Erzgebirge Aue 0-0 St. Pauli, Friday 3rd August 2012

Erzgebirge Aue 0-0 St. Pauli, Bundesliga 2 (att. 12,200)

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I’m writing this way after the event.  Years after.  So I’ll try and stick to what I know to be true.  Erzgebirge Aue is an adventure.  If you have to change trains in Zwickau to get to a place, you know it’s out on a limb.  Aue is a small town of 20,000 somewhere in the mountains and forests of East Germany, somewhere near to the border with the Czech Republic.  Way too small to support a Bundesliga team, save for its position as the pride of the region: seems everyone around here supports Erzgebirge, or ‘Wismut’ (a throwback to the communist era).

The view from above the station.

I had a rough idea of where the stadium was, as in, which side of the railway track it existed.  What wasn’t so evident on the map I looked at was the gradient of the hill inbetween the railway station and the stadium.  Still, it made for a pleasant (slow) walk and there were plenty of others littering the route.

Follow her!

I decided to go in the away end.  St. Pauli drew a crowd of 12,200 to the Aue Stadion, and though in early August, it was a good chance this would be the highest of the season. It even attracted a Bristol Rovers fan to the away end, unmistakeable in his quartered Pirates’ shirt.  The game would also be the slowest, as the heat sucked all life out of a game which was destined to be goalless from the start.

St. Pauli!

At least this afforded plenty of time to look around and admire the stadium.  Despite having an athletics track, it had its charm; the home end is built into a hill and just seems to keep going until the hill runs out.  Opposite, the away end is similarly uncovered, but more uniform in height.  Left of the away end is the main stand, a decently-sized cantilever of one tier.  Across the pitch, a shallower all-seater stand bends around slightly at either end.  I’d have had a closer look after the match, were an over-zealous steward not refusing me entry.  Once you leave a German ground, you’ve left.  Don’t expect to be allowed back in.

The Main Stand pre-match.

Therafter, I had a bit of time to kill before my train. I wandered around Aue to find it wasn’t so sleepy after all: small gangs of youths appeared to be on the hunt for away fans.  Had I stepped into 1980s England?  (I remember one FA Cup trip to Bromsgrove vividly.)  When I found my way to the station platform, one St. Pauli fan was covered in blood, but alive.  Whatthehell is this place?

The Damage:

€10 ent

€1 postcard

= €11

Floodlights, East German-style.

The teams are paraded.

A shadow is cast.

From the top of the home end, full-time.

The home end, bedecked in purple and white.

The Main Stand, from the home end.

..and again.

The home end.

Graffiti at the back of stand.

Fans mill around afterwards.

The climb out of the home end.

..and the view from the top.