I was born into the English leagues. I grew up in Britain so the only leagues I could see on television and see in person when I was a child in the late 70s and early 80s were the British leagues. And one of the factors that attracted me most to those leagues, not that I had much of a choice, was the noise and passion shown by the supporters. The scarves being unfurled. The songs being sung. The sheer lunacy after a goal was scored when the crowd would go mental.
As a man, I now have choices and can pick and choose which leagues to watch (thanks to advances in television and the ability to freely travel).
So it was with much delight when I watched two games on ESPN360.com this past Saturday. The first was Borussia Dortmund against Borussia Monchengladbach. The second was Cologne against Bayern Munich.
I must say that the supporters in both matches were incredible, which reminded me of football from the 1970s. For many of you readers, this is nothing new. You already know that the Bundesliga is the most passionate league in the world in terms of fans. But since I don’t watch the Bundesliga as much as you do, it was a joy to see packed stadiums and passionate supporters (of all ages) which is such a massive difference between the Premier League.
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You make a great point. As a Dortmund supporter, it makes me very proud to support my club whenever I see a picture like this.
It is great that ESPN is offering live Bundesliga games.
More and more people in the united Kindom are starting to follow Bundesliga teams.
Borussia Dortmund has official fan clubs in the UK, and people are travelling to home games.
Being a spokesman for one of the fan clubs ( Planetdortmund Supporters Club) i know that Borussia is very proud of having fans over here. We even got interviewed in the stadium, infront of 80.000 people, during half time ( against Nuernberg).
After the two Dortmund supporters, I can add my agreement as a Cologne fan. You were lucky to watch this specific Cologne game though, lots of storylines. (Poldi against his old team, scoring after a record drought, second game against league leader in a row, close to the very end, satisfying result for Cologne…) That being said, Cologne has a very good reputation atmosphere-wise. I’m still amazed at the fans showing up and singing and cheering in second league against some no-name team on a cold Monday night. You should try to catch the BVB-S04 and FC Köln – BMG rivalries next…
while you won’t get the same average crowds in england that you do in germany (ticket prices are much more expensive), the taylor all seating-stadia issue in england is the bigger problem when it comes to matching germany for atmosphere in the stands. it wont change unless you allow safe standing areas back in england like they have in germany. hence it is tough to compare the two situations.
I agree with sg. I was at a Southampton game recently, ended up in an enclosure where fans were allowed to stand the whole game (despite the seating). The atmosphere was outstanding. Not as loud as a subsequent Eintracht Frankfurt game I went to a month later, but Frankfurt had 50,000 fans there, 20,000 more than Southampton, so it’s understandable really. I think English fans are equally capable of generating special atmospheres.
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