A seagull flying on the wings of success
Bears, bulls and lions are the ‘normal’ animals, when you looking for a mascot. But when you are from the seaside, you have to find something typical - an animal from to your city and your region. And this was hence SG Flensburg-Handewitt’s idea when they introduced their seagull mascot to the fans.
In 2008, more than 2000 fans of SG made proposals for the name of the mascot and finally a jury including former club manager Fynn Holpert took the decision: on 3 September 2008, SiGi was born. “Never ever call it Siggie, it’s SiGi,” says Jan von der Wehl of Flensburg’s club office, adding: “We wanted to have a mascot different to other clubs, as our club is different.”
Of course, the capital S and G stand for the club name (united from two clubs in 1990), and SiGi (a female seagull) had its first flight in the Flens-Arena before the opening match of the 2008/09 season, when Flensburg beat Balingen 33:26.
The mascot was constructed by famous puppet designer Peter Röders, who had created some figures of the German version of the TV series “Sesame Street” before - and the mascot of Flensburg’s biggest rivals on court, the zebra of THW Kiel, too.
SiGi is not alone on the court, he is accompanied by Erik, the Elk, who had started his mascot career already in 2005, originally being the mascot of a SG sponsor.
“SiGi wears a red headscarf and the official SG dress, his number is not a number but “SG”. “SiGi has a lifetime contract, we never would allow him to transfer to any other club,” SG manager Dierk Schmäschke points out.
Like his club, SiGi is successful: The seagull was the winner of several mascot competitions like at the German All Star Games or Cup final tournaments - and SiGi is proud that he was nearly never defeated by Kiel’s zebra.
For more than five years, Lukas Reinsch was the man in the mascot. The handball player, born in Handewitt, was a Flensburg fan, before he took over the role - which he has now resigned from. “SiGi is confident, open-minded, handball-crazy and a little hyper,” commented Reinsch describing the character of the mascot.
Like the team, SiGi arrives in the Flens-Arena 90 minutes before the match - and is the only female in the team’s dressing room. “It takes me 15 minutes to get ready,” said Reinsch: “You need a lot of power and you have to be able to stand the heat inside.”
In contrast to his mascot brothers and sisters, SiGi has one disadvantage: Having no arms, but only wings, he cannot sign his autograph cards personally.
Asked about his personal highlight in his life as a mascot, Reinsch does not have to think that long: “The 2014 VELUX EHF FINAL4 in Cologne. Being on court first with the Barcelona mascot and then with Kiel’s zebra - and beating them both to win the trophy - was a brilliant day.”
And not only as they were on top in Europe in 2014, Flensburg’s office staff member Jan von der Wehl is sure: “We have the most attractive and unique mascot in the whole Champions League.”
TEXT: Björn Pazen / bc
|
