23 Nov, 2025

Millerntor, my first Union game outside Berlin

Report by Matilda Höög

First away game! Well… if you don’t count my very first ever football match, Hertha–Union back in early 2023 (1–2, if I remember correctly. Union won, at least!). As Michi said right before: you don’t go to an away game to actually watch the match. And with that in mind, I still managed to see a bit!

Millerntor was a likeable stadium, just as I’d expected after getting a good impression from TV. And honestly, if it weren’t for Union, my heart might have had room for St. Pauli. That’s exactly why I picked this as my first away game — if Union were to lose, it would hurt just a tiny bit less if it was against Pauli. A tiny bit. I still absolutely wanted Union to win.

We stood right behind the ultras, very close to the pitch. The first 12 minutes were silent in protest against plans for increased surveillance of supporters (changes to ticket allocation, facial recognition, etc.) — the 12th man and all that. Then came the tifo. It was white — that’s all I know, since I only saw it from underneath. It did get a bit warmer down there, so honestly not complaining! And the pyro later on also warmed things up. On TV it always looks deadly… in real life it’s mostly cosy. The atmosphere was amazing; I’m definitely doing this again. My voice was gone afterwards, as it should be.

The only fly in the ointment was some people/ultras yelling “Scheiß Pauli!” whenever the home fans chanted. A bunch of us tried countering with “Eisern Union!”. We cheer for our team. We don’t shout crap about the other one. At least not St. Pauli. It was honestly a bit embarrassing. Where does that warlike energy even come from? Anyway, that was the only negative thing.

After three full days in the best parts of Hamburg (= St. Pauli), I’d gotten pretty fond of the place. Good beer, good bars, good people. What’s not to love?

EISERN!

/Matilda – Bamsegjengen