In a time where fans are becoming more and more like customers, whose loyalty can be bought with fluffy seats and prawn sandwiches, it’s becoming quite a rare sight to see fans who actually care about their clubs history and traditions.
I know I’m stereotyping the modern fan here, but due to the world becoming more and more of a global village, the increase in glory hunters over the past few years has been alarming. Well, in my eyes anyway.
I can’t stand people who start supporting a club simply because they’re successful. These same people will not stand by this club in its time of need.
As I said, I can’t stand glory hunters, so whenever I hear about fans who are willing to go the extra mile for their club, it’s like a breath of fresh air to me. My heart jumps with joy, so to speak.
In recent times, I’ve heard several of these touching tales of club loyalty. There’s the tale of a group of Russian fans who travelled all the way across the country (quite a journey) to see their team lose an away match.
There’s an action of Dutch fans (in which I participated) to buy lottery tickets for their financially troubled club and donating the profits to the club. I even feel FC United of Manchester and Wimbledon AFC deserve a mention.
One case of fan loyalty tops all others though. It’s a classic tale of how a united front of fans can overcome and even conquer the difficulties their club is facing.
Ironically enough, the aforementioned club is called Union Berlin. Active in the German Third Bundesliga, they are the most popular club in the city of Berlin, ahead of Bundesliga-based giants Hertha, which draws it’s fans from the suburbs and neighbouring communities.
The Union-fans have a long tradition of forming one united front to overcome all difficulties. During the Cold War, the club was based in the DDR (or GDR) part of Berlin. Union was the club of the people and therefore hated by the government and league officials, who favoured Dynamo Berlin, the club of the DDR secret police or Stasi.
During matches, the Union-team was victimised by referees and the fans were brutalised by the police, in an effort to break Union’s popularity with the common Berlin citizen. In what has become a typical fashion for these fans, they united themselves and warded off any outside threat to come out on top.
When the Wall came down, things improved for Union but whenever the team is in trouble, the fans once again form a united front. In more recent times, the fans have once again united themselves to help out their beloved Union.
A few years ago, the DFB (Deutsche Fußbal Bund or German Football Union) announced that the Union stadium, Alte Försterei, was no longer suitable for professional football. The team threatened to fade into oblivion, as there was no money for stadium renovations.
As so many times before, the fans flocked together to help the club. Not just financially, but with real manpower as well. Union have started modernising its stadium, literally with the help of their fans. The club could only hire two or three professional construction-workers, so the rest of the construction-work is actually done by the fans.
These two or three professionals were hired to oversee the work, the rest of the work was being done by the fans. Some fans quit their jobs, others took time of leave to help work on the construction site. The fans even paid for some of the materials used in the construction process.
Now how is that for loyalty? How is that for devotion? Instead of idly standing by or simply protesting, these fans are actually making a difference by simply doing what needs to be done. I for one admire these fans their devotion to a common cause.
In Holland we have an adage which says “Geen woorden maar daden,” “Actions speak louder than words.” I think the fans from Union Berlin adhere to this adage rather well.
They have realised what many supporters from minnow football clubs should realise. United we stand, but divided we fall. Stand by your club, even during its darkest hours, and there is no obstacle you cannot overcome.
10 comments Last one added 5 months ago — Leave a Comment
Anthony Sanchez 7 months ago
Nice story Guido. Nice to hear you mention FC united. A lot of people i know call them traitors but I think what they've done is great. They're looking to build their own stadium in the next few years they should do something like this. For a cash strapped club it'd certainly help.
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Guido 7 months ago
Thanks for the POTD, Anthony.
Yeah, I actually found this story quite touching, fans caring so deeply about their club.
The FC United idea is a good one too, I actually hope they can make it onto the lower (semi)professional levels.
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Willie Gannon 7 months ago
Another great story Guido. It's always heart-warming to see fans helping their club.
Similar to a story I wrote about Shamrock Rovers finding a home, wouldn't have been possible without their fans, who now run the club too.
Keep it up Guido. Always a good read.
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Guido 7 months ago
Thanks Willie. I think I actually got a Pick of the Day for this article :$
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Maire Ofeire 7 months ago
Nice article Guido - another story I have not heard.
There are many stories of Irish fans getting another mortgage out on their homes to make it to Italia 90. One of my favourite stories is actually from this year when some Manchester City fans rented a trawler to get to a game in the Faroe Islands.
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Guido 7 months ago
Blame geography, I hardly ever hear anything about the lower echelons of British and Irish football around here. Didn't hear those stories about the Irish and the Manchester City fans before... Got any links to that, I'd love to read more about that.
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Maire Ofeire 7 months ago
here is a link to the Man City story - while they rented the trawler they actually went by airline as the seas were too rough but people were so taken aback by their dedication they paid the fare:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/7510033.stm
Irish fans:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/nov/04/footballinireland.iran
- this one is for the game against Iran for WC 2002 (I think 2 women did get into the ground) I can't find any for the games in Italy but books have been written about the lengths fans went to, if i find a link I'll send it on.
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Guido 7 months ago
Thanks Mary/Maire (whichever you prefer) ;-)
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Maire Ofeire 7 months ago
Ha ha LOL whichever you like :-)
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steve winkler 5 months ago
as a fan of union´s fiercest rivals bfc dynamo i am (understandably, methinks) not too fond of the club from koepenick. yet, i have friends who support them and i do find the support they give their club (e.g. with their ground) highly admirable.
still, a couple of facts about the "eisernen" (and their rivals) need to be set straight:
1.) union were not, as you claim, victimised by refs in g.d.r. times. they were a small club who spent most of their existence in the second division. clubs like bfc (or other east german top sides) didn´t need refs helping them against union as in most of those matches they were so superior it was unreal.
2.) it´s a myth (perpetuated by union´s fanbase and parts of the media) that they were "the people´s club" or some sort of stronghold of the political opposition in the g.d.r.. the patrons of union were the east german trade unions (who were, like any other organisation or company then, controlled by the ruling communist party, the sed) and the local branch of the sed.
3.) it´s another myth that union´s fans were subject to police brutality more than fans of other clubs in the g.d.r.. the vast majority of football fans in the g.d.r. were anti-state, even those of clubs like bfc dynamo, many of whom cut the "D" out of their club crest in the 80s to demonstrate their opposition to the club´s ´patrons´. actually, fans of bfc got attacked by the police at away matches on a regular basis in the 80s as the cops in dresden, leipzig etc. hated the "stasi club" (check my comment on the dynamo berlin article re. that claim) as much as the regular fans of those teams.
4.) union are - at best - no. 4 in the popularity ranking of berlin sports clubs. berlin´s most popular football club (by a long stretch) are hertha who have considerably more fans (in both berlin and the surrounding area) than union. berlin´s second most popular sports club are the eisbaeren ice hockey club (followed by the basketballers of alba berlin) who happen to be the successor of the former hockey branch of dynamo berlin (and, as such, bfc dynamo´s former sister club). funnily enough no-one seems to care about their past as part of the dynamo sports organisation (unlike with bfc) and there are many union fans who support them as their second team.
i could go on and on (e.g. about fans of other former g.d.r. clubs who kept their clubs alive, and under much more difficult circumstances than union were faced with) but let me just add this: life in the former g.d.r. in general, and football in particular, was nowhere near as black and white as you seem to believe.
regards
steve
ps: oh, and i think you can´t compare afc wimbledon to fcum. the wimbledon lads just wanted their club back (which was taken away from them) whereas the mancs just deserted the plc (but all of them remain scum fans at heart).
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