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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nOne of the architects of this relationship is Hans-J\u00fcrgen D\u00f6rner. \u2018Dixie\u2019, as he is still called today, dictated the Dynamo style of play from 1968 to 1986, winning five GDR league championships and four GDR cup competitions with them. \u201cDresden has always been a footballing city,\u201d he says. Helmut Sch\u00f6n, who was the manager of West Germany when they won the World Cup in 1974, played for the city\u2019s other (and older) team, Dresdner Sportclub, when it won the German league championship in 1943 and 1944. D\u00f6rner describes the city\u2019s relationship with Dynamo today as one of \u201cgreat affection\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
D\u00f6rner was one of those players who helped to establish the club\u2019s reputation for elegant play, as befits the artistic sensibilities of the city and its inhabitants. There was always more at stake than football when Dresden played against the record GDR championship winners from East Berlin, who also went by the name of Dynamo (BFC Dynamo). Because while the Dresden style of play was admired even by neutrals, it was rumoured that BFC\u2019s successful championship campaigns were due to government favouritism and intimidation of referees, a reputation that the club found difficult to shake off with Erich Mielke, head of the East German Stasi, allegedly pulling the strings behind the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Rudolf Harbig Stadium, as it was officially known in that era, would resound to hostile chants directed at BFC and, by extension, against the political system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn the GDR era, the football terraces were seen as a place where you could express yourself more freely than in other public spaces,\u201d recalls Jens Genschmar. He is now 49 years old, sports a Dynamo tattoo on his lower right leg and is the owner of the Dresden Football Museum. \u201cWe are obviously mindful of past glories: this club belongs in the top division and should be competing for trophies at international level.\u201d A claim that does not quite accord with the present reality, because the current fixture list includes trips to unglamorous Darmstadt and Bielefeld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet things are actually going quite well for Dynamo Dresden in the second division. Especially when you consider that, not so very long ago, the club was \u201con life support\u201d, as Ralf Minge colourfully puts it. In the 1980s, the 57-year-old was one of Dynamo\u2019s best forwards and became a club legend. He is now the club\u2019s Sports Director, responsible for piloting it into calmer waters. Because after reunification, there were successive relegations, dodgy investors and yet another relegation for financial irregularities. The club was faced with bankruptcy on several occasions and even looked as if it might fold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During this torrid period, the fans played \u2013 and continue to play \u2013 a key role. Sometimes they save the club by dint of sheer dedication, but from time to time, they also get the club into trouble. One occasion that lives in the memory was the legendary \u2018Geisterspiel\u2019 (phantom fixture) on 11th March 2012. After one particular riot, Dynamo were obliged to play their next home match behind closed doors. The supporters showed their defiance for the ruling by selling tickets for a \u2018phantom fixture\u2019. Although the fans were denied the pleasure of watching the game, this one-off campaign secured the gate receipts that would otherwise have been lost to the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the locking-out of spectators was only one of several inglorious episodes in which sections of the Dynamo following have brought the club into disrepute. The Dresden hooligan element are notorious, but Sports Director Minge maintains \u201can ongoing dialogue with the active fan scene\u201d, as he puts it. \u201cThe fact that people increasingly vent their anger in the form of violence is a problem for society as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was not until 2016 that the club regained its second division status. Currently, 15 million euros are being invested in a new training facility, and the Youth Academy is one of the best in Germany today. With its wealth of tradition and huge fan base, Dynamo has all the prerequisites for excellence. \u201cFootball in general \u2013 and football in Dresden in particular \u2013 is all about emotion,\u201d says Minge. \u201cObviously, we aspire to promotion to the top tier, and Europe is the ultimate aim. A dream maybe, but you have to have a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On display in the VIP room of the stadium are the pennants of FC Barcelona, \u200b\u200bAtl\u00e9tico Madrid and Rapid Vienna. This was the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":4208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heart-of-the-city"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dresden-magazin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bildschirmfoto-2018-04-17-um-16.08.22.jpg\")
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