SITTING DOWN WITH CHRISTIAN RINTSCH
March 4th, 2020
We sat down with Christian Rintsch, a 30 year old Hamburg native, who plays for the Hurricanes 2nds – sometimes captaining them – and asked him a few questions about the club and what we mean to him. He’s been playing football for approximately 20 years, previously with Duvenstedter SV & VfL 93. He joined the Hurricanes in the winter of 2017, and he’s very proud of it.
“I was living in Ohlsdorf next to Paddy’s Park, our home pitch, and I saw on facebook a video of the first team winning the Kreisklasse B3. That's when I realized there was a team of internationals playing in an amateur league in Hamburg, that’s when I had the first idea to move to the Hurricanes.”
How did you find out about the Hamburg Hurricanes?
What were your first impressions when you joined?
“After getting in contact with the Hurricanes through fussball.de, I got a response from Guillaume and sent me an invitation to come for a few training sessions. Straight away, I found the fun again in football, once I joined. I know the ash pitch is maybe not the best in Hamburg but that doesn’t matter because the team spirit and the friendship between teammates is unbelievable, everything is so positive here, it’s the best time of my football life ever.
I love the team outings we have, going for beers at Paddy’s (our sponsor) or the ‘all you can eat’ evenings. Even watching and supporting the first team, it’s such a good atmosphere here”
As you know, we have more than 30 nationalities. How is it to be one of the few native German players in the club?
“It’s a very nice experience to meet people from other countries and all over the world. We have people from Finland to Uganda, Mexico to Nepal, it's very interesting to me to see the different cultures in the team. For me it’s a really nice experience because I never travelled as much as other people. Also it's a good opportunity to improve my English because almost all of us are speaking English to each other.”
What do you think we can do to market ourselves better and make ourselves more appealing to the Hamburg locals?
“That’s a very difficult question because I think the Hamburg Hurricanes is much better organized than the rest of the clubs here. We have a social media team which I think is very good. I know this because if new players join, they find us on Facebook or Instagram and get in contact with us through there, so I think the Hurricanes are already doing a good job on that part.”
What is your greatest footballing achievement?
“When I played with Duvenstedter SV we got to the 4th round of the Hamburg Cup, this was I think in my early 20s. We played against Altona 93 and this was an amazing experience because it was a very close game until the 80th minute and they were very surprised with our team competing at their same level. That was one of my best footballing experiences so far… Before the Hamburg Hurricanes of course. (he laughs)”
And what about your greatest achievement with the Hurricanes?
“Now that the club has a second team within the Hamburger Fußballverband, I find it as a very good achievement because now more players can get more game minutes at a very competitive level. This is not only fun but it creates internal competition in the club. At this time I'm very happy to be playing for the 2nd team, because I'm not only enjoying to have minutes on the pitch every week, but we are helping the team to develop into a better squad.”
We had a good time sitting down with Christian and we learnt a lot about what we as a club mean to him. It’s nice to hear that the players feel a sense of camaraderie and brotherhood. Apart from Christian, Thomas Ostendorf, Lukas Henkel, Benedikt Coekoll & Christoph Römer are some of the German footballers who play for the club.
We thank Christian for his time and kind words. Good luck to you on the pitch!
