TT No.47: Ian Hill - Saturday 20th October 2012; Dynamo Dresden v Eintracht Braunschweig;               German 2.BundesLiga; Score: 0-2; Admission: 22 Euro; Programme: 1.50 euro; Attendance: 27,513; Rating: 1.

Getting there:

Tram 10 gets you to the stadium. It is two stops away. I travelled by train from Leipzig for this game. There was a large Dynamo support from Leipzig and also lots of supporters got on at the various stops in between. At the arrival at the station there is an extremely large police presence due to the reputation of the Dynamo support. I saw lots of people stopped and detained for identity checks.

The Stadium:

This was my second visit as I went to a Dynamo game last season. It's a big modern facility with good views from the seated areas. Food and drink inside has to be purchased using a club card. You buy the plastic card and have to load cash onto it from a booth or from the staff who walk around the concourses. It gets a bit crowded getting in through the access areas where the tickets are checked by bar code and then searches take place. As with last season the stewards are friendly here.

Outside the stadium is a large club shop. It was extremely busy and due to the hot weather it was like a sauna inside. Across the road is a large beer garden where a lot of supporters have their pre and after match drinks.

Programme:

Last season the programme was A6 in size and very good. This season it’s even better. Now A5 in size it is extremely well designed and presented. Programmes are on sale in the club shop or from the souvenir stalls inside the stadium at a bargain price of 1.50 euro.

The Game:

Both teams and the referee ruined this game through diving. Both teams were at it in the first half. People may laugh at the recent Suarez dive but there were a couple today that were even more ridiculous. This should have been clamped down upon straight away by the referee and this led to all the problems. Two Dynamo players were sent off within two minutes early in the second half so it was basically game over. Despite being top of the league E.B. just passed the ball around at the back and retained possession. Some may say it was a professional performance. I say it was boring.

Overall

Despite the disappointing game a visit to Dynamo is a great day out.

contributed on 21/10/12