In the game between Erzgebirge Aue and Rot-Weiss Essen, home fans present a flag of the guests and taunt some RWE fans.

The visitors had been playing for a good half an hour at the start of the second half of the game between Erzgebirge Aue and Rot-Weiss Essen (live on the RS ticker) when the guests’ fans looked towards the home end. Fans of Erzgebirge Aue presented a flag of the supporters of RWE in their own end – appropriately upside down.

There was also a banner a few meters above the purple and white fans’ flag. “Rot-Weiss Essen. Drinking, eating, forgetting the flag,” was written on a banner. Apparently, the Essen fans had forgotten their flag when visiting a restaurant. The Aue fans thus mocked the RWE fans.

The Essen fans in the Aue away section barely reacted to the action of the Aue fans. They sent unfriendly greetings to the home fans with a chant, but that was all that came from the fans who had traveled from the Ruhr area. Around 550 RWE fans supported their team in the Ore Mountains.

Among Ultras, the flag is a kind of sacred object. It is the most important item of the respective group. In the past, when a group lost its flag, it often led to the group breaking up. However, the flag presented by Aue fans was not a fence flag of one of the Essen ultra groups. Therefore, the reactions from the Essen curve were quite restrained. However, the owners of the flag were probably very annoyed.

For RWE, the game in Aue at the start of the year is a great opportunity. A win would continue the very successful year 2023 and keep the Red & Whites’ dreams of promotion alive. Three points would see RWE jump to the top of the table for the relegation battle. RWE took a 1-0 lead through Isaiah Young after just 58 seconds at half-time in the Ore Mountains. However, Aue improved as the game went on and had good chances to equalize.