Why on earth would anyone want to follow a Bundesliga football team? Why on earth would they be part of a club in which many use football as a thin veil to mask a desire to eat, drink and even find romance?
Fussball bringt Menschen zusammen - Football brings people together
1FCNUK is the United Kingdom Supporters Club of 1.FC Nuremberg, 9 times German champions, 4 times German cup winners. Anyone can join and enjoy the camaraderie, the football, the beer, the German sausages and more, in any combination and any order of importance.
1FCNUK is more than just a fan club of 1.FC Nuremberg (a football team who seem to spend most of their time going up and down between the top two professional football divisions in Germany).
Many of us like the football (and some of us are oddly obsessed with 1.FCN to the point that we do what we can to watch matches live on TV, the internet and in German football stadiums).
But there’s more to it than that. We’re a social group who regularly get together to party, chat, drink and, of course, travel to Germany. Some members will interrupt a typical weekend break in a German city to watch our beloved 1.FCN play; others will not, preferring to spend their time shopping, eating, sightseeing or in the pub.
It all quite simple really but how did it all come about?
In the beginning...
On 22nd October 2005, following a poor start to the season, 1.FC Nürnberg (for that is how it is written in Germn) seemed to be facing a seven month fight to prevent relegation and preserve their Bundesliga status. Their 3-2 home defeat at the hands of Arminia Bielefeld was witnessed by a party of 10 Brits, visiting Nürnberg to sample the football, the city, the food and the beer.
Despite the defeat, for these traveling revelers a small seed had been sown. Maybe it was the readily available refreshment in the Frankenstadion, the €8 ticket price, the atmosphere on the Nordkurve terrace, the hospitality of the Franconian people, the beauty of the city itself or the fact that 1.FCN were unlucky to lose the game. No matter, they all knew that they would one day return to lend their support to this enigmatic German football club, or at least spend plenty more time socialising in Germany.
On arriving back in the various corners of the British Isles, and into the workers bars and dark satanic mills of England’s green and pleasant land, something started to stir.
Within months, that ‘something’ would become 1FCNUK, the United Kingdom Supporters Club of 1.FC Nürnberg, the English speaking embodiment of 1.FCN for fans the world over. So naive were we back then that we didn’t even know that we were supposed to put a dot after the 1 in the name. But no matter – we just got on with it all anyway.
Now, with an ever-increasing membership, 1FCNUK consists of a varied cross-section of people. Many (but not all) are football fans by blood, accident or coercion. We have grasped the opportunity to support 1.FCN and, through our support, have a good excuse to visit Germany and cut through the ups and downs of life.
In the beginning, the concept of 1FCNUK was Like Frankenstein's monster – nobody knew where it would go, how it would be controlled or whether anybody could stop it!
The reality of 1FCNUK is just the same... we tend to make it up as we go along.
