Frankfurters and cider pour into Latics

Frankfurt and Latics fans on one of many meetings

A REMARKABLE 33-year-old bond between a group of Oldham Athletic supporters and fans of Eintracht Frankfurt will see SportsDirect.com Park awash with 1,000 pints of German cider at the weekend — and it’s all for charity.

A hardy band of 50 Latics fanatics have a close friendship with around the same number of followers of the German team. The two sets of supporters instantly hit it off when they played each other in 1982 i a football tournament in Paris.

They got along so well the following year they founded “Two Teams, One Spirit” — an official link between supporters of Latics - the Owls, and Eintracht, the Eagles.

The Frankfurt fans, from Bockenheim, have made countless trips to Oldham since — and the Latics supporters have made the return journey just as many times.

The group meet up to eight times a year, and though it’s mainly to watch Eintracht or Latics play, they also make the journey for birthdays, weddings and funerals.

A member of the Oldham group said: “It’s remarkable that it has gone on so long, but the reason it has lasted is that we have a genuine friendship. We love to meet up with each other.”

The bond is so strong the Latics group is an official supporters club branch for Eintracht Frankfurt - there is even an Oldham Athletic pennant in the German team’s museum.

Latics’ clash with Scunthorpe tomorrow will see up to 25 German visitors at Boundary Park. They will be armed with 600 litres of German cider.