Disgruntled German fans plan peaceful protest

With their heroes set to face Turkey in a Euro 2012 qualifier on Friday in Berlin, German fans are preparing to take their fight against rising Bundesliga prices to the capital’s streets this weekend.

Around 4,000 football fans are expected to demonstrate in Berlin’s city centre on Saturday to protest peacefully against the commercialisation of Germany’s football league.

In what might come as a surprise to football fans in England, who are used to seeing ticket prices increasing year-by-year, German fans have said enough is enough when it comes to paying to see live Bundesliga action.

Fans from 50 different clubs from the various of the German league will take to the streets in different areas of Berlin and march to the demonstration’s rallying point at Berlin’s Rotes Rathaus.

‘Separate the colours – United in the matter’ will be the motto with fans from around 150 supporters groups across Germany expected to attend.

The fans gripes are as wide spread as the clubs they represent: rising ticket prices, fan unfriendly kick-off times and heavy-handed action by the police.

The fans here feel unfairly treated – and above all, powerless.

The Bundesliga remains the cheapest league in Europe: an average price for a ticket last season was 20.79 euros compared to 43 euros in England’s Premier League and 40 euros for a Spanish league match.

The league is booming: the Bundesliga turned a profit of around 1.7 billion euros in 2009 compromising mainly of match-day revenue (424m euros), sponsorship receipts (573m) and broadcast income (594m).

But fans are concerned ticket prices are slowly creeping up and the introduction of a Saturday evening game for television in the German league – where matches traditionally start at 3.30pm on a Saturday – have proved unpopular here.

While football fans have a reputation for expressing themselves through violence, the Alliance of Active Football Fans (BAFF) want to protect the Bundesliga’s fan culture through peaceful means and have organised the protest.

“The situation is really bad,” BAFF spokesman Wilko Zicht told SID, an AFP subsidiary.

“We have been defending our fan culture for years with a rear-guard action.

“The people in power must realise that if ticket prices frighten off fans, it will kill off the atmosphere in the stadiums.”

While hooligans tend to grab headlines in football-crazy Germany for the wrong reasons, BAFF want to promote their cause in a positive light.

“We want to show people how good the fan culture in Germany is and that it is a pity that it is she is currently under threat,” said Zicht.

Three years ago, the ‘Fan Dialogue’ initiative set up by the German Football Federation (DFB) and the Bundesliga (DFL) promised to give fans a mouthpiece to express their concerns in the game.

But fans insist the work-group set up was nothing more than a red herring.

“Nothing came of it. This was not more than just a good chat over coffee and cake,” said Zicht before adding most of the fans involved in the group have resigned in frustration.

Now the time has come for fans to take their protest from the stadiums to the streets of Germany’s capital – peacefully.