Photo: dpa | Patrick Pleul
Marco Bertram has dared to write a football book that on the one hand depicts the history of ASK / FC Forwards, but on the other hand tells four decades of life in the workers’ and farmers’ state in the form of a novel on a fictional level. What sounds like a crazy idea turns out to be a very entertaining book about a long-defunct football club that only lives on in the minds and hearts of a select few these days.
Long before the Berlin FC Dynamo and 1. FC Union Berlin established supremacy in the capital of the GDR, the 1953 forward eleven delegated from the trade fair city of Leipzig to Berlin prepared to win championship honours. As the National Armed Forces Sports Collective and flagship of the Forward Army Sports Association, it was imperative for the team to be successful. And since players were not transferred, but rather signed as part of honorary service, there seemed to be infinite human resources.
Success was not lacking. The Volksarmisten, who were briefly hosted, were able to celebrate championships and cup victories several times, and all of this while they were stationed in the capital of the GDR. The short time before in Leipzig, however, was less successful. The fact that there was also a much more popular club, BSG Chemie, did the rest.
So off to Berlin – and that’s where the story begins off the field. With Lutz, one of the two protagonists, we live through the trials and tribulations of everyday life in the young GDR. It’s not just about football, but also about very banal things. Father on assembly, the apartment is actually too small and there are no tropical fruits either. One of the strengths of the book is that Marco Bertram has a keen sense of mood. With the help of hit lyrics and descriptions of places, he lets the reader delve deep into the 1950s and 1960s in East Berlin and later, alongside the second main character Molli, into Frankfurt (Oder) in the 1970s and 1980s.
A zest for life and a zest for life under the hammer, compass and wreath of corn: With the two »great ultras« of FC Vorwarts we experience successes and disappointments, big games and bitter defeats, sadness that FCV is being delegated from Berlin to Frankfurt (Oder), and the awakening there and growing enthusiasm for the red and yellow: »The Volga meandered along the street that led over the Klingefliess to the slightly higher prefabricated housing district of Hansa Nord. 20 minutes before kick-off, the taxi actually reached the forecourt of the stadium again, where Mr. Gafke had been waiting very well with Molli on a corner and passed the time with a guessing game. ›Now let’s get into the good room!‹«
If you drive to the stadium of friendship in the Oderstadt today, there is not much to see of the fame of FC Forward. Every jubilee year, a handful of remaining fans unpack the flags with the FC Forward coat of arms to chat about the good old days at the evening of legends. They don’t really want to have anything to do with today’s 1. FC Frankfurt (Oder) eV, which has just been promoted to the Oberliga. They prefer to remember their FC Verwaerts, the very old also about ASK/FC Verwaers Berlin. They have preserved the memory of glorious days on the Spree and Oder. With his »Football Primer«, Marco Bertram ensures that this memory will last for a long time.
Marco Bertram: Forward Berlin/Frankfurt (Oder): Soccer Primer. Culturcon Medien, 196 p., card., €13.99.
