Yesterday Rot-Weiss Essen and FC Schalke 04 faced each other. It was only the final in a legendary game between the two clubs, but the rivalry between RWE and S04 was still palpable. Because a relegation of the two clubs in the summer is quite possible.
“There was discussion and banter between the fan camps in the stands with 2,500 spectators – in a peaceful setting,” reported the “RevierSport” with relief after yesterday’s “NRW-Traditionsmasters” in Mülheim. Because there, in the battle of the legendary teams for the crown in the district, the final between FC Schalke 04 and Rot-Weiss Essen took place. A game with a very special explosiveness – no matter in which context and in which league such a game between these two traditional clubs may take place.
The rivalry between S04 and RWE is legendary and feared. And that’s exactly why there are quite a few football fans in the area who are currently thinking about a possible relegation of the two clubs in the summer with a strange feeling between anticipation and worry. RWE board member Marcus Uhlig has already thought about this – and has developed a clear opinion about a game between the red-whites and royal blue for promotion and relegation: “Organizing a game like that, with all the safety-relevant aspects – no. That would be more of a nightmare for me.”
Currently, a relegation between the two clubs has become a bit more distant again because FC Schalke 04 has climbed to fourteenth place in the table, but yesterday at the Traditional Masters in Mülheim, the appeal of such a duel was once again unconsciously felt in the wide area of the Westenergie Hall with. However, the majority of younger football fans will probably no longer know where the hostility between RWE and S04 comes from – because the event that triggered it was now over 50 years ago.
“Schalke was my worst experience”
Back in the 1960s, it was still possible for fans of both clubs to easily follow one of the many derbies along what was then the B1. But then the FC Schalke 04 team was involved in the first major Bundesliga scandal in 1971. It was also the season when Rot-Weiss had to leave the league as bottom of the table. The RWE fans have never forgiven the Royal Blues for being actively involved in the postponement of league games this season. When Rot-Weiss Essen finally returned to the Bundesliga, the relationship between the two fan camps was toxic.
As early as August 1975, the game at Hafenstrasse was no longer under good auspices. When an RWE fan held up a poster with the inscription “We salute FC Meineid” – a reference to the fact that the Schalke professionals had long denied involvement in the scandal – with a grin, the situation escalated.
The later RWE player Dirk “Putsche” Helmig also had an unpleasant and formative experience that day as a ten-year-old, as he impressively describes in the book “Rot-Weiss Essen. A club in pictures”: “Schalke was my worst experience. We had small red and white flags that we sold to youth players from the interior for five marks. From the entrance we first had to pass the east curve – that’s where the Schalke fans were standing. Actually, nothing could happen because of the fence, but Two of them then simply climbed over the fence and stole our flags. Of course, as children we didn’t know what to do and fled completely distraught. Well, and then 30 or 40 RWE flags burned in Schalke Block.”
“I could never have done that to my red and white friends”
Over the years, the rivalry became more and more entrenched in the minds of both fan camps. When riots broke out again between supporters of RWE and FC Schalke 04 in the Parkstadion at the end of May 1984, the game even had to be replayed afterwards. Much to the annoyance of both teams – who had to interrupt their final trip to Mallorca for the replay.
For many years the hostility went so far that it seemed completely impossible that a player who had previously been active at the other club could ever move to the other club again. Willi Lippens, the legend of Rot-Weiss Essen, once said that he went to Borussia Dortmund because he “could never have told his red-white friends to go to Schalke. That would have been like me would have rammed a knife into their backs from behind. Completely impossible!”.
When a professional finally dared to take this step, he bitterly regretted it. When Ralf Regenbogen came to Hafenstrasse from FC Schalke 04 in 1986, it took a very long time for the man from Wanne-Eickel to finally be accepted by the Red and Whites. There had previously been a scandal in the summer of 1987 when he gave his own fans the finger at an away game in Meppen – because they had booed him and called for him to be substituted. Rainbow would ultimately play for RWE until 1991.
“… then I can only smile tiredly”
Someone who was also active for both clubs can no longer relate to the disputes between Essen and Schalke. Sascha Wolf says: “I think the rivalry is exaggerated. When RWE fans say to me ‘shit Schalker’ or Schalke supporters say to me ‘shit Essener’, then I can only smile tiredly. You shouldn’t take it all so seriously. It’s not about life and death – it’s just football, the most beautiful thing in the world.”
And in order to put his words into action, he had a very special memory immortalized on his left upper arm: “I got a tattoo – with the Schalke and RWE coat of arms. My footballing history is immortalized on my arm. Both clubs belong there.”
In the Ruhr area, it’s not just fans of Schalke and Rot-Weiss Essen who are thinking about a possible relegation clash between the two clubs in the summer. They would be special games for the entire district. In any case, yesterday RWE confirmed that the club is now a force to be reckoned with again. Even if it was only the club’s legends who won the tournament in Mülheim with a 3-1 win in the final. You can feel that the club is excited about Bundesliga football. If necessary, they would probably gratefully accept promotion without a relegation duel against their neighbors. After all, in all likelihood they would be allowed to compete against each other twice in the following season.