Rot-Weiss Essen 2-1 Borussia Dortmund II, Friday 26th July 2019

Rot-Weiss Essen 2-1 Borussia Dortmund II, Regionalliga West, att. 14,497 (Stadion Essen)

Welcome to ...

So, here we are.  After a partner-induced year off, I’m back on the interrailling bandwagon, fitting in as many games as possible while some of Europe’s brightspots (and Essen).  And for once, I’m organised, a £49 single on the Eurostar to Amsterdam booked months ago.  Whatever the ecological arguments of train v plane, the ease of St. Pancras versus the hassle (both getting there, and once there) of Gatwick/Heathrow is undeniable.

The old floodlight lurks over Stadion Essen.

Unfortunately, I shan’t be staying in the Dam for long – just enough for supplies and a train to Germany.  Tonite it’s Rot-Weiss Essen, whose stadium I’d vowed to re-visit having previously only made it at half-time and let in for free by a kindly turnstile operator.  I owed them.  

I dropped my bag at my digs in Dortmund (ironic, considering tonite’s opponents are Borussia Dortmund II), then jumped on a direct train to Essen-Bergeborbeck, a 5 minute walk from the imaginatively entitled Stadion Essen.  It’s a new build, roughly on the footprint of the old stadium (one of whose floodlight pylons remained, stalking its new neighbour like a giraffe).  But it’s all a bit too sleek for me, 4 one-tier stands of matching height.  The ‘Main’ stand has its collection of executive boxes and about the only thins of note is their failure to stretch the full length of the pitch, thereby cutting the view of some seats in the wings.  Careless.

Looking towards the Main Stand.

The rest could be Regensburg, or Zwickau, or any other lower division German newbie: One end a home terrace, the opposite away end a mix of terrace and seats (leaning heavily towards the latter, even though the former is more easily filled by the visitors).  At Essen, there’s a decent space between the away terracing and seating, presumably to ensure those standing won’t affect any sightlines form the seats (something not considered with the exec boxes).  Meantime, either side is all seated, with one stand having some executive box facilities.  Normally, the vast majority of fans would be behind the goal, on the terrace.  But tonite is slightly different, a local derby with Dortmund’s second team has brought the fans out.  

A pre-match banner over the seats.

I considered going in the away end, mainly as I remembered how busy the home end was last time.  As it was, it made no difference.  Dortmund must have brought 1500+, a tremendous effort for a reserve side, but understandable in the scheme of things, local opposition and the start of the Bundesliga 2 or 3 weeks away.  Footie fans need their fix!

Borussia even have a banner for their RESERVE side!

So, with 15 mins to kick-off, I ended up in the home end (as it was the closest to the railway station).  I decided against an immediate beer: the queue was busy and besides, I’d had a couple on the train.  I wanted a VIEW, which didn’t look promising when I entered the terrace.  The steps, officiously kept clear at many a German venue, had fans milling on them and it looked busy, but I fought my way up a few rows and lent against the side of a crush barrier.  Perfect.

Rot-Weiss Essen line up.

The game wasn’t a classic.  Dortmund had 2 goals disallowed (I had no idea the 1^st one was; a goalmouth scramble, a ricochet, a rebound off a post) but RW’s scoreboard resolutely stuck to nil-nil.  It was warm though, and after 35 minutes we had ourselves a drinks break.  This was my cue to grab a schnitzel and a couple of beers (why have one when you can have two?)  Start as I mean to go on.  I AM on holiday.  Upon my return to the terrace, the scoreboard announced 0-1.  I’d missed a goal.  Typical.

Sustenance, Essen-style.

Chatting to a local, I asked where Rot-Weiss would come this season.  Based on the size of their crowds, they’re a big fish in a moderately sized regionalliga west pool.  ‘Somewhere between there and there’ he said, pointing at between 5^th and 8^th in the table.  Nice to hear a bit of modesty-cum-realism, as their crowds befit a side who should win this league.  Essen, is, after all, a city of half a million people.  On the flipside, Dortmund, Schalke…even Bochum and Duisburg…are on their doorstep.  ‘Who will be the challengers (for the title)?’  ‘Aachen, Wupertaker and Sportfreunde Lotte’, my sportfreunde said.  Time will tell.

The cheerleaders get the locals going.

As the terrace emptied slightly at half-time, I fought my way to the back for the 2^nd half.  I’m not a fan of watching a game through a net and being perched higher up can help negate this effect (though not totally).  It did look as if Rot-Weiss’s tactics remained the same: pass the ball backwards, backwards, square before kicking it forward and losing it.  The one player who stood out was Borussia’s #7, who played out wide, always looked comfortable in possession, never lost it…and was the spit of Marco Reus.  Was it Marco Reus?  Maybe playing a comeback game.  (No.)

The game drifted into nothingness.  Dortmund had a tricky (black) forward willing to run at the defence, but he wasn’t ably supported by the big (white) target man whose sluggishness matched his build.  Indeed, it was left to RW to form the only chance, the cross coming in…and the free header clearing the bar from 6 yards out.  Poor.

Tats out for the lads!

However, with 10 minutes left, the home side had a free kick 25 yards out, to the left of goal.  A shooting chance for sure, but any keeper worth his salt shouldn’t be conceding from there.  He wasn’t (worth his salt).  One-all.  No-one expected that.  Then, in the 6^th minute of injury time, a ball over the top of Dortmund’s defence.  The centre halves and centre forward chase it down.  The defenders attempt to close down the forward’s run, there’s a coming together and the forward goes down.  ‘Penalty’ cry the home end.  The ref gives it.  Mein Gott.  Never in a million years.  I can’t believe the ref has bought it.  No one cares.  Pen despatched the full-time whistle is blown.  Arguments break out on the pitch, while the home fans are joyous.  This was unexpected half an hour before, where even the famed German atmosphere was ebbing, with the home side looking unlikely to bag.  An excellent start to my latest marathon.

Full-time!

Course, it wouldn’t be a match if I didn’t mess up somewhere…#startasyoumeantogoon…I jumped on a train going the wrong way and ended up going to Dortmund via Oberhausen.  Word to the wise: next time, take one of them (free) footie buses to Essen Hauptbahnhof.

The Damage:
€11 ent
€4 beer (’Staunde’ 500ml x2)
€4 schnitzel
free: match programme/newspaper (picked up off terrace)
= €23

The Tunes:
Family of Aliens (Teleman)
Microshift (Hookworms)
Amazing Grace (Spiritualized)
Claustrophobia (Scuba) 
Pentamerous Metamorphosis (Chapterhouse/Global Communication)
Late Night Tales (Jon Hopkins)

Stayed at: (cost)
A&O Dortmund Hauptbahnhof, £19

Stadion Essen panorama

Leave your bottles here

The away end

There's even drums in the seats...

Here's a 1st: cheerleaders for reserve games.

Those crazy boys of Essen

Sunset in Essen.

Rot-Weiss Essen 1-1 Sportfreunde Lotte, Friday 1st August 2014 (Regionalliga West)

Old floodlight, new stadium

Rot-Weiss Essen 1-1 Sportfreunde Lotte (Regionalliga West), att: 10,260
Platzek 26’                Batarilo-Cerdic 51’

I’m an idiot. An over-confident idiot. The very worst kind of idiot. Despite having bags of time to get to a 7:30pm KO, setting off from nearby Dortmund at 5ish, I never got to this game till half time. In a nutshell: slow train to Essen, quick (failed) nip to Schwarz-Weiss Essen to have a look at their stadium but it looked like a jungle out there and I didn’t have time to get lost; by which time, all the Rot-Weiss shirts at Essen station had disappeared. This had repercussions, despite knowing to get on Line 2 to Bergeborbeck, as the train trundled through the industrial Ruhr, I realised I’d gone further than I anticipated, so I jumped off at the next station (Kray Nordbahnhof). Turned out I was too early (though, in a way, it didn’t matter, since the train was branching a different way at Gelsenkirchen). I thought I’d simply go back to Essen and start all over again. Perhaps there was a shuttle bus at the station for latecomers? I checked the timetable at one of those fabulous DB machines (far superior to the English versions).  Everything was all over the place. I needed a bus, a walk, a U-bahn and a tram.  Christ.

The Main Stand.

I wasn't going to get to the tram station nearest the stadium till nearly half time.  Luckily, He was obviously looking out for me, cos after a couple of stops, four punks in RW scarves got on the bus, so I simply followed them.  Instead of whatever the DB machine told me, they took me on line 101, where, by the time they got off, a couple more fans had entered the picture. Perhaps a HT entrance at RW is not so rare - or a 7:30 on a Friday is no time for a kick-off!

The away end.  I PROMISE you there's 46 of 'em.

The stadium is brand new (2012) replacing a previous one in more or less the same position (a la Blackpool...or Wembley...or Carlisle if it ever gets finished).  Charmingly, they've left one of the old floodlights still standing, just outside the new-build.  The ticket booth was still open and, whether it was my English accented attempt at German, or just that it was HT, the mature lady who served me charged me half price - €5.  THERE'S customer service for you.  I have every intention of going back purely because of this.

I wonder who decided the ratio...?  And how?

While I could see the away end was empty, which was tempting, the booth was at the home end, so I elected to stand on that terrace.  Once past the turnstile, the concourse was packed.  No worries - there must be plenty of room on the terrace. It was busy there too, most of the crowd choosing the home end terrace.  I'd expected a crowd of 6-7000 for this 4th tier game, in the end it was 10,260, of which the best part of 6000 were behind that goal.  They certainly weren't in the away end, where I counted 46 Sportfreunde fans (twice - just checking!)  Those away fans in the seats were easier to count: nil.

Half time at Rot-Weiss.

I found the stadium a bit odd.  It seems they've knocked down a cosy, if ramshackle stadium of 20,000 for something big, bright and white, all high roofs and open corners.  While one end houses a large terrace, opposite, the stand is split between seats and standing.  I'm not sure how many teams in Regionalliga West will fill that, but RW obviously have pretensions to reaching the higher echelons again (they were in Bundesliga 2 until 2007).

The home end

I stood right at the top of the terrace.  No beer or wurst - I couldn't miss any 2nd half action. Sportfreunde looked the better team and certainly their attackers gelled , playing some excellent one-touch stuff.  RW meantime looked very 'English', with 2 up front, one a lumbering wreck and the other even worse.  They could barely hold a ball up between them while long hoofs up front merely left the midfield miles behind play.

Was this an afterthought?

Then, a ball was played through the RW defence and the Lotte forward shrugged off the challenge and blasted a half volley past the head of the keeper.  Shearer-esque.  I nearly burst into a round of applause but no-one else in the home end looked amused.  Too timid to ask, I had to guess the score from people's demeanors.  I'd say 0-1. (No scoreboard in the new stadium.  When you DON'T need one, they're everywhere.)

Come on Rot-Weiss!

RW had tremendous support.  Constant chanting, despite no response from the away end and a home performance where the closest they came to scoring was a 20 yarder which skimmed into the keeper's arms.  At the end, the RW players were made to listen to 5 minutes of chanting before crawling themselves off.  I revised my score prediction to 1-1 (which it turned out it was).  Surely these fans wouldn't have stuck around to show their adoration for a big city team who'd lost to some village minnows?

That's my boy block!

Afterwards, I wouldn't get a sew-on badge (sold out) but I'm worried I am developing a new crush; pin badges showing the stadium.  I am up to 3 - Borussias Mönchengladbach and Dortmund, as well as RW.

The Damage: 
ent: €5 (!)
postcard / badge €5.50
badge: €3
Beer: €3
bratwurst: €2.50 (after the game, obvs)
= €19

The tunes:  
The Death of Cool (Kitchens of Distinction)

Nice angles at Stadion Essen

Back of the Main Stand

The home end under lights.