SG Wattenscheid 09 (Germany)

Sportgemeinschaft 09 Wattenscheid e. V. is a football club from the outskirts of Bochum in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state who were formed on September 18th 1909 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid following a merger of BV Sodalität der Wattenscheid and BV Teutonia Wattenscheid.

A further brief merger came in 1919 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid amalgamated with TV 1901 Wattenscheid to form TuBV Wattenscheid 01 before splitting once again in December 1923. BV Wattenscheid competed in the second and third level of football at this time.

In March 1934 BV Wattenscheid were put under pressure by the ruling National Socialists to merge with SG 1930 Wattenscheid, with the club becoming SG Wattenscheid 09/30.

Under the rule of the Third Reich the German football system was divided into sixteen top flight Gauliga divisions. Wattenscheid reached Gauliga Westfalen in 1935 where they were relegated once before regaining their position.

Immediately at the end of World War Two the club became the current SG Wattenscheid 09 where they were placed in the third tier of the Landesliga Westfalen before climbing to the second level in 1947-48 in their Stadion Beckmannshof home.

In 1949 the club were included in the newly formed 2. Division West. During the 1952-53 campaign the club caused a sensation by defeating FC Schalke 04 and Preußen Münster before bowing out to VfB Bottrop in the quarter final.

‘Die Wattenscheider’ were on the brink of promotion to Oberliga West; one five top flight divisions of the time in 1953-54 before falling just short and losing out to Westfalia Herne. By the early 1960’s the team struggled to avoid relegation.

Another narrow escape came in 1964-65, but a series of events led to Wattenscheid keeping their Verbandsliga status. In 1966 the club moved grounds to take up residency at the Lohrheidestadion.

In 1968-69 the club won the third level Amateurliga Westfalen and went on to win promotion to the Regionalliga West after progressing through the play-offs as goalkeeper Gerd Haselhoff played a starring role.

Klaus Steilmann, a merchant from Neustrelitz, had founded a clothing company in Wattenscheid some years previously and through his associate Arkadius Peter Steilmann, he became involved with to the club and committed himself as sponsor and later also as chairman.

Steilmann wanted Wattenscheid to push for a place in the Bundesliga. The 1972-73 season was one of success; the highlight being a 4-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund. In 1973-74 ‘Die 09ers’ were crowned as Regionalliga West champions and progressed to the Bundesliga.

In the same season the team once again made their way to the last eight of the DFB Pokal following memorable wins against FC Schalke 04 and Hertha BSC. Carlos Babington, an Argentinian star of the 1974 World Cup signed for the club following the tournament.

Wattenscheid were relegated to the second tier 2. Bundesliga at the end of the 1976-77 campaign; where Hans-Günter Bruns and Ewald Hammes helped the side with their goals in the Nord division.

Peter Kunkel found the net as the club continued to finish in the top seven places. A tenth place finish in 1980-81 meant that Wattenscheid remained in the division after it had streamlined to just one national division.

A series of finishes a little bit too close to the relegation finishes followed before the 09ers ended in tenth spot in 1985-85 with help from the goals of Uwe Tschiskale and Sergio Allievi. SG Wattenscheid 09 came close to promotion back to the top flight in 1987-88 with a fourth place league ending.

In 1989-90 the goals of the consistent Tschiskale and Maurice Banach were decisive in firing Wattenscheid back to the top flight Bundesliga under head coach Hans Bongartz. After a comfortable first season back, the club had to move to Bochum’s Ruhrstadion for the 1991-92 season while Lohrheidestadion was rebuilt.

The team narrowly avoided the drop back down to the second tier thanks to a 3-2 final day victory against Borussia Mönchengladbach. There was no escape in the 1993-94 campaign despite the goals of Marek Leśniak and Souleyman Sané.

Bongartz departed to be replaced by Frank Hartmann, before Hans-Peter Briegel followed soon after. Giuseppe Reina’s goals could save Wattenscheid from a further relegation to Regionalliga West/Südwest in 1995-96.

The team bounced back in fine style by lifting the Regionalliga West/Südwest title in 1996-97. Marcus Feinbier became the latest Lohrheidestadion goalscoring hero before the team were relegated again in 1998-99 around the same time as Steilmann resigned from the board and threatened to voluntarily relegate the club.

A fourth place in the re-organised Regionalliga Nord in 2001-02 was helped by the efforts of Halil and Hamit Altintop, Abdul Iyodo and Sven Lintjens. Relegation to the fourth tier Oberliga Westfalen followed in 2003-04 despite the efforts of Markus Katriniok and Alexander Löbe.

Wattenscheid regathered and were crowned as Oberliga Westfalen champions in 2004-05. However, the club would be relegated back to the fourth tier just twelve months later. Worse was to follow as the 09ers were demoted to the fifth tier in 2005-06.

The financial situation at the club reached a critical status before the managing directors cleared any immediate danger. Wattenscheid won the Verbandsliga Westfalen title in 2007-08 and qualification to the newly formed NRW Liga.

After missing out on promotion through the play-offs under head coach André Pawlak, the club moved to the newly created Oberliga West from where the team won promotion back to the fourth tier Regionalliga West in 2012-13.

In February 2014 it was announced that the club had entered into a deal with Galatasaray with the aim of developing players between the clubs. In May 2015, the West German Football and Athletics Federation (WFVL) announced that the SG Wattenscheid would not be approved for the regional league for the 2015/16 season, before the decision was reversed.

The goals of Daniel Keita-Ruel assisted Wattenscheid to a mid table finish in the 2016-17 Regionalliga West campaign. A couple more mid table finishes ensued when it was revealed that the club were in severe financial troubles. 

The team was banned from starting the 2019-20 season as the club was declared bankrupt. If sufficient funding can be found Wattenscheid would be given a place in the fifth tier Oberliga Westfalen for the 2020-21 season.

My visit

SG Wattenscheid 09 0 Wuppertaler SV 0 (Monday 21^st August 2017) Regionalliga West (att: 1,236)

My long weekend entered what should have been my final day. It had begun in Düsseldorf the previous Thursday, before heading off to Belgium. The Regionalliga clash was the only game to really take my eye on the Monday evening and it also fitted in well with flights, so I returned to North Rhine Westphalia for the last leg.

The journey was uneventful between Brussels and Cologne, and then on to Düsseldorf. It was only once I’d checked into the Hotel Terminus that the alarm bells began to sound. The gent on reception didn’t require my passport, but I then panicked as to where it was.

I emptied all my belongings onto the bed, but it was nowhere to be seen. I had taken it out on the train to act as proof to my online ticket. I’d obviously not put it away and left it on the train that headed to Frankfurt after Cologne.

I ran straight downstairs to reception to ask as to where the police station was located. The gent behind the counter and a customer told me that I needed to head to Aldstadt for the main headquarters. I didn’t need directions to find that part of town!

Back home I detested fare dodgers, but this was an emergency. I got on board at Pempelforter Straße and soon fond my target at the other end. A polite young policeman took me behind the counter to take details.

He seemed most relaxed about the situation. I guess he’d dealt with plenty of more instances? By now I’d also calmed down. There wasn’t a lot I could do. My main worry was whether I’d get to the match?

I was given a document that had so many discrepancies in my personal details that it was untrue, and told to head to the airport a little earlier the following day with the papers and the police would sort out my passage onto my booked flight. It all seemed so simple.

Wishing my aide and the German Police all the very best I headed to the main station  to head off to the match. The gent in the regional train office wasn’t the world’s best in customer service, but I got sorted with a single ticket to Wattenscheid for €15. My match ticket would get me back afterwards.

Now fully at ease I even had time to grab some food and drink before boarding the train. The service was very busy on a beautiful evening. The journey time was meant to be just over thirty minutes, but we were soon at crawling pace.

The train went at a snails pace from the suburbs to the main station at Duisburg, and then once more from Essen. The area does have a lot of trains running, and I’d noticed in the last few years that the line was susceptible to delays.

The journey eventually took just under the hour. I alighted and considered a taxi to the stadium; until I realised that there wasn’t really anything at the station. Wattenscheid was just a suburb of Gelsenkirchen and Bochum.

Having said that, it looked a nice little town with plenty of greenery and a tidy little centre; most unlike several nearby towns and cities in Germany’s industrial north west. It was a fair old hike but the walk was pleasant.

Google Maps directed me on the shortest route through old industrial areas, which had now been tidied up. The floodlights came into view, which is always a great comfort in a strange town. The path took me straight to the turnstiles.

I’d been a little apprehensive in the days leading up to the game as it was a local derby. I’d tried to buy a ticket online, but there was no print at home option and the postage price was prohibitive. It turned out that I needn’t have worried. I simply paid at the gate.

Lohrheidestadion was a typical overseas arena of the 60’s and 70’s; with its running track, open curved terracing and seated stands down the sides. The far side also had terracing in front to offer a decent view. The club offices and changing rooms were behind the near end.

The crowd immediately looked to be sparse when I entered with around twenty minutes until kick off. The visiting support from Wuppertal numbered around half of the attendance as they congregated on the far curve and in a few seats in the cavernous main stand.

Refreshments were obtained by a simple voucher system. Cards came in €5 denominations, each with 10 x 50 cent squares. Beer was €2.50, while bratwursts were excellent value at just €2. The home sections had four concessions so there was no waiting.

Before the kick off and as the team entered the pitch, both sets of fans entered into protesting against the DFB; the German FA. The support in terms of noise and banners was more noted in the away section. I sent a tweet to Sven; my German and Thai football expert to ask what it was all about.

Here is Sven’s run down:

"Clubs from all over Germany, and all over divisions went into joint protest against the DFB with the beginning of the season with the main theme Scheiß DFB" or "Fick Dich DFB".

Accompanied by small banners, showing with what Fans currently dislike on the DFB and what they are protesting on. Latter may vary from stadium/fangroup. However, mainly protest is vs commercialisation, splitting matchdays off (FRI-MON).

Corruption, different kick-off times, half-time shows, no pyro allowed, against promotion/relegation play-offs, softening the 50+1, reaching out to other markets in order gain profit and maintain a certain status of the Bundesliga within the top-leagues and so on and so on.

Meanwhile the German FA said well okay we got it. So let's sit down and talk. Interesting times ahead. Oh and one major point they are protesting against is collective punishment like we could see in Dortmund last season".

The protests continued intermittently throughout the match. It was probably as well that the fans had something to shout about, as there was precious little happening on the pitch.

Wattenscheid had got off to a horrid start in the league and were without a win in three games, while Wuppertaler in at the top of the table. It was hard to tell the sides apart on this showing.

The visitors forward Kevin Hagemann had started the season well, and he forced the home custodian Edin Sancaktar into a couple of steady stops without really extending himself. That was about it until half time. I noted that I was awarding the man of the match to the bloke on the griddle cooking the bratwursts.

Not an awful lot more happened after the interval if truth be told. I tried watching from various different vantage points but it still looked as dull. Goodness knows what viewers thought of it watching live on a regional TV channel. I guessed they’d found alternative entertainment?

There was a nice convivial atmosphere on the curve away from the noisy youngsters as fans of old ages enjoyed their night out having a beer and a chat while hoping something may spark into life out on the pitch.

Suddenly Wattenscheid had an attack. A midfielder beat a man and then threaded in Joseph Boyamba who slotted the ball past Sebastian Wickl in the visitors net. The celebrations were cut short by the linesman’s flag.

Towards the end I stood near some old timers who were clearly infuriated at their side’s inability to find a player in the same shirt. Their days of watching the likes of Carlos Babington in the top flight had set sail many moons previously.

It had crossed my mind to head off before full time, but having made the effort and gone through the passport fiasco, I stayed put while trying to work out the best route back. Google Maps indicated a nearby tram stop. I had nothing to lose as the next train back wasn’t until 11pm anyway.

Sure enough some fans were already waiting at the end of Lohrheidestraße for the number 302 tram which called at Gelsenkirchen main station. My Bahn App indicated a train back to Düsseldorf at 10.30. I could just about make it.

Fortunately the traffic was quiet as I ran upstairs with a couple of minutes to spare. The tram continued on the route that had taken me to the Veltins Arena for the Schalke 04 game a few seasons earlier. It had done me well that day as well.

On arriving back in Düsseldorf I was in two minds whether to just enter a local bar or head to the Aldstadt. I headed to my favourite area figuring that I’d yearn for such adventures when stuck back at work.

Excellent beer in the Schumacher Brewhouse was followed by a couple of average alts in Fatty’s Irish Bar, but it did allow me to catch up with all the latest sports news from back home as they had Sky TV. There was worse ways to end an evening.

The match had been dire, and my day had been interesting to say the least. At least I’d be heading home the next day; or would I? Click here to read about the final club of my trip and further passport travails.