Lodsworth Football Club are very proud to have an exchange relationship with the football club SV SUSA in Germany. This exchange was started back in 1976 based on the family relationship between the Newell and the Klang family. The Klang family lived just outside the small town of Ohne in Northern Germany (close to the Netherlands border, Schuttorf, Bad Bentheim and Nordhorn). Since 1976 the teams have visited each other every two years, travelling on the easter weekend. The home team plays host to the visiting players and friends which has been key to the success of this exchange.
Football was the initial excuse but is not the important part of this trip, it acts as a means to bring people together,to make new friend's and to continue with our old friend's (many having made life long friendship's along the way). Lodsworth FC are forever tied to SV SuSa, both in football and friendship .... something to be proud about.
The friendship with Lodsworth FC (from the SV SUSA Jubilee release 2009) translated by Google !!
You'll never walk alone... English one could say: you'll be never alone." The anthem from the English football stadiums could be seen to also free translated as the motto, that best describes the friendship between Lodsworth FC and SV Suddendorf-Samern. Probably only a few would have believed in 1976 during the first visit of the English in Suddendorf that this Exchange is becoming a real institution and friendship. Today, after more than forty years, it has stock. And maybe she is even more intense than ever before. Familial gangs were the origin of the first visit. Initiators have been sound Paul Newell and Helmut Klang. The first plans matured during a visit of Paul in Suddendorf. Quickly, the thing was operated then seriously. But must you call probably Wilma and Tom Newell first and foremost, when we talk about the continued existence of this idea.
The first delegation of SuSa 1978 drove Easter over the channel to Lodsworth. About thirty Suddendorfer athletes took the first trip across the channel. Forgotten, as the ferry port of Calais was picketing and the bus driver just in time could drive his vehicle to Oostende, to get there a ferry. The return visit was followed two years later. What emerged as an idea, became Tradition. People meet at two-year intervals. Time in Suddendorf, then again on the English island. From the second visit in 1982 in England was our bus driver Herbert Bergjan. This is all thanks. It is by no means easy to drive to Calais on the right lane and then use the left from Dover. Also the last kilometre up to Lodsworth same out and again of an adventure. The word adventure but also the translation via the channel we think. There was some ferry which rocked too much as that this a SuSa athletes would have done well. Lodsworth is located in the South West of England. The village itself has a population of around 350. They are not all members of the Association. Even if we want to believe that love during our visits. From the tradition our friends from England are far ahead us. The Club was founded in 1898. They exists now for 111 years. Anyway, this is an anniversary. In the member number they are unfortunately far behind the SV Suddendorf-Samern. Currently, the Lodsworth FC has about 50 members. Seen in this way, more than any member of the second guest at the SV SuSa was last year. Our friends have found their real sporty home a few years ago after they themselves for years had to make do with old and cramped Club room.
With great effort, they created a clubhouse that even we squint a little envious. Next door is an athletic field, which - are we seriously - is a little getting used to. Maybe, on the next visit to England, we will succeed to calculate the exact slope of the place. The camaraderie is capitalized as ours. Here a reason to see why both clubs understand so well is safe. Just the first nights, and not even so much the official celebrations, reveal a lot about mutual similarities. A cosy beer is usually spoken about football. Language barriers are usually sent to curves. Should be really some times not understood be - there's always a post-Convention people who help. Any visit, whether in England or the stay of the Lodsworth FC in Suddendorf, has its own special moments. But behind that, and we do not want to conceal that, lots of work. There, nothing is left by the authorities the chance. No matter who already had this responsibility in all these years, the thanks of both clubs to them. The visit to Schalke were so - or visit the Berentzen brewery in the near future - real highlights. The same one on the other side for the visit of the Premier League game at Portsmouth or the sightseeing tour of London. There's always something new to discover. Of course, also the refreshment in one of the numerous pubs belongs to a London visit. The English beer but says not every guest. There are things that we Germans can better! This two-year visits are of course solid carved in the Club calendar. But also private friendships have evolved. So it is today much more frequently in contact as thirty years ago. Email walking to and fro. It is on the phone. Congratulations to birthdays. And there are private visits. So a small delegation from Lodsworth was, to attend the World Cup in Germany. This visit was worth a big report of local press. The spontaneous peaceful enthusiasm, whether in the stadiums or on the market square of Schüttorf, they took back to England. What 1976 was created essentially as a kind of "Crackpot idea", today it has tradition. A friendship that has evolved steadily. This is briefly forgotten. For example, in the traditional match between of both clubs on Easter Sunday. This battle won on appeal last year. Wilma and Tom donated a trophy (see Ralf and Paul on the photo on the left) for the winner of this comparison. Even if it hurts, our guests from England took him back home. However, one should not overestimate also this athletic competition. First and foremost is the friendship in the foreground. Even the major policy has become attentive to our friendship. in 2006, the SV SuSa received a greeting of the German Embassy during his visit in Lodsworth. This was presented in a large "images"-frame. To see the greeting is of course in the club room in Suddendorf. But what connects two different clubs such as ours and the Lodsworth FC? The language may not be. After all, the SV Suddendorf-Samern has more than 1000 members. It is not only the friendship, the sympathy to each other, or even tradition. At the last meeting of the two clubs, most of the English guests between twenty and thirty years were old. Basically, the answer is quite simple: we all have something in common. Even if we are somewhat more successful - we forget in 1966 and Wembley - there is something that binds us together. The love of the game. The Football League allows such friendships. The often ridiculed slogan, soccer connects"is confirmed here in a wonderful way. And when all rivalry between the Nations, we think of various international matches – football connects us. So, the youth - that of the SV Suddendorf-Samern as well of the Lodsworth FC - has internalized this basic idea. It is therefore not excluded, that we must eventually writing a report that tells about a fifty-year friendship between the two clubs. Secretly we hope in our club that arrives in a small delegation of Lodsworth FC anniversary of SV SuSa. Moreover, we assume. This visit to the last visit of the English friends in Suddendorf was announced. Travels the question which arises now with how many players the Lodsworth FC bring to us? Because even then it is again to get quarters. When the celebrations of the anniversary have been completed, the organizers of the next England tour will be already working: already Easter 2018 the SV SuSa embarks again on the trip across the channel to the Lodsworth FC. Because somehow it almost belongs together. You'll never walk alone......
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