Komm schon, Hansa!

Any post relating to the FC Hansa Rostock Soccer team has to begin with disappointment. And my disappointment was two-fold. First, the team lost 0-1. This was expected, but still disappointing. Second, there was no rioting, and that is more disappointing than the loss.

See, when I told people in Neubrandenburg that I was going to Rostock, invariably they would make a joke about the soccer team here. Usually it was how much they sucked. The team is currently ranked last in the Second Bundesliga, and if they keep on losing could be knocked into the fourth league, since they might not be able to handle the third league's fees. The other kind of jokes were about the rather violent soccer fans that Hansa Rostock is known for. I quizzed a German friend of mine, and she cautiously or jokingly recommended that I go to a game, but she also stressed that it should be a game against another East German team, since those tend to be more violent.

The FC Hansa fans in Rostock are...insane. And everywhere. Essentially in Rostock, anytime you see some sort of vandalism, you can safely assume a Hansa Rostock fan is behind it. Broken window in the train station, Hansa Rostock. ACAB graffiti on a building, Hansa Rostock. Overturned car in flames on the street...Ok it's not that bad, but still. Luckily, the fans are easily identifiable by their tattoos. One group of fans in particular, the Suptras are known for their violence against the fans of other teams. The fans are often punished for this by the owners or people in charge. For the last game Hansa Rostock had against Dresden, the teams were forbidden from selling tickets. It was a ghost game because the fans were too out of control the last time.

These are the Rostock fans at the game against Dresden in 2011.
© Suptras Rostock

So, when I found out that Hansa Rostock would be playing Erzgebirge Aue, a team from Sachsen, and that some exchange students were getting tickets, I was on that like broken glass on the streets of Rostock. I was banking on these crazy-ass fans to start some shit at the game. Truth be told, I wanted to riot, but to borrow a quote from Battlestar Galatica, I also like to “let the emotion of the crowd flow over me. Waves and waves of it. Like electric current.” It almost sounds soothing, and it is, but at the same time it's very exciting. Electrifying, I feel alive in situations like these. You can lose yourself in the crowd.

Sadly for me, the Suptras screwed themselves over. After a few incidences like the one pictured earlier, the stadium owners decided that maybe placing the violent, Molotov cocktail-hurling, xenophobic Hansa Rostock fans next to the other team's fans was a poor choice. So they closed off an entire section of the stadium to keep the two groups apart. The Suptras are not pleased to say the least, since this area, die Südtribune, was their (curb)stomping ground. Now they are crammed into a corner section with much less space, and of course many fewer people. So, unlike previous games, there were no fights, no fires, no smoke bombs, no attacks on the other fans. But there were still the customary helicopters circling the neighborhood all day like normal. It's good to know some things never change.

As far as the crowd feeling, I wasn't let down. The regular fans are still pretty vocal and there wasn't a dull moment. I had a very loud German guy behind me the whole time shouting commentary on the game. Little gems like “What the fuck are you doing?”, “Move your ass!”, and “No, you ape, we're the team in blue and white!” His girlfriend was just as loud; a perfect pair really.

During the opening chant.

Speaking of chants a whatnot, today's title means “Come on, Hansa!” There is a fan song related to this: the Komm Schon, Hansa fan song...to the tune of Barbie Girl for some reason.

The game itself was pretty boring. It always is when your team is losing. There was a red card pulled in the first 12 minutes against a Hansa Rostock player, Erzgebirge Aue faked more injuries than I thought possible for adults. But all in all, I would certainly go back for another game. The tickets were cheap, the mood is great, and eventually the Suptras will start something. Like I said, it's a goal of mine to be in a riot, and if my teachers taught me anything it's never let go of your dreams.

Yes, I did take pictures of more than the fans