Hamburg fans can mourn in blue and white

By Kerstin Gehmlich

HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Gardener Lars Rehder stands next to a fresh grave in a cemetery and wonders which flowers best match the blue and white of Hamburg SV.

Rehder is working on a new "soccer graveyard," where fans can find final rest a stone's throw from their team's stadium, buried underneath original grass from the Hamburg pitch and lying in blue coffins featuring the Bundesliga leaders' logo.

"Classic rows of gravestones seemed boring," said Rehder, recalling how he came up with the idea for the graveyard with a stone-cutter friend a few years ago.

"Thousands of fans take the shortcut through the cemetery to get to the stadium every time there's a match on.

"It seemed like the obvious thing to do when this patch of cemetery became available," the 36-year-old said about the site, which opened last month but so far contains only one grave.

Set up in a semi-circle, the site allowed graves to be arranged "like fans in a stadium" on terrace-style steps surrounding a patch of green -- "the pitch," Rehder said.

Wealthy fans might be attracted by what he called the "VIP lounge" family grave for 10,500 euros, while the less well-off could opt for a smaller spot for an urn at 2,500 euros.

"It's cheaper. I call it the supporters' stand option," Rehder said, looking around the site, which mourners enter through a black, stylized goal.

BLUE COFFINS

Pensioner Horst Petersen said he had come to almost every home match the German club had played over the past 40 years but the cemetery was not for him.

"It's funny," the 63-year-old said, watching HSV players train for a match. "I always used to tell my wife that once I pass away, she should make sure I'm buried close to the pitch -- so that I'll always know the score.

"But now that it's actually feasible, I'm not sure. I'd rather people remembered me in their thoughts than through a special grave."

Fellow fan Thomas Riebesehl said he was tempted.

"A large part of my life happens here," the 37-year-old said as he entered the HSV fan shop at the stadium.

"It would be attractive to stay nearby (after my death) and to only be surrounded by other HSV fans and be sure no St Pauli supporter is near," he said with a grin, referring to the club's local rivals in the northern port city.