Difficult Times.
After facing bankruptcy in 2002, our love for Eintracht Frankfurt got tested again in 2003/2004. The team returned to the Bundesliga and got to play against Kickers Offenbach in the first round of the German Cup. Back in the Bundesliga and the first official game against Kickers Offenbach in 18 years. We were more than excited.
The game in Offenbach was a highlight as a fan. But winning against Offenbach (4th division at that time) after penalties already gave us an idea of how "strong" our team was that season. It was an emotional game, and we were excited to witness a penalty kick. Winning against this amateur team in the first round of the German Cup led us to dream about winning the cup and qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Everyone knew that chances of making the Top 5 in the Bundesliga were pretty low, but the German Cup seemed to be a realistic way to qualify-we "just" need to make it to the final.
But that didn't happen-yet. Instead, we got to witness another low point. The second round of the German Cup against Duisburg at home. It was a rainy day in October. Only 10.500 fans showed up to support our team on a Wednesday night. Frankfurt scored after four minutes, and we were already thinking about making it to the Cup final in Berlin. But it was a lousy game. The rain got more intense before halftime, and Duisburg managed to stumble the ball into our goal. We were shocked.
But it got worse. The game went into extra time. Maybe we get to see another penalty kick? As we mentally prepared ourselves for another penalty kick, Duisburg scored the deciding goal in the 110th minute. The dream of making it to the Cup final was over. I remember our walk back home after the game. Nobody said a word. It was still raining, and we were angry and disappointed. We just lost against a second-division team in front of 10.500 fans. "At least we can focus on the Bundesliga after that," was our attempt to put things into a better perspective. Well, that didn't work out. We finished last place after the first half of the season.
What a great time for Heribert Bruchhagen to enter the stage as our new manager. Last place in the Bundesliga and no money left to invest. At least we had an experienced coach with Willi Reimann and got a few new players. The second half of the season gave us some hope. The team improved, and we were hoping to avoid another painful relegation to the second division. What could go wrong?
In March 2004, we played against Borussia Dortmund. Nobody expected Frankfurt to win this challenging away game. And nobody expected what would happen that day. Our coach Willi Reimann decided to attack one of the referees. Sounds crazy, right? But he really did that. He got suspended for five games and had to pay a lot of money. The entire Bundesliga was laughing about Frankfurt again. This terrible season ended as it had to end. Frankfurt went down to the second division again.
But this time, it was even more painful than before. After the almost bankruptcy in 2002 and the beginning of the "Bruchhagen era," we hoped for better times. We thought there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Needless to say that Willi Reimann got fired, and financial worries returned to Frankfurt.
As a fan, I never really understood how one of the wealthiest cities in Germany couldn't adequately finance our team. But after years of scandals, lack of success, and one low point after another, it wasn't a big surprise that sponsors were not keen to invest. We got our season tickets and welcomed our new coach: Friedhelm Funkel.
He didn't disappoint but had a rough start to the season. No money was left for new players, and the team was in 14th place in the second division after 11 games. Was this another low point in the making? It certainly felt like another disastrous season. But Funkel somehow got the team back on track. We started winning again. At the end of the first half of the season, we were on 5th place. And it got even better than that. Funkel led our team back to the Bundesliga. The season ended with a 3:0 victory against Wacker Burghausen at home and us securing a spot for the next Bundesliga season.
And we felt like we deserved this moment of glory after witnessing so many terrible games. With our support, it felt as if we carried the team back into the Bundesliga. It was our time to celebrate. Many of us felt like invading the pitch after the game. But what was supposed to be a joyful celebration ended in a riot. The pitch invasion didn't happen, and the police decided to storm our block. And the drama continued later that night in the city. The police reported that a crowd of 400 people attacked them, and 27 people got arrested. A side note stated that the situation in the city escalated after the police tried to shut down a bar because of noise complaints. Really? Is that what happened that night? We will never find out.
Of course, I am not defending any violence, but it feels like an obligation to speak up against narratives that portray our fan scene as extremely violent. Especially after some of my friends got banned from attending games (Stadionverbot), these so-called "Stadionverbote" were a phenomenon of that time. Germany was preparing for the World Cup in 2006, and officials wanted to keep certain fans out of the stadium. The growing Ultra movement in several fan scenes was perceived as a disturbance. The media started to portray organized support as a threat to modern football. Several so-called experts on fan culture started connecting non-existent dots between Ultras and Hooligans.
TV stations were using images of tifos and pyrotechnics to advertise but condemned the use of flares when it happened. FIFA discussed creating a fantastic atmosphere while banning genuine fans from attending the stadium. The last thing the organizers of the World Cup 2006 wanted was a vibrant fan scene in Frankfurt that felt invincible after overcoming all the low points of the past years. The German football association (DFB) made it its primary goal to clear the stadiums from anything and anyone that wasn't in line with what FIFA expected.
Eintracht Frankfurt became one of the clubs that rejected the idea of modern football that saw fans as clients. After painful years of supporting the team in the second division, we wanted the club to acknowledge that we are part of the club's success and not just clients-Peter Fischer was smart enough to realize that early on.
The officials of Eintracht Frankfurt had to find a balance between fulfilling the expectations of the police, the German football association, and the media that only cared about the World Cup 2006 -and fans who wanted nothing to do with that. To be honest, I just wanted that World Cup to be over so we could focus on Eintracht Frankfurt. But the rest of Germany was excited to host this tournament.
To this day, I still ask myself how these stadium bans were supposed to prevent violence during the World Cup when almost everyone banned never intended to attend any games of the World Cup. After all the bans, discussions, and politics around the World Cup, the media celebrated the tournament and showed images of fans excitedly waving national flags. And they did an excellent job in almost completely ignoring the violent clashes of fans. The city of Frankfurt was invaded by English and Polish hooligans during the World Cup. There were several incidents of violence. Tell me again how banning fans of Eintracht Frankfurt from attending Bundesliga games helped with that. But the media continued their narrative, and the fans of Eintracht Frankfurt slowly became the antidote of modern football. Instead of appreciating the unique atmosphere created by the fans, officials portrayed the passion displayed on the stands as a problem. Instead of acknowledging the role of our fans in saving the club, so-called experts urged Frankfurt to cut the chords with its own Ultras, as other clubs did at that time.
Football violence was a massive topic at that time. Fans were seen as a mass of paying clients that needed to get domesticated and let go of "overly fanatic" behavior. Every violent incident fed the narrative that more control, bans, and higher prices would lead to a more enjoyable experience for all fans. The basic idea then was to eliminate fans who organized their support independently. Football was on its way to becoming an orchestrated event with no space for passion, spontaneity, or criticism.
At the same time, fan groups like the "Ultras Frankfurt 1997" showed how fans are able to help a club overcome difficult times. Without this fan group, Frankfurt would have been just another club dwelling in memories of the good old times, But these fans kept the dream alive. These fans never gave up. Without spending too much time discussing this topic, I would like to clarify one thing: almost every escalation of violence I witnessed at football games started after fans got mistreated. Look at the riots after the attempted pitch invasion at the game against Wacker Burghausen. Ask any fan who ever attended an away game and got held up for hours for no reason. It seems as if fundamental law doesn't apply to football fans on away days.
But anyone who brings this up gets portrayed as a supporter of violence. And I can't even blame folks who don't care about football for having this perspective. I would probably feel the same way if I had never attended any games and based my view on media reports. I don't like violence, and there is nothing to defend. But there is one question that never got...
