Dresden ban own fans from away games
Reuters - Wednesday 13 February 2013, 15:52
German second division club Dynamo Dresden have banned their own supporters from three away games after yet another episode of violence, this time at Kaiserslautern.
Dynamo fans repeatedly let off fireworks during the 3-0 defeat on Friday and were involved in vandalism outside the ground.
"In Kaiserslautern, people were seen in the away fans section block that for years have had nothing to do with Dynamo or have ever been part of the club's supporters," said club president Andreas Ritter on Dynamo's website.
"We need to protect our organisation against such criminals and therefore reluctantly refrain from taking our fans to away games."
Dynamo were thrown out of next season's German Cup after fans clashed with police and caused play to be delayed during a tie at Bundesliga side Hannover 96 in November.
The club said they would not take up their quota of tickets for the away games against Aue, Hertha Berlin and Eintracht Brauschweig.
"We hope these measures will send out a signal that we are aware of the problem," said general manager Christian Muller
"We are very hopeful that we can keep a distance between ourselves and the people who repeatedly bring the club into disrepute."
Dynamo won the old East German league eight times but have struggled since German unification. They played in the Bundesliga for the first four seasons and have since moved between the second and third divisions.
They are currently 17th in the 18-team second division.