Loyal soccer fans, it is said, stay true to their teams until the day they die.
Now supporters of a German club are the latest to be invited to extend their loyalty further with the opening of a cemetery reserved just for them.
Hamburg HSV has opened a specially designated cemetery within earshot of its Nordbank arena where fans can be buried in club colors on a soccer stand-shaped lawn reached via a goal-shaped entrance.
BURIAL CONTRACTS
Club organizers say the 100,000 euro (US$159,000) scheme, financed by the supporters’ club and sponsors, is open to all fans regardless of age and offers burial contracts of 2,500 euros payable over 25 years.
The idea for the cemetery, which can take up to 500 graves, came after repeated requests from fans wanting to have their ashes scattered on the pitch of the Bundesliga club.
But as the scattering of ashes is illegal in Germany, the concept of offering burial plots close to HSV’s stadium was born.
Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has a similar scheme, although not within earshot of its stadium.
COFFINS AND URNS
HSV coffins will be on sale for 2,333 euros and urns in the club’s blue and white colours will cost 350 euros. Christian Reichert of Hamburg’s board said that 10 fans had so far expressed serious interest in securing a plot.
He said the club had given licenses to undertakers who could carry out “HSV-recognized” burials, including the singing of the club anthem, Hamburg My Pearl, and stonemasons who would chisel gravestones to suit the fans’ wishes
Last year fans of Boca Juniors were given their chance to take their allegiance all the way to the grave when part of a cemetery, south of Buenos Aires, was opened exclusively for them.
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