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Dresden Away
Most people caught the football special to this match, which by all accounts was a great day out. I had never been to Dresden before though, so when the fixture came around, a hostel and two days in “Elbflorenz” seemed like the best approach.
The train takes ages to get through East Germany. I’d always wondered why a friend of mine, a former resident of the East and Halle fan, seemed to have quite a lot of tales of confrontations with rival fans in train stations. Travelling through, I soon learnt why. Each major trainstation is a dead end, which the trains then back out of. In the olden days of regular train changes, this would’ve made every station into a potential flashpoint for fans.
Once in Dresden I took in the sights, before making my way to the Neustadt (a sort of larger, and less gentrified Ancoats). One of my new room mates for the night was over from the Czech Republic to play Dresden in cricket(!). With the weather being so nice, I decided to pop down to watch their 20:20 game. Sunshine and cold beer, whilst relaxing by the river Elbe. Very nice!
Later on a few familiar faces from St Pauli started to appear in the Neustadt. We sat on the rivers edge, fires, fireworks and hippie drums for entertainment, before heading back to a punk bar for a couple more beers. Despite the odd Dresden Ultra (mostly the kids) wandering past to give us a stern look, there was no trouble.
I can recommend the city!
FCUM A.D. Established 2009. Yeah, I know what you are thinking, FC United of Manchester was established in 2005, not 2009. Well here Im talking about FCUM A.D., that is a blog (the very blog you are currently clicking about on) and some (but not all) of the activities documented within.
Whats it all about? Getting off your arse and doing something. Not watching the match in the pub, not even just turning up once in a while to the ground, but dedicating time to pushing things on a notch. Whether its knocking out fanzines, running radio shows, producing banners and choreos for matches or running around town late at night making the walls and lampposts look prettier with football club related stickers, paste ups, graffitis or tags.
The A.D. is short for Art Department, thats vague enough to incorporate plenty. This blog started out concentrating just on the stickers and streetart bit, but it likes to cover other things too. As the Germans would say "blick über den Tellerrand". Is it all Grade A? Probably not, but as Minor Threat sang "You tell me that I make no difference. At least I'm fuckin' trying. What the fuck have you done?" :-D
Supporters not Consumers.
Contact/Feedback: fcum.a.d[at]googlemail.com
