Rot Weiss Ahlen 0-2 Rot-Weiss Oberhausen, Tuesday 18th August 2015

Rot Weiss Ahlen 0-2 Rot-Weiss Oberhausen, Regionalliga West (att. 2,556)

Welcome to ....

Never get cocky. Never think that cos you’ve passed through Ahlen before, and seen the floodlights, that you’ll find the stadium, no problem. Cos you can’t see the floodlights from the elevated platform of the station for trees. Where was the stadium last time? Oh yes, on the left of the track….

Yes, tracks go two ways. I must have seen the floodlights on the way TO Dortmund previously, not FROM, as I am now. So when I toddled off in the direction of the stadium, I was going in COMPLETELY the wrong direction. (For the record, come out of the station, turn left, take the next left underneath the tracks, walk for 10-15 mins and the stadium is two minutes down that road. Easy!)

Finally!  A sign!

I walked to the edge of town. Nothing. Well, not nothing – some really nice looking suburbs. But a footie stadium? I found the ‘Pony Station’ and saw some nice…ponies. (What’s the difference between a pony and a horse?) Just as I was starting to give up, and at this point - I wasn’t sure if kick-off was 6 or 7pm, and it was now getting on for 7 – I saw a sign for the stadium. So it DOES exist! I followed the road…to the end of town. ‘Hamm 8km’…nothing.

Getting warmer...

So I turned left, kept walking (by now, I reckon I’m doing an anti-clockwise circuit of the town) and after a while, THERE IT WAS. Or at least I could see floodlights (switched on) in the distance. As I got closer, I could hear the crowd. But was I arriving at half-time or full-time? Turns out neither. KO was 7:15pm and I’d ‘only’ missed 20 minutes. It had taken me 2 hours to get here (it took 18 mins back). There’s a lesson to be learnt here somewhere.

Finally!

I paid my €10 (‘bit steep’ I thought, for Regionalliga) and I was in. First, a beer and a wurst…ahhh, nackensteak. I’m having one of those. They’re like an unbreadcrumbed schnitzel…a lump of flattened meat. No tomato ketchup, only a curry-flavoured version. Made a pleasant change but I wouldn’t buy the stuff.

Oberhausen, all caged in.

Why was I even here tonite? Well, the 1st German game I ever saw, about 6 years ago, was St. Pauli v Rot-Weiss Ahlen and I thought it was time to pay my respects. That game was in Bundesliga and since then RW have plummeted two division and aren’t particularly doing well in this division. Hard times indeed. And as you look around this slowly decaying stadium, you can smell the neglect. There’s holes in the back of one stand and fences everywhere (though you can walk around them and stand anywhere, behind the goal or the long side terrace).

Behind the goal...more flags than fans.

Three sides are quite small, and with a capacity of 12,500 and a crowd less than a quarter of that, I’d say Ahlen have found their level. The Main Stand is a low, all-seater affair where the plastic seats have discoloured through age and wear. To its left is the away end, a small, open terrace divided into 3 sections. Tonite, 2 sections will be open. Oberhausen is a relative derby, though in the Regionalliga West, most games are a ‘relative derby’. The clue is in the league’s name. Oberhausen have maybe brought 250. They have similarly fallen on hard times and were previously mainstays in Bundesliga 2.

Behind the home goal.

Opposite the Main Stand is a small, covered terrace, of which about half is open tonite. It will house the Ahlen ultras, as well as a few stragglers. Unusually, their ultras occupy the spot near the halfway line. Maybe there’s 50 of them. And despite the aged looking roof, the terrace looks recently laid. So not everything is aged and deteriorating.

The ultras leave a mess at full-time.

I stand behind the goal, on a paddock in front of some seats. But what was the score? No idea. Though I did see Oberhausen bag, the centre forward running across a defender to smartly flick home a pin point free kick or corner. I forget which. This half is dragging on, for a 7pm KO. Oh. Then I spot a manually-operated scoreboard behind the seats at the back. 0-1. I’ve missed nought.

Half-time.

At half-time I wander around, giving everyone else chance to get their beers in before my own. I thereby miss Oberhausen scoring again. There was a muted cheer (and groan) and so I suspected as much and the scoreboard confirmed it. That was it for scoring, but Oberhausen twice hit the woodwork while Ahlen had a couple of shots cleared or blocked. Overall, I was much impressed with the standard of play, good passing and movement from both sides. But Oberhausen won the battle of the Rot-Weisses.

Now, where’s that railway station? (I asked a policeman.)

Dusk over the Weserstadion.

The Damage:
€10 ent
€2.50 beer (300ml x2)
€4 ‘nackensteak’
€2.50 wurst
= €21.50

Programme? They definitely existed but I saw none for sale. I couldn’t see a club shop to speak of either

The Tunes:
Favourite Worst Nightmare (Arctic Monkeys)
Music For Films (Brian Eno)
Tomorrow’s Harvest (Boards of Canada)
The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (The Orb)
At Their Very Best (The Shadows)

Welcome to ....(2)

The away end.

Behind the goal.

Welcome to ...(3)

Picnic tables behind the Main Stand.

Enter the Longside.

Half-time on the Longside.

Clever use of stickers.

The Main Stand.

The home end.

A dereliction of duty.

Fans going back for the 2nd half.

Looking towards the Oberhausen fans.