12/27/2022 0 Comments Three way deadlock![]() ![]() Slowly but surely the club’s reputation grew and the first teamers were earning hardware for the trophy cases. in its first game before joining the North Philadelphia League. In the early 1930s, the team played Saxonia SC of Paterson, N.J. There were 11 teams back in the Seventies. It’s a pretty important historical piece and a lot of the people who lived through that time recall the hardships they had in the East."įeuchter himself is the son of a German immigrant who joined the club and wound up playing soccer, which has become a focal point of the organization in the early 21 st century. People come by all the time and take photographs. "I don't know where exactly in Berlin it came from. "We have a remembrance every year," Feuchter said. And that’s how the club came to be the caretakers of the huge concrete slab in the garden just outside the clubhouse that is the largest piece of the Berlin Wall in North America. Lufthansa Airlines had a 12’ by 8’ piece of the wall and couldn't find anyone to take it. "When the Wall came down in 1989, we had a large celebration here," Feuchter added, remembering that the club wound up on local TV news in Pennsylvania. "It was pretty eye-opening for them to come over here and see the big difference between East and West. "In the early 1980s the East German government would let people leave to visit the States and it would usually be the older people who came," Feuchter said. ![]() Many club members still had family and friends in the old East Germany in the years before it came down – heralding the end of the Cold War. VE has a unique affinity with the Berlin Wall too. "It was like a big social thing and it started growing and growing from that." A Piece of the Wall "It was almost like going up to the Poconos or up to the mountains at the time," club vice president Steve Feuchter said. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the original members are still involved with the club to this day. Men cut the trees for timber for the various structures, which still stand on the property, while the women did the cooking. They built a cantina and a clubhouse and started playing the sport they loved (soccer, or fussball) in the 1930s. "If you get one of the old German guys, they have a little more flair and accent on it."Įarly on there was a mudhole for swimming – and picnic tables and cabins so families could spend the weekend. "It's not that bad," Oldfield said with a laugh. It’s the reason many fans simply refer to the club as VE. Needless to say, Vereinigung Erzgebirge is mouthful to pronounce for many mere mortals, unless you’ve grown up with it. The organization's official logo, three pine trees on three hills, was taken from the town of Thalheim Erzgebirge, where many of the club founders were born. The original members of the club come from Erzgebirge, a wooded region in Germany’s east where a low range of mountains of the same name rise over the Czech border. What does Vereinigung Erzgebirge mean, you ask? Again, we need a little history. A recent win over Philadelphia Lone Star, amid the lush greenery of the club’s homebase, saw VE through to the Second Qualifying Round of the 2023 edition. ![]() And now, after a 20-year wait, the club is shaping to get back there. In 2002 Vereinigung Erzgebirge made history in the Open Cup, qualifying for the tournament for the first time. There’s a swimming pool nearby and several soccer fields - all part of a club that arrived in the U.S. You finally arrive at the clubhouse, complete with a banquet facility (for weddings and parties), and a beer garden that’s the focal point for the club's annual Oktoberfest celebrations. ![]()
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