Special Feature: Football fans fight their own clubs to preserve identity – Part 2
The nature of these debt problems has pushed football fans to their edge. Several groups of supporters have now formed their own separate-clubs which look to rival the “original” clubs under foreign ownership. Most famous examples
of these types of struggles come from Liverpool and Manchester United in the English Premier League along with Dortmund and Schalke in the Bundesliga.
As Liverpool fans travel north to Manchester to face their old nemesis at Old Trafford, they can’t help but agree that their struggles resemble the ones that Manchester United fans are striving to fight. Dortmund, Schalke, Manchester
United and Liverpool fans are all in disagreement with where their respective clubs are headed. All of these clubs are currently under the ownership of different American chief executives who according to these break away support groups are only at the club
to earn profit and capitalize on any revenue, which comes at the cost of fans and their money.
German football league has seen Borussia Dortmund fans go quite far as their protests against the owners are concerned. For Sunday’s match against Schalke, Dortmund fans have boycotted the club and have not bought tickets to the
game. Thus at the match it is expected that Borussia will have little or no representation in the crowd as things stand. This protest has come into place as a result of the increasing in ticket prices that German football has seen recently.
The ticket prices have been raised so that the club can gather more revenue and thus earn more profit. Fans would’ve been happy to pay more money to watch the team if that money was being reinvested in their own football club which
represents their city. However, such is not the case; most of the revenue has gone to waste. In the past ten years, Borussia has been at the end of a terrible financial fortune. A club that was once a powerhouse in European Cup competitions has seen relegation
trouble in recent years. Due to the massive amount of debt that has been piled on the club, they had to sell their stadium and their players had to take wage cuts.
A total number of fifteen hundred fans have already boycotted the club and returned their season tickets. Despite the fact that most of them have not been refunded their money, they remain adamant as far as protesting against their
once loved club is concerned. Dortmund supporters have joined hands in this venture and more than three hundred different groups have become involved in this protest which is set to be the largest of its kind in the club’s history. This demonstration by the
club’s fans is aimed at persuading Dortmund’s administration into submission that will prompt them into reducing the ticket prices that have risen to unprecedented levels at the club.
At the moment, Dortmund fans are being charged 17 pounds each for a standing ticket. Last season, their rivals Schalke were asking their fans to pay around 13.50 Euros for the same match. As far as Liverpool’s fans are concerned,
they will have to pay 51 pounds to watch their team at Old Trafford. Schalke fans have also joined in the protest by Dortmund and are asking their club to reduce the ticket prices. The increase in ticket prices has pushed hard-working middle class fans away
from the club, a group which is the foundation of Schalke’s success as a club over the years.
Stephan Uersfeld spoke to the media on behalf of the protesters as he said that this protest is not aimed at Schalke as a club but towards the inflation in prices that has been observed throughout Germany. This season has been
a bad one for German club football as several clubs in the first division have raised their ticket prices. Fans have been angered due to this and are set to take their revenge through boycotting the games. Such boycotts are set to hurt the clubs financially
as the main source of income at a football club are always fans and the match day revenue that is gathered from the tickets that are sold. Moreover, a club’s sponsorship deals are also dependent on their fan base and its reactions.
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