Erzgebirge Aue v Union Berlin

Any old Eisern

Erzgebirge Aue 0-0 Union Berlin (06:03:11)

FC Union Berlin are fast becoming our house band here at European Football Weekends. We make no apologies for that though - we love them. As does our good friend Dave Tunnicliffe who followed them on the road again this week...

As a Union Berlin fan living in Leipzig, this had been one of the games I had most been looking forward to before the start of the season: an away trip to FC Erzgebirge Aue. Aue are one of the most successful teams from the former East Germany. They won the Oberliga title four times and were therefore regular participants in the early years of the European Cup. Since the break-up of the GDR, the club were stalwarts in the third tier Regionalliga before 5 successful years in the 2. Bundesliga. After a break of two seasons in the newly-formed 3. Liga, the club won promotion back to the second tier last season and only just missed out on the title to Osnabrueck on the final day.

The city is around 90 minutes by car from Leipzig and is situated extremely close to the Czech border. Our proximity to the Czech Republic was confirmed when one of my friends got a “Welcome to O2 Czech Republic” text on the way. The name Erzgebirge is taken from the mountains (“Erzgebirge” literally means iron ore mountains) where the town is located, and many fans wear miners helmets to games as a nod to the roots of their support. Incidentally, 'town' is definitely the right word for the place as, despite their comparatively successful football team, the place only has a population of 18,000. The club has historically drawn its support from surrounding areas and towns, and from the neighbouring cities of Zwickau and Chemnitz. Although I have only ever been from railway station to the ground and back, I quite like the place personally. My favourite stat about Aue goes back to the times of the GDR. In 1954, the authorities suddenly decided to move the successful Aue team from their home to Karl-Marx Stadt (now Chemnitz) to provide the latter, the industrial capital of Saxony, with a team to match its status as a city. Unusually for the time, there was a great deal of dismay and anger about the decision from the people and the fans of Aue (then called Wismut Aue). There were protests against the decision and, even more unusually for the time, the authorities backtracked on the decision. They did, however, insist that the team was renamed Wismut Karl-Marx Stadt which led to a rather absurd situation where a team based in Aue played under the name of a city lying 100km away with which there had never been any connection whatsoever. It sounds like something from Pete Winkleman's CV.

The Erzgebirgestadion sits in a natural bowl surrounded by mountains and the journey from the north is pleasant. It certainly helped that the weather on the day of the match was absolutely glorious. This is one of Union Berlin's closest away games of the season and all tickets for the away end had been sold out within a week. Predictions on total numbers were somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000. Due to Aue's relative success this season, the home end was also expected to be full and as we headed towards the car park surrounded by red-clad Berliners, the anticipation was building. I must admit, I'm a sucker for a good set of floodlights and the ones at Aue are some of the best I've seen (honourable mentions to Carl-Zeiss Jena and Dynamo Dresden's old stadium). It's almost the shame that the game wasn't in the evening and that they didn't need to be turned on. Another interesting fact about the ground is that Aue purchased their massive video scoreboard from Schalke when Schalke built their new ground in 2001.

The first disappointment on the day was the fact that only non-alcoholic beer would be served at the ground. Once in the ground, this would obviously be annoying, but Union fans merely waited outside for as long as possible and drank copious amounts of the Berliner Pilnser that was being served and sold from the boots of the supporters coaches. The overbearing police presence also seemed to be a little over the top considering that there is no real history of violence or hate between the two clubs. Unfortunately, overzealous policing seems to be a growing trend in Germany (see HSV – St. Pauli, 1860 Munich in Aue the other week and, to a broader extent, the protests against the rebuilding of Stuttgart railway station) and I would hate it if continued and became like watching league football in the U.K. Anyway, after a couple of beers outside to whet the whistle, we headed inside to get an impression of the stadium.

It soon became clear how many Union fans were actually at the game. The away block was completely full and there must have been another 1,000 in the neighbouring stand (where I was stood) and dotted around the ground. The fact that Union had 'taken over' a little bit of the home end did not go down fantastically with a few Aue fans and this probably caused the only little bit of trouble I saw all afternoon (although it was nothing more than a scuffle). As I say, there's no real hate there. The only real disdain is because Aue is in Saxony (lots of Germans think it's a bit...well, scummy), so there were a few songs about that, including the catchy number “You're Saxons, asocial Saxons, you sleep under bridges, or in the homeless shelter.” (sang to the tune of the famous St. Pauli song) I must admit I couldn't sing along with that one...I live in and love Saxony.

Going into the game, Erzgebirge Aue were riding high in the table and fighting for an almost unthinkable promotion to the Bundesliga. They have, however, had a reputation this season for getting the rub of the green and have already won four games this season 1-0 with goals in the last ten minutes. Union were still threatened by relegation and, despite recent good results (wins at Hertha and Duisburg), still have a tendency to throw it away all too easily (see: 0-1 home defeat to 1860 Munich last week). The match was pretty boring to be honest, with both sides having half chances to take the three points. My personal highlight was watching 5'6” bald Albanian Skerdilaid Curri 'scurry' around the pitch. From a distance he bore a distinct resemblance to one-time Villa left-back Alan Wright.

The result was fair for both teams and, on leaving the ground many Aue fans said they were looking forward to seeing us next year. They seem resigned to Aue not achieving promotion but, to be honest, I think it would a step too far at the current time. I do not share the Aue fans' confidence in Union staying up though, despite the recent strong showings. Both Ingolstadt and Biefeld (finally!) won at the weekend and the distance between Union and the direct relegation zone is only 7 points. It would be all too easy for any of Union, Paderborn, Osnabrueck or Oberhausen to get sucked into the battle. The next two home games are critical (Bielefeld and Augsburg) for Union's chances.

Pessimism is surely the best way of thinking for any football, to avoid the inevitable disappointment. Still, I hope we will be able to make the trip down to Aue again next season.

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Rhineland derby with added Karlsruher.

Fußball Kommt Nach Hause*

Karlsruher SC 1-1 FC Erzebirge Aue (12:11:10)

FC Köln 0-4 Borussia Mönchengladbach (13:11:10)

by Garreth Cummins

In the latest instalment of 'readers lives', Garreth Cummins talks us through his European Football Weekend in Germany. Garreth - a Liverpool supporter - works for the Football Supporters' Federation (FSF) as an International Officer:

Three travelling companions and I eschewed our usual weekend spot, which would have seen us on the away terrace of one of our least-favourite Premier League grounds this weekend past, to head to Germany. For us, the excuse of avoiding a disliked away trip coupled by paying a visit to our friend Al, who is spending the year working in Germany, and sampling some of their world-renowned fan-friendly experience was too good to turn down.

After landing in Munich we headed first west to Karlsruhe to watch the home team, currently languishing near the foot of Bundesliga 2, entertain high-flying Erzgebirge Aue on the Friday evening. For some of our band the highlight of the trip was to be the following day's trip to Köln for the Rhein Derby against hated neighbours Borussia Mönchengladbach, but for my money (all €11 odd of it), the Karlsruhe game was the pick of the weekend's action. Standing tickets? Beer in the ground? Walking to the stadium from the city centre? Some misguided sense of obscure, non-top flight cachet? Former Intertoto Cup Winners? It had it all.

Friday night at the Wildparkstadion. What's not to like?

We positioned ourselves on the north terrace, just to the side of the main band of KSC ultras, the majority of whom had the protection of the roof that we sadly did not – still, it’s not proper standing on an open terrace unless you get a little bit wet, is it? They provided much of the entertainment in a very poor first half, aside from one of the more bizarre goals we're likely to see all season - the visitors opened the scoring from the edge of the box early on, after a block tackle from the home centre half rebounded in off the advancing centre forward and flew past the keeper. Their fans reacted in the only way possible - hurling their plastic beer containers over the perimeter fence and onto the running track in disgust. No small act of defiance when it means you lose your €1 deposit.

Karlsruhe's opponents Erzgebirge Aue [Urts-gi-burger Owa] surely ranks as the most German sounding team of all-time?

Karlsruhe's equaliser, when it eventually came some time into the second half, was a 20-yarder of real class: the only recognisable name on the teamsheet (to us, anyway) Alexander Iashvili driving home a half volley from the edge of the box with the outside of his right foot. More beer cups rained down on the track - it appears that any extreme of emotion is enough to bring a Karlsruher to flagrant disregard for his or her deposit. Were it not for the referee bottling a late penalty decision, Karlsruhe would have taken their first win in 5 at home, and the stewards would've been even more handsomely rewarded for their night’s work stood out on the running track.

KSC Fan-tastic

Warmed by our new found love of KSC and their flag-waving fanatics (that, and the excellent Feuerwurst on offer at the Wildparkstadion), we absented ourselves to a downtown hostelry. In finding a table in the packed post-match throng, Al introduced us to a fellow Köln supporter, Marius, who had the misfortune to be missing the biggest game of the season the following day owing to a lack of funds. His friends had offered him a ticket, but just before payday he couldn't afford both the ticket and to travel the few hundred kilometres north. A quick whip-round later, and Marius was frantically on the phone to his friend to ensure the offer of a ticket still stood. For a small price each we'd nabbed ourselves a personal guide to Köln, which we thought was excellent value, and a rather friendly gesture to boot.

Travelling at over 300 km/h with a hangover doesn't sound like the best of experiences, but the excellent German ICE train sped the six of us to Köln early (too early for my liking) the following morning. Marius negotiated us through the city's S-Bahn system, arriving at the ground a few hours ahead of kick-off to sample the atmosphere. Despite being early, the tram to the ground was packed, and rocking with a number of derby day songs as we made our way to the Rhein Energie Stadion. My personal favourite (and fast becoming my favourite football chant of any side anywhere) was the rather choice 'Gladbach pigs, Gladbach pigs, Gladbach pigs; we'll fuck you all up the arse, you wankers'.

It doesn't rhyme in German, either, for the record, but it still gets the point across.

The welcoming committee at the Rhineland derby.

Our greeting at our matchday pub of choice, around 500 yards from the ground was not what we could call warm - the police were out in force, and pointed out to Marius that were he to cross the road as he was requesting, to get to another pub, that they would arrest him. That being the case, we decided where we were was probably alright for now. So we drank our Kölsch, and marvelled at the passing effigies of horses being hanged on mocked up 6 foot tall gallows that we were assured by our hosts were perfectly normal for derby day am Rhein.

Relax - it's derby day. This is all perfectly normal, apparently.

Soon after, the presence of the police was both expanded, and explained. The first of 4 trams of visiting fans was being escorted up the main road, and past our drinking den, accompanied by at least 20 police vans. It was as they reached the pub that we heard the first firecrackers explode, and saw the first of the number of fans who'd gathered at the front of the pub returning towards us with their eyes streaming from the tear-gas. The Köln fans' efforts were repeated a subsequent 3 times, and only some time after the final tram had passed (and not long before kick-off) we were allowed to make our way to the stadium.

Unfortunately our band of five were split into three separate areas of the ground, and although I drew the shorter straw of being on my own (my half-time conversation with my neighbour was interesting, albeit brief) that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the whole experience. If you think that You'll Never Walk Alone is a great pre-match anthem, you want to try taking in the full 6 verses and choruses of De Höhner - the words are up on the big screens for tourists such as ourselves, even if they do make it slightly difficult by putting them up in the Kölsch dialect rather than in German (although I suppose if you don't speak German the fact they are in a dialect rather than 'normal' German is probably lost on you anyway).

Flares are still trendy in Germany.

The impressive pre-match rendition, alongside the flares and smoke-bombs in the away end sadly gave way to something of a tepid first half, not helped by the deluge in the days preceding the game which led to players sliding all over, and the ball stopping mid-dribble and mid-pass in puddles on the pitch. The second half, however, was as surprising as the first had been uninspiring - Gladbach, much to Marius' doubtless chagrin, and that of the majority of those in attendance, ended up worthy 4-0 winners, largely courtesy of Köln’s very accommodating (or abject) defence.

By the time we met up on the tram afterwards, we think Marius was silently cursing our generous act in getting him to the game. He probably wished he’d stayed at home, and when we saw our team’s performance that evening in a Köln bar we were glad we hadn’t.

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