This Europe: Schröder, the footballers' friend, scores an own goal

Gerhard Schröder is not exactly football crazy, but he is the most football-friendly Chancellor the Germans have had. A star player for local teams in his youth, "Gerd" rarely misses an opportunity to be photographed kicking a ball around.

His enthusiasm does not extend to the scores of amateur players who gather each weekend to play football on the neatly manicured lawns outside hischancellery and Norman Foster's revamped Reichstag building, which stands opposite.

After tolerating football playing on this piece of turf for decades, the Berlin city authorities have decided that the pastime is verboten. Those who dare to defy the ban face an immediate €50 (£35) fine.

"Football players damage the underground sprinkler system and the turf. We cannot afford to pay for the upkeep," is how Harald Büttner, the head of Berlin's parks and gardens authority, justified the ban.

His office appears to have gravely underestimated the scale of the protests the measure would provoke. Television documentary teams appeared on the Reichstag's lawns before the ban to film sympathetic portraits of some of the 100,000 players who belong to Berlin's association of amateur football clubs. The weekend players have complained bitterly that they have nowhere else to go because the city authorities take a dim view of football games in public parks. Jan Schlüschen, who plays for the amateur club Cosmos, said: "Compared with other world cities Berlin is totally provincial. When I lived in London, I used to play regularly in Regent's Park."

Mr Schlüschen, who happens to be a lawyer, has announced plans to take the Berlin authorities to court. He has been backed by Otto Höhne, president of the city's football association, who has promised to defy the ban.

Cosmos is already one goal ahead in its battle with bureaucracy. The team openly flouted the ban when it came into force on Monday and nobody was fined. The police decided it was prudent to stay away.