It feels like a lifetime away, yet it has been less than 3 months. On 15th February 2020 Covid-19 rampaged through Wuhan and Hubei in China, yet the rest of the world seemed still less affected. Bundesliga in Germany was kicking on as usual and even DORSCON-level orange did not put a halt to the Bundesliga-Bowling “Meisterschaft” 2020 in Singapore. With players supporting mainly Southern German heavy weights Bayern München and VfB Stuttgart reviving the infamous “Süd-Derby”, only this time with different than the usual outcomes. Facing off a total of 4 times, the red-white Bavarians could only defeat the white-red Swabians once, the latter having clearly the upper hand that evening. Likewise, internally VfB Stuttgart 1 stood no chance against their second (youth) team as did FC Bayern 2 against their first team.
Starting off to settle the internal scores saw VfB Stuttgart 2 players Sasha D. and Hartmut D. with 111 and 153 pins putting a first claim on the day’s title challenge, which VfB Stuttgart 1’s Alex M. and Ingo J. were not able to respond with only 101 and 116 pins. Likewise, FC Bayern 1 players Svenja H. (97 pins), Sven R. (102 pins) and Christoph K. (92 pins) had the upper hand against their second team with Sven I. (106 pins), Anne I. (93 pins) and Dieter K. (82 pins). Second round games FC Bayern 1 vs. VfB Stuttgart 2 and FC Bayern 2 vs. VfB Stuttgart 1 saw the teams from the Neckar dominating the ones from the Isar and only in round three FC Bayern 1 managed to sneak in a victory over VfB Stuttgart 1.
Having after the group phase then 3 teams on equal 3 points required a decision by pin average, which clearly saw VfB Stuttgart 1 (109.5 pins) ahead of FC Bayern 2 (96.1 pins) and FC Bayern 1 (88.1 pins). VfB Stuttgart 2, having won all 3 games and thus on 9 points, had already qualified for the final top round.
The finals then saw a replay of the first round games with equal results. VfB Stuttgart 2 kept the upper hand over the senior team with scoring an average of 130.5 pins against 91.5 pins. FC Bayern 1 played their strongest game of the evening with 117 pins against FC Bayern 2’s 105 pins.
Having changed to a new venue, all players were happy with the choice and thus future tournaments will be held there as well. However, the next one being the “DFB-Pokal” on 30.05.2020 will fall victim to Singapore’s circuit breaking measures. While Bundesliga in Germany will restart playing mid of May, there are currently neither negotiations with the Singapore government ongoing to restart the Bundesliga Bowling in Singapore season nor are any mass testing plans envisaged for participants of future tournaments. Still, it is endeavoured to finish the season in time although there is no financial pressure whatsoever thanks to the healthy finances of the Fanclub. Once the season resumes watch out for the competition heating up as regular players having been out for the “Meisterschaft” for various reasons will return to the bowling lanes and with new prospect players being lined up as well.
Full results on https://www.vfbasia.com/league-standings
