Mirko Lorenz
Away days at Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn Sportpark are never easy. BFC Dynamo Berlin, which hosts the majority of home matches at the famous East Berlin stadium, has had a massive hooligan scene since the GDR era. In 2006 a match against Union Berlin was cancelled after heavy fights on the pitch. In 2011 BFC supporters entered the away sector to batter fans of Kaiserslautern after being eliminated from the cup. Witnesses said security agents opened the gates and did not bother to do anything about it. According to police statistics BFC Dynamo has the largest number of violence-oriented fans in Germany. In addition a severe part of those “problematic” fans have a right-leaning political background, whereas todays opponent is the opposite. The fans of SV Babelsberg 03 are widely known to fight against racism, nationalism and homophobia.
Though circumstances were hinting towards an extraordinary match this Saturday, when BFC and SVB met for the 30th match day of Regionalliga Nordost, everything turned out differently. Players and spectators took a rather relaxed approach, the stadium almost counted more police and security staff than fans and the match slowly shifted towards the end.
Ten minutes before final whistle Dynamo was able to tie and five minutes later a cross ball flies through Babelsberg’s box. Dennis Srbeny is completely open and heads it in. 2:1 Dynamo. Frustration emerges in the Babelsberg sector, which turns to anger when Srbeny comes closer. Instead of turning towards the BFC crowd, he approaches the Babelsberg fans and provokes them with a celebration including Boris-Becker-remembrance-fist-pumps. Several fans climb the fence and yell various curses at the opponent’s striker.
Surprised by Srbeny’s unorthodox celebration—as well as the fact, that the teams somehow managed to score three goals—I turn to my neighbour. “Do you think he is aware of the situation? Does he have a political intention?” He is surprised as well. Concerning the previous actions—on and off the pitch—the celebration was totally unexpected. The fans did not provoke the striker in any way, nor was it a brutal match. Completely unnecessary, I think and start to believe he wanted to show his disfavour of Babelsberg. After reflecting briefly this scenario seems unrealistic as well. On the one hand, because I am not sure if Srbeny is even aware of the “special” rivalry and on the other hand, political intentions of football players as rare as incorrupt officials. I also assume players do not always deliberate goal celebrations.
Back at home I look up the striker. “Dennis Srbeny, born in Berlin, 5th of May 1994, is a German football player. He plays for BFC Dynamo since 2015”, his bio on Wikipedia says. So Srbeny could actually be aware of the situation between Dynamo and Babelsberg, which does not imply he had intentions. Srbeny’s Facebook page delivers some important information, but cannot solve the case completely. He likes a couple of football clubs, media outlets, musicians, models and other celebrities. Pretty standard, definitely not right-wingy. He obviously likes his current club BFC Dynamo as well as all his previous ones: Hansa Rostock, Hertha Zehlendorf and TeBe Berlin. TeBe is overwhelmingly left-leaning which supports the assumption that Srbeny is either not aware of a political clash or does not care about it.
Sometimes a match is about more than football, but in this case Dennis Srbeny is propably the only one who knows. Or maybe he does not even know himself.