Derby day – the Revierderby, known as the mother of all derbies in Germany.  The intense rivalry between the supporters of Schalke 04 and Borussia Dortmund is a relatively recent phenomenon but that does not diminish its intensity!  Two cities with proud heritages as coal mining and steel manufacturing centres respectively.  The rivalry is intense but there is also something of a camaraderie between the two sets of supporters – even if they are loath to admit it.

Being part of the gäst contingent I was one of an elite of 6,000 BVB supporters to make the 29km trip to Gelsenkirchen.  We assembled in one of 3 special football trains provided by Deutsche Bahn at Dortmund Hbf and then the party began. It was mainly a contingent of younger supporters fuelled on beer and mixers acting out their tribal passion. We were carefully supervised by numerous police in full riot gear (safety helmets, long trunchions and padded vests) but they were well-trained in knowing how to understand the line between exuberance and passion on the one hand, and unnecessary violence or anti-social behaviour on the other.  So they watched on impassively and exchanged comments with a few supporters while we waited, and waited, and waited.....

The train departure was delayed by 45 mins so there was plenty of time for the crowd to warm up with chants accompanied by fierce banging on the doors and windows of the carriage, jumping up and down so that the whole carriage shook with the impact of a couple of hundred stamping feet.  I soon learnt one of the core songs “Sha la la la la - Scheisse Nullvier!” (look it up)

One 20 something guy deposited himself in the luggage rack from where he could lead some call and response chants.  There was a level of improvisation in this which led to much laughter when he found a new line of inspiration.

Eventually we departed to much cheering and 40 mins later we were rolling into Gelsenkirchen.  Up ramped the chanting – it was time to let the locals know that the invading force had arrived!  We were herded into our own cordoned off departure point from the station, again attended to a by a large number of police in full riot gear.  Waiting for us there was a looooong line of Bogestra buses which we soon crammed into for the 20 min trip to Veltins Arena.  I was in a motorcade - another first-time experience to quell any presidential cravings.

After getting off the bus I soon met with Jörg Gre and his 5 friends from Thüler Borussen 09:  Matthias, Darius, Rainer, Frank and Sören.  I was quickly inducted into the group and we made our way into the stadium to load up on beer and take our positions. 

And what an arena!  This was one of the venues for the 2006 World Cup and it received serious investment in preparation for that tournament.  It accommodates about 62,000 people and is completely enclosed making it into quite a cauldron of sound. 

The Nordkurve was already full with the S04 ultras starting to get into their stride.  After a few minutes there rose a crescendo of jeering and booing as the Dortmund team took to the field for their warm-up.  Here I was, almost within touching distance of almost mythical footballers for someone who lives 16,500km away: there was Aubamayang, Lucas Pisczek, Sokratis and the rest.  These guys really do exist and are on the same planet as me after all.  What an experience, just to be there.

And suddenly kick-off was upon us.  BVB Dortmund dominated field position and possession for the most part but Schalke defended compactly restricting BVB to really only 2 shots on target in the entire first half and neither of these could be seen as a real scoring chance.  Schalke were relying on counter attacks and were mainly productive through Choupo-Moating operating down the left wing.  But Dortmund keeper, Burki was not required to make a save.  Half time 0-0.

After the break Dortmund ramped up the tempo and started to look a little more dangerous.  Soon the breakthrough came.  In the 53rd minute there was turnover of possession in midfield and Dortmund counterattacked swiftly.  Shinji perfectly timed his run to beat the offside trap received a great through ball from Ousmane Dembelé.  Schalke had been carved wide open with Auba being presented with an easy tap-in to finish off the move.  He wheeled away to the right, away from the Dortmund supporters (?), caught an object thrown to him from the sideline and then he was SPIDER-MAN!  Now he came racing over to our corner to acknowledge our support and firmly establish a Marvel comics tradition in derby celebrations.

With their tails up and the crowd quiet Dortmund continued to look dangerous.  Auba passed when he should have taken a shot and then Dembelé found some space and his shot cannoned off the post and was cleared by the scrambling defence.  Jörg was saying “we need another goal, we need another goal” and his worst fears were realised with 13 minutes remaining when Schalke created their stunning reply: a beautiful backheel from Goretzka was finished superbly by Thilo Kehrer (his first Bundesliga goal).  Could Burki have done better at his near post?  Veltins Arena erupted with a volcano of sound! 

A frantic final 10 minutes followed.  Dortmund coach, Thomas Tuchel attacked by replacing Jürgen Schmelzer with Emre Mor but there were no more goals.  Were we happy?  At the start of the day we would have been happy with a draw, but the final feeling was that this was another one that got away in what is becoming an underwhelming season.  My friends from Thüle were still cracking on that we needed that second goal.  Their analysis was spot on – clearly this is a match-up they know so well.

Acknowledgements

Much thanks goes to Dan Mowbray (Borussia Dortmund Australia) and Jörg Greitemeyer (Thüler Borussen 09) for their introductions and camaraderie in arranging the ticket.  This was a special experience for an Australian football fan – to be part of the elite away band at the mother of all derbies is an almost unique experience.  I feel very privileged.