Union Berlin The fans that built a dream

This is what fan power can actually do, back in 2002 I spent a period of time in Berlin, going over there I thought of just one team, Hertha BSC. This was who I wanted to go see, I couldnt wait to step inside the Olympiastadion where Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals in 1936, three years before World War II. I arrived in Schonefeld airport, this was deep in the heart of East Berlin, the wall is gone but the divide was still there. After two nights of working in the Sam Malones Irish bar that was it, I was hooked on Die Eisernen. 1FC Union Berlin were the team of choice in that area, I was living in Friedrichshagen which is two S-Bahn stops from Kopenick. Hertha BSC were meaningless here, so much so the rival team was a lowly league club by the name of BFC Dynamo. BFC Dynamo were the top team of East German football, mostly cheating their way to ten league titles in a row from 1979 to 1988.
My first league game was against Mainz, Mainz now currently sit top of the Bundesliga with 6 wins out of 6 beating FC Bayern lasat week 2-1 away from home. This was amazing, 16,000 nutcase supporters crammed into a run down, old style 1970s stadium,Thats what it felt like. In 2002 Cork City had just switched back to a green and white strip, I still had my Red City jersey which was very similar to the trikot of Union Berlin, I did enjoy the looks I would get as people tried to figure out what team shirt I was wearing in the J section, the shed end of Die Eisernen. Mainz won the game 2-0 with ex Liverpool stiker Andrei Voronin scoring twice, I was hooked. From the pre match beer to walikng through the long windy paths through the forest, the chants were different, harsh German accents, it would send a shiver down my spin. Wrapped in a tricolour and weraring my City shirt I would get stopped every few metres by people wanting to know why I was here and what did I think. Union Berlin is a fantastic welcoming club, unlike the other crowd BFC Dynamo. My best moment going to Union games was the 4-2 win over St Pauli. St Pauli brought a great buzz to the day, it was very strange seeing tricolours in the opposition stand.

At the end of the day the stadium was not up to standards, the ground was falling apart and to be honest Turners Cross was of a much better state.The club decided they needed to upgrade Alte Forsterei, after the club were finally granted planning permission they appealed to the supporters of Die Eisernen to help out. The response was over whelming.Hundreds of fans volunteered after the call last June, offering their spare time, equipment, building material and experience. Fan commitment brought in close to 5 million euros’ worth of work and resources.After years of legal wrangling, plus an escape from bankruptcy for the club, Union Berlin president Dirk Zingler announced 12 months earlier that the team had finally been granted permission to refurbish the ground.

“"The response from fans was stunning,” said club spokesman Christian Arbeit. “Everyone started spending their holidays, their days off here. Others came on weekends, students worked during their semester breaks; absolutely stunning."

So far some 75,000 man hours have gone into the 20,500-capacity stadium, worth about two million euros. Sponsors supplied building material, equipment and manpower worth another 2.5 million euros.From a few hundred, the supporters help grew to more than 1,600 who worked in teams under six professional builders.Between 30 and 100 voulenteers helped out on a daily basis and tgheir first game was against Western rivals Hertha BSC last June.

“"The stadium becomes much more valuable this way. It carries more weight than one that was built by a big corporation,” said Arbeit."

he added.

“"This was always a club that had an alternative culture,” Arbeit said. “It was not a club of resistance fighters but it was a club where people did not agree with everything in the GDR and they made their disagreement known.”
Unlike hated East Berlin rivals Dynamo, the feared Stasi secret police team, the “Iron Union” attracted dissent. You came here if you had an alternative position, an alternative lifestyle. Nowadays it is all about opposing this commercialisation of sport,” "

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago, the club has gone through highs and lows, like all the Berlin teams. They reached the 2001 German Cup final and played in Europe beating FC Haka but going on to lose against FC Litex Lovech of Bulgaria before dropping into the regional divisions.
They moved temporarily into reviled Dynamo’s former home, the Jahn sports park in Prenzlauer Berg where powerful Stasi chief Erich Mielke regularly sat in the stands and the Berlin Wall ran along the side of the stadium.

"We hated it there; awful, just awful,” said Union fan Peter Lange, watching the progress of the building works outside the stadium on a cool, spring day.
Here everyone will know who built this stadium. Everyone playing for the team will carry this extra responsibility. Fan loyalty cannot be bought.”"

Union Berlin ended up with no money, no hope and stuck in the Berlin City leagues, with much effort, a united fan group, Union now have a stadium and history to be proud of.

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