German football club Hannover 96 has told Hamburg Sea Devils to tone down their use of colours when marking the stadium field. The football club shares the stadium with the American Football club from Hamburg.

Hamburg Sea Devils is being blamed for destroying the pitch within three weeks of installation. Last week, the American Football outfit played a game against Frankfurt Galaxy at the Hannover 96 stadium. When the football club played Regensburg at the venue a few days later, the markings and damage were still clearly visible.

Even the guests were stunned by the scrap turf. “Of course you want a pure football pitch, especially when you travel to Hannover in the second best league in the world,” said Regensburg coach Joe Enochs, but he stressed: “The pitch was not the reason why we lost.”

No more colour

Coming Sunday, Hamburg Sea Devils will host Cologne at the venue. Five days later, Hannover 96 will play there against HSV.

Sporting director Marcus Mann of Hannover 96 has now issued clear instructions: “No more colour.” It is even said that the 96ers would prefer the Sea Devils found another home for their second game. However, there are valid contracts.

Hannover’s commercial director Markus Kalusche, who concluded the deal, has been particularly criticised. At the official press conference in February, Kalusche had exuberantly called out to the Sea Devils: “They shouldn’t skimp on colour. We also have green paint; we get everything green again.”

Despite several overtime hours spent by greenkeeper Meyer and his team, the Sea Devils’ logo and the yard markings were still clearly visible in the game against Regensburg. At least it was possible to make the “Hamburg” lettering in the end zone largely invisible, with green lawn paint and several mowing actions.

Against the brown spots near the halfway line, where the footballers had warmed up, even the turf expert was powerless. Hannover 96 is threatened with another turf swap – so the six-figure income from the Sea Devils’ rent would be used up again.