Image: MOSER JOSEF
“It is a wonderful feeling to finally be able to play at home again,” said Garsten coach Reinhard Mayr. SV Garsten did not play a home game for 497 days – last Saturday the club from the district league East returned to its own facility and inaugurated it with a 4-1 win against Doppl-Hart.
The long wait was worth it: the club south of Steyr has created a real project of the century in the past few months. “It all started with a vision,” says project manager Ernest Schulz. Originally, they only wanted to renovate the training field – the final building scope went far beyond. “We swapped seats, the secondary field became the main field and vice versa. A grandstand with 280 seats was created in the middle of the two fields, which makes it possible to watch from both seats,” says Schulz. But that’s not all: another small training field was created for the offspring. There is also a floodlight system everywhere, and an irrigation contribution was also installed. The cabin and restaurant buildings were renovated, and 340 meters of barriers were set up around the sports field. A new robot lawn mower guarantees the perfect length of the lawn.
The club went through all of this at a record pace – and with great commitment in its own ranks. “Our young footballers cleared the weeds, players from the men’s and women’s teams, coaches and officials also pitched in. Without their commitment, a project like this would not have been possible,” says Schulz. The groundbreaking ceremony for the project with a total volume of one million euros took place in November 2021 – in the summer, on June 10th, the new facility for the home season finale against SC St. Valentin should also be officially opened.
Garsten fully in the title race
Will the SV Garsten even inaugurate the home with a master celebration? The chances are intact: Although Garsten only played away games in autumn, six wins and five draws. You only started driving home without points. Garsten only played away from home in the spring season of last season, also only lost three games, but also only managed one win and nine draws.
After the 4: 1 against Dopl-Hart you are in second place-just three points behind Leader Naarn. Will the home bonus become an ace in the title fight in spring? “We got a good starting position in the fall, but everything is new for us too, we have to get used to the circumstances first,” says coach Reinhard Mayr, who sees advantages above all for the team spirit: “One year only away Playing was a real challenge, as there was practically no club life. The youngsters were completely outsourced.”
Now it sounds like the SV Garsten but finally out of the loudspeaker boxes: “Football is coming home …”
Source: Nachrichten
