05-07-2025
Hundreds of German fans march through Lurgan before football tie is completed after 65 years
The streets turned purple as supporters of third-tier side Erzgebirge Aue walked to Mourneview Park before the match against Glenavon.
Some enjoyed sampling Buckfast - one impressed visitor said he couldn't believe how good it tasted.
The event had been given the go-ahead by the Parades Commission, who approved a request for up to 1,100 participants to march.
It was all to mark the conclusion of a European tie halted by the Cold War in the early Sixties.
Glenavon had qualified for the European Cup as Irish League champions.
But they were prevented from completing their 1960–61 tie against Erzgebirge Aue as the Iron Curtain fell across Europe.
The team was forced to withdraw after being refused visas to travel to East Germany.
Their opponents, then known as Wismut, were likewise denied entry by the British embassy in Berlin.
Last year the Lurgan side finally fulfilled the first leg of that long-postponed encounter when they travelled to the German side's town in the Saxony region, south of Berlin.
That game ended in a 5-0 win for the Germans.
And today, Erzgebirge Aue supporters were in Lurgan for the second leg, which kicked off at Mourneview Park at 2pm.
They included members of the 'Violet Bikers' — the team's motorcycle supporters' club — who travelled across Europe in a motorcade.
Fans gathered at Brownlow House before setting off on the route, via Union Street, to the stadium.
On the way they sang club songs and crossed their arms - symbolising a hammer and chisel in a nod to their home town's mining past.
Veit Barthel took time out to sample some Buckfast - declaring that it made him 'feel fantastic'.
He said: 'I was out last night in Belfast and feeling a bit rough when I woke up.
'But on the train a Glenavon fan suggested trying a bottle of Buckfast to help me recover.
'It said feels fantastic - I can't believe how good it is.
'My friends are all beer drinkers but I prefer sweeter things, and I really liked Buckfast.'
Adam Carson, the supporters' liaison officer at Glenavon, said they wanted to reciprocate the hospitality his team's fans received in Germany last summer.
'The welcome we got when we went over there was second to none,' he said this week.
'I always say to people, if we were lucky enough to play in Europe every single year, from now to the end of time, we'll never get another welcome like the way we did last year at Aue."
On Friday night, some of the fans were at Windsor Park to see Dungannon Swifts beat Linfield on penalties in the Charity Shield.
