Stone by stone (daily newspaper young world)

The hearts of football romantics bled when there was a report about KFC Uerdingen in the last five years. The traditional club from Krefeld, founded in 1905, didn’t play badly at times – after all, the blue and red were allowed to compete in the third division – but offered more scandals and quarrels than »FC Hollywood« from Munich. It was often about the sun king of the Lower Rhine, the investor Mikhail Ponomaryov, who ran the traditional club like a landlord. One of many scandals: there was talk of incomplete or non-executed stadium rent payments. The KFC became an unwelcome guest, in Duisburg they were even kicked out. Guest appearances in Düsseldorf and Lotte followed, because the local Grotenburg was not made fit for the third division in time. While the Krefeld team played their home games near Osnabrück, almost 200 kilometers from their headquarters, eager supporters discussed the conversion of their stadium in the fan forum. They founded the »Grotenburg Supporters«, an association of fans who wanted to seriously tackle the goal of stadium renovation. Punctually at the beginning of the previous regional league season 2021/2022, action was taken.

From then on, the KFC was a guest in Velbert, a small town in the Bergisches Land, 70 kilometers away. A little fresh wind could be felt, the investor was gone – time for a new beginning. The fact that the rump group of A-youths and professionals could hardly gain a foothold in the fourth-class Regionalliga West and were regularly shown their limits seems almost irrelevant. A lot was happening off the field. The Krefeld wanted to go home, to their traditional venue at the Grotenburg. One of them is Sebastian Grauten. The 43-year-old civil engineer just wanted to “carry stones” by, like himself jW says. But it doesn’t stop there: on 15 evenings he gives training courses for the construction workers who are not yet very experienced, takes care of press work and is supervised by one for the entire season 11 friends-Reporter accompanied who writes a big story about the building football fans. Together with a seven-strong management team, Grauten coordinates up to 450 helpers, 220 of them with training in the construction industry. He would find a specialist for every problem, says Grauten proudly. »We have lists of special areas of our supporters. If there is a plumbing problem, I know immediately who to call.«

The stadium renovation project was initially designed for three months, but more and more tasks are added. The crumbly concrete has to be thoroughly tested and rubble and scrap have to be disposed of by the container. Many unpaid working hours flow into the heart project of the new, old Grotenburg. There is support from the city, as Grauten emphasizes, but the fans want to remain independent and save costs. “We’ve been networking all over town. It starts with a workwear company that once donated 500 gloves, and extends to culinary supplies from cooks and bakeries. The amount of support we have received is amazing.«

The work was worth it. When the stadium gates of the Grotenburg open on April 23, 2022, almost a year after the start of construction work, the club experiences its rebirth. Just over 2,000 spectators came to the sold-out stadium to see the already relegated KFC in a duel with VfB Homberg. In the end there is a 0:4 on the scoreboard – irrelevant for Grauten. »The feeling of coming home was something very special.« He is particularly pleased about the many new and old acquaintances who are beaming with joy in their living room: »The whole project has brought the fan scene even closer together. A few fan clubs who didn’t like each other before worked together on the stadium and put personal differences aside, I think that’s nice.”

That’s why Grauten can also look forward to the coming season in the fifth-rate Oberliga Niederrhein: “We just want to have a season without constant quarrels about the club. That’s more important than playing in the Bundesliga.« 800 season tickets have already been sold.