IT'S becoming increasingly hard to escape the sinking feeling that, even in the Bundesliga, the land of footballing forward thinking and fan empowerment, we can’t have nice things.
Upon their promotion to the top flight for the first time in the club’s history last summer, Union Berlin were widely adopted as the feel-good story of the 2019-20 campaign. They are the Little Club Who Could, from the old East Berlin, whose commitment to their fans makes a mockery of the lip service most clubs pay, and whose right-thinking ethos and organic approach overcame the odds in their ascent to the Bundesliga. And for most of the season so far, they have appeared destined for the security of mid-table.
A six-game winless run, though, now brings them within swinging distance of the relegation scrap, threatening a drop that would be disheartening not only to the fans inside the Stadion An der Alten Forsterei but the swathe of support they’ve enraptured beyond.
“This club is a very special club,” Swedish forward and current 12-goal top scorer Sebastian Andersson told the BBC at the start of the season. “Sometimes we say we are nothing without the fans, but here it is 100 per cent like this; this is the true story.”
And it is, in large part, for Union’s connection with their fans that they are so widely admired. In 2004, when Union were on the cusp of financial ruin, fans literally bled for the club. Blood donors are paid for their contribution in Germany, so supporters ingeniously came up with the Bluten für Union – Bleed for Union – campaign, giving blood and passing on the fees they received to the club.
When Union’s modest stadium needed extensive refurbishment four years later, more than 2,000 fans volunteered to help with the reconstruction effort. Those who’d chipped in to rebuild the 22,500-capactiy arena – in which only 3,600 seats are found, with the remaining capacity reserved for standing – wore red hats for the first home game upon its reopening and were celebrated for their commitment.
And Union made sure to honour fans who’d supported them along their rise but had died before they could share in the glory of their Bundesliga promotion. Before the first game of the season kicked off, more than 400 placards were held aloft, each depicting a supporter who had passed away, and the announced attendance for the match – a 4-0 loss to RB Leipzig – was adjusted to include the departed contingent.
Union and their fans stand proudly on the right side of history, too, having vocally opposed the Stasi in the old East Germany, and whenever a free-kick was awarded during games, the crowd would chant “Die Mauer Muss weg” – the Wall must go.
In a milieu where many clubs carefully tread an inoffensive, apolitical line so as not to jeopardise their marketability and catch-all appeal, Union have a strong and proud sense of identity. So much so, in fact, that forward Sebastian Polter, a key figure in last season’s promotion, has been exiled, told he will not play again before his contract expires this summer, for a perceived failure to uphold the club’s values.
One year ago today, Union Berlin were promoted to the @Bundesliga_EN for the first time in their history.
During their opening match, supporters raised up photos of fans who had waited to finally see their club in the top division but died before they got the chance pic.twitter.com/PtGdfBW5jr
— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 27, 2020
"It is one of the fundamental values of 1. FC Union Berlin that we, as Unioners, form a solid, tight-knit community in which we stand up for each other and for our club,” began club president Dirk Zingler’s statement about Zingler’s as-yet-unspecified supposed transgression.
“Sebastian is the only player in the first-team squad, coaching and backroom team not to do this, unfortunately. This is not understandable for us and extremely disappointing.”
Union’s uncompromising, fan-first ethos looked to bear rewards on the pitch earlier in the season. After opening with just one win – a surprising 3-1 victory over title-chasing Borussia Dortmund – from their first seven Bundesliga games, the Berlin side won five of their next seven, before alternating wins and losses at respectable, healthy and seemingly sustainable rate.
Now, four defeats in their last five league games – including a 4-0 hammering at the hands of Hertha, having upset their big-name neighbours with a 1-0 victory in the Bundesliga’s first Berlin debut between the two clubs earlier in the season – has seen Union slip to 14th in the table, just four points above the relegation play-off position.
“Our goal is to stay in the league if it's after the relegation play-off or not,” Andersson told Bundesliga.com before last month’s defeat to champions Bayern Munich. “Of course, we want to come as high as possible in the league too but the goal before the season was to stay in the league and we stick to that.”
Despite their recent downturn, the aim of survival is still very much within their grasp, especially as Schalke – whose own form is even more wretched – are up next at the Stadion An der Alten Forsterei. There is time yet for this uniquely principled club to prove that in Union there is strength.
