26th October 2013. Five minutes until kick-off. Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller approaches the away end, arms outstretched, pleading with the fans to stop. But the cloud of yellow smoke only grows bigger and the flares and rockets begin to land on the pitch and in the surrounding stands.
In the away end, over 300 ultras in black balaclavas perch on the fences, goading their Schalke rivals. Others users hammers to smash the plexiglass segregation as cries of “Borussia! Borussia!” ring out inside the Veltins Arena. Weidenfeller turns away, shaking his head.
The Ruhrderby. The Revierderby. It carries various names but for German football, it’s the mother of all derbies. On Saturday in Gelsenkirchen, Schalke meet Borussia Dortmund for the 172nd time.
Industrial roots
A mere 30 kilometres separate Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen, two working class cities in Germany’s industrial heartland along the Ruhr river.
Both owe their growth to the discovery of coal in the region in the second half of the 19th century, and both experienced huge population booms as a result - the population of Dortmund increasing seven-fold between 1875 and 1905. Accordingly, both have also suffered from de-industrialisation in recent times and have some of highest unemployment rates in western Germany.
The region’s two biggest football clubs have also shared similarities right from the beginning. Both were founded by groups of young coal miners (and in Dortmund’s case, steel workers too), although it was the club from the rapidly-expanding mining community of Schalke, a suburb of Gelsenkirchen, which grew quickest.
In the inter-war years, the Königsblauen, the Royal Blues, dominated German football, winning every regional title during the Nazi era and six of the eleven Reich titles. Indeed, a popular myth suggests even Adolf Hitler was a Schalke fan - but in Germany in the 1930s, so was everybody. What’s less well known is that the Knappen, the miners, actually owed their early success to two Dortmunders.
Scottish influence
The Ballmann brothers, Hans and Friedrich, moved to Britain as children where they grew up influenced by Scottish tactics, which at the time were characterised by short passes and quick, one-touch football. A sort of early 20th century tiki-taka. The style of play they brought back to the Ruhr in 1919 formed the basis of the famous Schalker Kreisel – the Schalke “spinning top” – with which Schalke, with greats such as Ernst Kuzorra and Fritz Sepan, bewildered opponents in the 1930s.
It was only after the Second World War that Borussia Dortmund became the became the first, viable local alternative for supporters in the Ruhr – and the rivalry began.
Winning the league in 1956, 1957 and 1963, Dortmund then became the first German team to win a European competition, lifting the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1966. While BVB have gone on to win five more titles since the creation of the Bundesliga in 1963, Schalke’s last title win came back in 1958, and Dortmund don’t let them forget it.
On the penultimate day of the 2006/07 season, Dortmund beat league-leaders Schalke at the Westfalenstadion, enabling VfB Stuttgart to go top. When Stuttgart went on to wrap up the title the following week, Dortmund fans flew a plane over Schalke’s Veltins Arena carrying the message: “A lifetime with no league trophy.”
Violence
Unfortunately, as the incidents in 2013 showed, there is a more violent aspect to the rivalry too, particularly on the black and yellow side of the divide, where elements of Dortmund’s hardcore support have exhibited more political tones down the years – often connected to social issues such as unemployment in the city.
In the 1980s, the club’s old Borussenfront openly displayed right wing symbols on their flags and merchandise, whilst founder member Siegfried Borchardt – nicknamed “SS Siggi” – won a seat on Dortmund council in 2014 after polling over 2% of the vote.
“Borussia” itself is the Latin word for Prussia, the militaristic north-German state which preceded modern Germany. Contrary to popular belief, however, its use in the name of Borussia Dortmund has nothing to do with patriotism or nationalism. Instead, the club was named after an advert for the popular Borussia Brewery at the time – or so the story goes. Indeed, Borussia Dortmund’s mainstream ultra-groups are largely credited with combatting neo-Nazis in their stadium, but violent offshoots still exist.
Just last Monday, police in Cleves prevented an organised pre-derby brawl between Schalke and Dortmund hooligans at Weeze airport near Düsseldorf. With some of Dortmund’s more notorious hardcore fans banned from attending away derbies since 2013, the authorities are hoping the rivalry will be expressed on the pitch on Saturday rather than off it.
“I just can’t stand them!”
For the majority however, the cities are simply too near and the footballing rivalry too relatively young for significant differences to have developed. There is none of the religious bigotry which still plagues the Old Firm. There is no sense of class war such as between Saint Etienne and Lyon. One can barely even distinguish a difference in accent, as one could in Liverpool or Manchester.
Rather, it’s a rivalry based purely on geographical proximity and the sheer size of the clubs – only Bayern Munich boast more members than Schalke or Dortmund. Whilst at one time, allegiance to one’s coal mine created an identity in the region, now it’s about allegiance to Royal Blue or Black & Yellow, as both clubs vie to be the rest of Germany’s answer to the Bavarian powerhouse in the south.
“I just can’t stand them,” raged one Schalke fan at their away game in Mainz two weeks ago. “If they played against Vladivostok, we’d be Vladivostok fans! We’ve got more in common with them.”
In fact, the two have more in common than he might care to admit.
