. Rudolph’s objective for this season was the German title for the first time. Now the president spoke harshly to all the employees in the club:

“I don’t know if they really give all they can for HSV. To give all means 120 percent. I don’t only talk about the players, but about all those who work in the administration.”

HSV executive director Piet Krebs confirms that Rudolph is really frustrated by the situation:

“He invested a lot of money and he has high expectations. I hope his mood is better now after beating Flensburg. I believe this was something like a final wake up call for everyone in the club.” Rudolph is elected as president until 2011 – and after the election he gave his word, to stay until this time.

Maybe the president was happy again after the high class northern derby against SG. The game was decided in the last minute by a Guillaume Gille goal.

Nearly 13 000 fans saw an equal game. “It was terrific,” HSV coach Martin Schwalb said. Especially Blazenko Lackovic and Marcin Lijewski (until his leg injury) were in the focus as they played against their former club Flensburg. Both of them were key players.

The best HSV player was Pascal Hens, who scored seven goals in his first home match after an injury.

“It was a great feeling to play again on home court,” Hens said.

His team was in lead at 16:10, but Flensburg came back to the halftime score of 17:15. Flensburg equalised and the match was totally open till the end. As Lars Christianssen failed to convert a penalty shot at 31:29 Hamburg, HSV received a great chance to decide the game. It was hectic after they intermediately were in front with three goals. But as Gille hit the net for the one and only time with 50 seconds before the final whistle, HSV celebrated an important victory – not only because of the Bundesliga table, but also because of the president.

Krzysztof Lijewski (HSV) and Lasse Svan Hansen (Flensburg) scored eight goals.

But as Flensburg lost two points, the lucky third was THW Kiel (23 points). They have now six-point advantage over Flensburg with Flensburg one game less. Hamburg are 8th.