Regional League Northeast: Zoff among football fans: Energie Cottbus against BFC Dynamo

Shout and rejoice, you children of corn. Knee-deep in spring, we football fans will be spoiled for choice over the next few weeks. Do we stay at home and see if Cottbus or the team from the Thuringian state capital wins the Regionalliga Nordost? Cottbus must win at home against BFC Dynamo this Tuesday to hold off their Erfurt rivals, who fulfilled their duty to win at the weekend.

The game against BFC is not under a good star. In January, the holy flags and double holders of the “Ultras BFC” were captured by an unknown group. That means a single person was attacked by a group in Berlin, beaten up and robbed of their utensils. Particularly uncool in this inglorious number, the person was an employee in the Berlin fan project. He therefore belongs to a faction that was previously considered untouchable, because fan project leaders, as social workers, do not take care of the interests of the clubs but of the fans and act in a protected space.

After the robbery, there were increasing indications that Ultras from Cottbus were responsible for the robbery. The BFC fans reacted: »This act will not go unpunished! … to punish the perpetrators and their entire cowardly scene with all severity«.

That doesn’t really sound like a peaceful game. In addition, Cottbus is at the top of the DFB list of bad guys and is playing against BFC Dynamo under conditions of probation. Exclusion of viewers and severe fines threaten. Should Cottbuser show BFC paraphernalia, the police will go to the Cottbus block. It is therefore not surprising that FC Energie completely banned »fence flags, small(n) and large(n) flags, double holders and choreographic means« for this game – to avert the horror of a game being abandoned.

It remains exciting which groups use the game as an opportunity to settle old scores or open new ones. A video posted on Facebook on Monday has exacerbated the situation. There you can see how strangers burn something in the empty BFC arena. Dynamo fans are said to have identified the remains as their flags and banners. If that’s true, it would be an additional provocation that doesn’t bode well for the game.

I wish for a great game without background noise. There are better places than a stadium for riots and riots. If it bangs and Cottbus still becomes champion of the Regionalliga Nordost, the cucumber squad may play their promotion relegation to the exclusion of their own spectators. It really couldn’t get any worse. But what if a small group of idiots put their own interests before those of their beloved club? I’m not a proven Cottbus fan, but I’m on the side of fair sportsmen and sportswomen.

If all this is too tame for you, the way to Prague remains. Of course there will also be shoves if you get on the wrong tram. However, if you act reasonably and respectfully, you can experience nice derbies in the five-day final round of the Czech championship in the next few weeks. In addition to the long-term rivals Sparta and Slavia, Bohemians Prague has also made it into the group of six finalists after ages. The champion is determined in a simple round: It’s more exciting than ever, the beer is world class, the tartar is unique, nothing more is possible.

Or maybe yes? Also in Romania, Bulgaria – oh no, the buds are budding all over the football east and exciting games lure us overheated travel enthusiasts before early summer hammers us with boring games of the expendable national team and we have to wait adventurously for late summer when the ball finally starts again the leagues of our hearts rolls.