Dynamo Dresden - the Liverpool of East Germany

Happy days indeed, within minutes, we had told everyone of the bloke outside, soon all the Reds fans had more cash in their pockets than before they left home. As the bevvies flowed so did the songs, soon we had everyone singing their heads off, our East German friends as eager as any mad Liverpudlian.

After a while one of the lads came in with a dirty big grin on his face and said “come and look at this outside”, we eagerly followed him out to be met by around 100 Dresden supporters. What was he laughing his head off for? Word had got out in Dresden that Liverpool Football Club where staying at the hotel, and they thought we were Liverpool players. Within minutes we had all signed their autograph books etc, I think I was David Fairclough. It was really humbling to see how much respect “us” Liverpool players received from the Germans.

Our hotel was one of three buildings, each separated by a public walkway. As I said before it was carnival time in Dresden our carnival had not really started yet. As the night progressed, groups of Liverpool fans started drifting off to experience the nightlife in Dresden. About eight of us agreed to head off in a different direction and soon we found a bierkeller that was chocka block full of drunken Dresdenites, all togged up in fancy dress costumes.

The ale flowed as we tried our best to reach and in some cases surpass the same level of drunkenness that the locals enjoyed. The East German people we talked too they said that hated living in East Germany because they had no freedom of speech and had few civil liberties. A few of the older ones didn’t like the English because Dresden had been heavily bombed during World War 2. What could we say, just looked apologetic and say nowt. It was not the time or place to talk about the War?

One of the main objections was that they had to take an identity pass with them everywhere they went, and could be asked to produce verification of who they were at anytime and by any of the many various Government people. We were told that it was common for people to hear a knock on the front door (day or night-time) and Government officials would demand immediate entrance into their homes, to check the identities of the people in the house.

They couldn’t leave any of the eastern block countries, until they were 60 and of course had to have “special” dispensation from the Government. They where allowed to visit other “Communist” countries such as Bulgaria and Yugoslavia etc, Yugoslavia was the popular country to visit for family holidays with the East Germans.

Anyway, after much ale we asked the locals about the nightlife in Dresden, surprisingly we were told about a number of nightclubs on the other side of Town, just past our hotel. We set off for a look, as usual goose-stepping our way side by side, but none of us ever reached any of the nightclubs.

Whilst marching past our hotel, someone noticed that there was a nightclub under the second hotel complex next to ours, good idea? Not too far to stagger home. The bloke on the door somehow knew we were staying next door and willingly invited us in. We went straight to the bar to get the ale in for our mob, while the rest found two empty tables and loads of chairs for us to pipe what was going on in the club.

The club was near enough full of Dresdenites, all dressed up in fancy dress most of them up on the dance floor giving it loads to English pop songs. A few fellow reds had also managed to get in, they soon joined in with us, and the real carnival was about to begin?

One of the lads asked a passing waiter “Hey lad - what time does the bar close mate” the best possible reply came from our new found Dresden mate “Very late, maybe four or five in the morning” maybe later…… We all looked at each other in stunned amazement, all with whopping big dirty grins on our faces, we had hit the JACKPOT!

After copious amounts of German ale, it was party time. To begin with a couple of the lads got a couple of German birds up to dance, one by one we got up on the dance floor with local girls, some even got up with women old enough to be their Mums and or even Grans. Our tables were empty apart from 100’s of empty stein glasses and a number of thirst quenchers saved for later. In time we all ended up wearing fancy dress hats, covered in streamers and having the time of our lives.

Stupid things like you would never do at home suddenly became the craze, the conga was amongst one of the funniest things that springs to mind. We had everyone up, and I mean everyone, doormen, waiters, the whole lot, all in one huge line, everyone bouncing up and down having a laugh.

Another cracker was when the DJ put on a song by ABBA, not my cup of tea but the Germans loved it. They all got up to dance so did we, fortunately the next song was by Status Quo so we kept everyone up on the dance floor, and taught them how to headbang. It was hilarious watching middle aged people giving it loads tears ran down our faces as we encouraged them to join in.

As time passed the laughs increased as some of our lads somehow managed to find and dress up in fancy dress costumes, “Have you seen Lee, its his round next, yes there he is dressed up as a bloody gorilla” You could tell it was Lee, because the gorilla had his Liverpool scarf around his neck and had a pair of Gola trainee’s on..

As the night progressed the slowies got played, I got up with few birds and incredibly I copped off with a cracking girl in her mid twenties, we sat down in a quiet section of the room and enjoyed each others company. As time passed I smuggled her into our hotel, and a “special” bond between East – West was consummated. We exchanged addresses, and once back in Liverpool continued to write to each other for many months afterwards.

I eventually went to bed to sleep, around 4.00 in the morning and was up around 8.00 with a dirty big grin on my face, word soon got out that a coallition had taken place. I said nothing, just grinned, a ladies honour was at stake? (After all these years I think its ok to tell the truth now).

Anyway, after feeding our faces we went to for a walk to clear our heads and to have a mosey around. Whilst walking across the huge square (again) Dave from Speke climbed up a statue of Lenin and put a red and white scarf around Lenin’s neck, now he was a true red. Dave and his mate Philly were real nutcases, daft, and up for a laugh, Dave had this three quarter leather coat on, he rolled his kecks up above his knee’s, fastened his coat so it looked like he had nothing on underneath. The looks he got from the passing Dresdenites were priceless. On one occasion a party of school children were walking along in a line, and Dave pretended to flash at the teacher, she laughed her head off, once she realised he had clothes on underneath, she quickly composed herself and hurried the kids along out the way.