Irish League and German clubs to satisfy European Cup tie,
Glenavon FC Erzgebirge Aue beat Glenavon 5-0 in 2015 in Germany When Glenavon FC were crowned 1959-60 Irish League champs and gotten approved for the European Cup no-one might have guessed that it would be another 65 years before the component would take place. The group were drawn versus Erzgebirge Aue, however were forced to withdraw when the club was declined visas for East Germany due to the Iron Drape that divided Europe during the Cold War.Now, a new
generation of German football fans have descend on County Armagh to watch their group finally satisfy the ill-fated fixture in an unique pre-season friendly on Saturday.Glenavon chairman Glenn Emerson said the stadium would be”rocking “with the atmosphere the away fans are expected to bring.About 1,100 German fans paraded through Lurgan on their way to Mourneview Park.About 1,200 Erzgebirge Aue fans are set for Lurgan as Glenavon handle the German club Erzgebirge Aue- called Wismut in those years-were East German champions and were likewise denied entry to the UK by the British embassy in Berlin.Despite Uefa permitting the home and away legs to happen in neutral countries, Glenavon was required to withdraw from the competitors as it was not financially viable.In a big
effort by both clubs and their fans to see the fixtures played out, Glenavon travelled to Erzgebirge Aue’s 16,500-seater Erzgebirgsstadion in Aue– 184 miles south of Berlin– last summertime to satisfy the ‘away’ leg.Now, the 3. Liga expert outfit are concerning Northern Ireland.It all began with a tweet Glenavon FC
Glenavon were crowned Irish League champions in the 1959/60 season
Glenavon’s supporters’ liaison officer Adam Carson stated the concept of playing the games happened after he posted a tweet to assess if there was any interest.
“It was more of a joke than anything and ultimately about 3 years ago, some of Erzgebirge’s fans really got in contact with me and actually liked the idea,” he described.
“We began to construct relationships to see how we might move things forward. From there, I got friendly with a number of their advocates, Max and Thomas.
“They ultimately came by to a Glenavon game a couple of years back against Larne and they enjoyed the experience.
“About a year after that Max came back with their sporting director and main contact was made from there.”
Glenavon FC Glenavon travelled to Germany last summer season- some 64 years after the original European Cup draw was made Adam stated the Erzgebirge Aue fans have actually been preparing their trip to Northern Ireland for months, while the regional community has actually rallied behind the idea of inviting the German fans in what will be a special game for both clubs.”When we first started discussing having this game it was basically to celebrate 2 championship winning groups that didn’t get the chance to play against each other,” he said.
“The regional community and our advocates appear to be supporting it so they’re actually anticipating it.”
‘An honour to play the game’
Matthias Heidrich Erzgebirge Aue sports director Matthias Heidrich said the club will have a taking a trip celebration of 28 players and 5 backroom staff Erzgebirge Aue’s sports director Matthias Heidrich stated the focus of the day will be the relationship between the two clubs and not the final result.He explained it as an”honour” to participate in the game and stated the Glenavon fans can anticipate a terrific atmosphere from the Erzgebirge Aue support.”I believe the away support, in my point of view,
there is more power, there is more enthusiasm behind it,”he said. “We take pride in our fans and what they do for us. We believe they are a huge and emotional part of our club and they attempt to press us in every game however, from my point of view, the final result isn’t important.
“The friendship, the history and the closure of the chapter [to see the matches played] are the big headings around this game.”
Away tickets sold in ‘matter of days’
Glenavon chairman Glenn Emerson stated the ticket allowance for
the German fans sold within days The Glenavon chairman stated while the club has hosted European games in the past, this friendly will be”huge”as away fans tend not to travel in great deals in the early phases of European competition.”We sent them 750 tickets and they were all entered a matter of days,”discussed Glenn.”We sent them another 500 so you’re taking a look at most likely in the region of 1,200 German fans descending on this place so it’s going to be quite busy.
“If their home match is anything to go by when we played over there in Germany last summertime it’ll be rocking because they like to do the old bouncy, bouncy as you can imagine.”
‘Everyone is doing their bit’
Leigh McClune said the majority of the preparation for
the game has actually been carried out by volunteers Glenavon’s Leigh McClune, who arranged last year’s journey to Germany, has been working hard behind the scenes to welcome Erzgebirge Aue to Mourneview Park and said preparations for Saturday’s game began before Christmas.
“There’s been a dreadful lot to do in concerns to their travel plans, arranging where they’re remaining, arranging how long they’re remaining, organising training pitches and after that we need to sort out meals for them every day,” she said.Leigh included
that in between the committee put together to stage the game and club volunteers, everybody is doing their bit to make the day a success.
“Everyone is playing their part and they have their own tasks to do at the exact same time but they’re all taking time out to organise this and make it an actually effective day,” she stated.