The residents of the Hanseatic City of Bremen are particularly proud of two things: their SV Werder – and all parties that have their SV Werder as an occasion in the broadest sense. In the past, the occasions were really good, for example when the club was able to add a new trophy to its not exactly title-poor collection. The people of Bremen haven’t been able to celebrate championship parties for a long time, but they still don’t have any objections to good theme parties. Only: straight away, just because you, as an old luxury brand, are moving back into the upper house after a year of compulsory second-class status?
The Hanseatic tour group had not even expected such a lavish reception committee in their wildest dreams. Because on Saturday afternoon, before SV Werder’s 2-2 draw in Wolfsburg, the Werder fans who had just arrived by train were greeted by a trellis of women and men, who unfortunately didn’t exactly give the impression that they wanted to sing fanfares or join in toast a few beers to Bremen’s first division return.
The trellis consisted of dozens of police officers, dressed in dark uniforms and equipped with all the utensils needed for the so-called “emergency”. It was a strange sight, especially since the officials did not provide the usual escort into the stadium, but arrested the Werder supporters to carry out extensive identity checks. In the social networks, the police then called “hazardous reasons” for the unannounced inspection, which should help “to prevent clashes between fan groups and the burning of pyrotechnics”.
There was solidarity for the Werder fans from their own club – and from the opponent
The reasons did not only cause astonishment in the active fan scene: among ultras, Wolfsburg’s supporters are ridiculed as being overly friendly at the event – even notorious rioters prefer to stress elsewhere. The issue of flares, which is becoming an ever-growing problem in Germany’s stadiums, is seen more as a showdown with rival groups than as self-portrayal. So here too: Why such a grim police block when the game had previously been classified as low-risk by both clubs?
The Werder fans saw the police action as an act of arbitrariness and deprivation of liberty, some complained that they had been denied access to the toilets in Wolfsburg’s main station for hours. The lack of understanding was therefore great in the Bremen delegation, the Werder President Hubertus Hess-Grunewald contributed the most noted contribution in an interview with Sky: “We are proud to have a fan culture in Germany, a lively fan scene in all stadiums, away fans too have,” he said.
“And if we welcome guests like that and treat them like that, then that can’t be in the spirit of spectator football.” Hess-Grunewald also attached importance to an important restriction: Of course, this principle only applies until the authorities can show at least immoral to illegal behavior on the part of the fans.
Not a bad idea. In the coming days, the Wolfsburg police will be happy to explain in more detail what they believe are indications that would justify measures such as the withdrawal of the right to pee breaks. In any case, hundreds of Werder Ultras drew their consequences from the unfriendly reception in the Autostadt: They took the next train to Bremen.
This self-imposed and peaceful retreat was also well received elsewhere. The Wolfsburg sports director Jörg Schmadtke, for example, apologized for the lack of hospitality caused by third parties and announced that the tickets would be refunded. He called the action of the local police, which seems exaggerated until the opposite is proven, a “disgrace for the football location of Wolfsburg”.