Rot-Weiss Essen will meet Dynamo Dresden on Saturday. Unfortunately, the focus is not yet on sport at the moment.

After numerous years of fourth-class status, Rot-Weiss Essen is once again part of the nationwide football map. And after promotion to the 3rd division, a duel between two traditional clubs awaits at the Hafenstraße stadium on Saturday (2 pm). RWE expects Dynamo Dresden, here the anticipation of football should actually overshadow everything else.

A sell-out crowd, including 1500 spectators from Dresden. From a sporting point of view, both teams are on the up, Dresden is knocking on the door of the promotion places, RWE has stabilised its performance, is above the line, is strong at home. But other topics are being discussed: About the security measures that are necessary to stage such a match. And, of course, about the 76 home bans handed out by RWE at the end of last week.

Somehow these topics merge into one another, because the security bans are only necessary because there are some chaotic people on both sides who refuse to be taught, who put their arguments above the interests of the clubs.

RWE: Against Dynamo Dresden, the stadium will be guarded from Friday

First consequence: Against Dresden, the security contingent will be doubled, plus a large number of police officers. As early as Friday afternoon, the Essen stadium will be guarded to prevent any chaos in the run-up to the match.

76 people from the Essen fan scene will no longer be there, as they have probably already been banned from the stadium. RWE has filtered out people who were clearly identifiable and had repeatedly attracted negative criminal attention. They have gone over the top several times.

The people of Essen have had enough, understandably, and now they are taking action. The question is how the groups affected will react? At the game in Freiburg (3:0), fan banners were hanging upside down, organised support was absent before the break. If it stays that way on Saturday, we could live with the reaction.

It is clear that if a few people who have been banned from the stadium nevertheless try to stay there, they will have to expect tougher sanctions for trespassing.

And the chances of finding these people have increased recently, not only because of the new cameras that were installed in the stadium after the match was abandoned due to a firecracker being thrown at Preußen Münster. In addition, many officers with knowledge of the scene will be present around the stadium, who will know one or two faces.

All with one goal in mind: RWE does not want these troublemakers, who do massive damage to the club’s reputation, to be there any more. A start has been made, and more house bans will probably follow in the near future. So that soon something more can be written about the sport again…