A so-called high-risk game is scheduled for Sunday in Rostock: Hansa Rostock against FC St. Pauli. And now there is trouble. Because the railway does not provide a special train for the fans of St. Pauli – no capacity, all trains are already in use. The police are getting ready.
No special train, no fan march: Before the high-risk game in the 2nd Bundesliga between FC Hansa Rostock and FC St. Pauli (Sunday, 1.30 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de) the arrival of the guest fans ensures fuel. Accordingly, some of the up to 3,000 expected St. Pauli supporters planned to travel to Rostock by special train. Deutsche Bahn has rejected this plan. “We would have liked to have provided the St. Pauli fans with a special train, as we did last season. But unfortunately it’s not possible with this game. All capacities are in use nationwide,” said a Bahn spokeswoman for ” Ostsee-Zeitung” and referred to the high capacity utilization of their trains due to the 9-euro ticket.
The “Fanladen St. Pauli” had previously pointed out the failed efforts to organize a special train. “We tried to get support from Deutsche Bahn and the Federal Police. Unfortunately, these efforts were not successful,” the fan project’s website said.
FC St. Pauli also voiced strong criticism of the lack of support. “For us it is incomprehensible that it should not be possible to use at least one relief train on an away trip of less than 200 kilometers so that our fans can travel safely to Rostock,” said President Oke Göttlich of the NDR. Despite all the foreseeable problems, the club expects that everyone will be able to travel safely.
In order to defuse the arrival situation, FC Hansa announced that Deutsche Bahn would use a relief train within Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday. In addition, the federal police want to mobilize a large number of additional forces on the day of the match to “ensure the safety of all train passengers”.
The actually planned march of the St. Pauli fans through Rostock will probably not take place either. “We’re sticking to our tactics and want to take all the guests from the main train station to the stadium in buses. That’s how we communicate this clearly to the fans from Hamburg,” explained Rostock’s police chief Achim Segebarth.
He also promised to organize the arrival and departure better than in the last duel between the two clubs in early April 2022. Back then, St. Pauli fans had to wait a long time behind the guest block for shuttle buses when they left. Firecrackers flew, water cannons were used. Afterwards there was harsh criticism of the police operation.
“The long wait was not entirely unproblematic from the police point of view. But we learned our lessons from it,” admitted Segebarth. Ultimately, all security forces involved are prepared for the risky game. “Nothing has changed in the initial situation. There is a pronounced hostility between the fan camps of both clubs,” emphasized the Rostock police chief.
