Three football teams are represented by pin badges on the hat I often wear at football matches, and indeed it was that hat which I wore today. First and foremost there is Derby County (represented by two badges). The Rams are my hometown team. As a former season ticket holder and employee, Derby will always be the team closest to my heart.
This afternoon I saw Derby beat Brentford in the Football League Championship (tier 2) at the I-Pro Stadium on Pride Park. The Rams played very well in the first-half and were very much deserving of their 2:0 lead. The second-half was not so good but a 2:0 win saw The Rams climb to seventh in the league.
The other two teams represented on my hat are VFL Bochum and Hannover 96. I have seen these teams play several times and I can confidently claim to have seen these teams more often than most Manchester United 'fans' have seen 'their' team at Old Trafford. After Derby, these teams' results and league positions are the ones I check first.
To date I have seen VFL Bochum four times at their RewiPower Stadion home. The atmosphere behind the goal in P-Block is amazing and it was great to find out that VFL had won 5:0 away at Greuther Fürth last night to send them top of 2. Bundesliga.
I follow Bochum as I have a Dutch friend who has adopted VFL as his team after living in the city for several years. Although he has now moved to the more affluent town of Mülheim an der Ruhr I am hoping that we can return so that we can stand with our fellow 'P-Block plebs' once more.
Obviously I am hoping that Bochum get promoted back to the German top-flight, which is where Hannover 96 are currently fighting to remain.
My choice of Hannover 96 as a team that I follow will come as a disappointment, but no surprise, to my German friend who lives in the city. My friend is a Werder Bremen fan (his home town team) but following his move to Hannover it is 'Die Roten' that we have seen more frequently in recent times. Hannover is a lovely city and one that I have spent a lot of time in and as such I have more connection with it than Bremen. Checking my records, I have seen Werder seven times and Die Roten six.
Today Hannover beat Werder and Die Roten climbed off the bottom of the league.
It is unusual that the three teams that you follow all win, but these 24 hours were a 'hat' hat trick.
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