Egan wrote:So the rivalry between 1860 Munich and Bayern as big or bigger then derbies such as Chelsea v Arsenal, Barcelona v Real Madrid, Inter v AC Milan, Man City v Man Utd?
Well to the people of Munich it is. You are either ein Roter or ein Blauer. whichever team loses the derby (90% of the time 1859), there supporters don't dare go out of the house the next day for fear of being mocked. I was wearing my "Bayern Ultras" scarf to the supermarket one snowy night and this 1860 man saw me and nearly wanted to hit me. The look of hatred on his face was a huge culture-shock to me; I let him into the supermarket first muttering at him in German that he should go before a Bazi at least once in his life. I swear if looks could kill. I hated 1860 Munich from that day on.
But Bayern has so many supporters who are not from Munich. Beating Sechzig is a matter of life and death to the people in Munich, but for those outside Munich obviously they have their own rivalries. Those who live in the Ruhr want to beat Schalke and Dortmund more than anything. Those who live in northern Bavaria want to beat the Frankenpack from FC Nuernburg most of all.
The thing is unlike other derbies around the place, the Bayern-Sechzig derbies are at least on the field so one-sided. Actually it mirrors the scene in Manchester almost perfectly-the Reds with fans from everywhere, the blues more locally-based. Frank Beckenbauer was an 1860 player until he got fouled by a crude tackle in training and said "I'm off to Bayern."
How things will go in the new stadium is unknown at this stage. Bayern will DEFINITELY get full houses to lots of games, especially early in the season when the weather is nice. Even in winter at least the fans will have some sort of cover. Munich being so close to the Alps gets lots and lots of nasty snowfalls. People sitting on the outerside of the present-day Olympiastadion literally have to wade through snow and ice to sit on their garden stool.
Atmosphere means a lot. Schalke and HSV get packed houses in their new grounds because of the spine-tingling atmosphere created by the singing fans in the terraces. I went to HSV-Bayern in a match that decided the Bundesliga title
http://www.stadionwelt-fanfotos.de/stad ... 1B6-2.html
and it was truly deafening when Barbarez scored in the 90th minute.
And even more crazy when we won the title in the 94th!
What sort of crowds 1860 will get in the 2nd division up there, well it remains to be seen. Many 1860 fans boycotted matches at the Olympiastadion. I know as a fact that there is a push to keep them at the Stadion an der Gruenwaelder Strasse. I guess we'll have to see how it all pans out, hey.
Man, I'm enjoying this forum so much. Should have logged on ages ago!
JF
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