Acknowledgment: “The Football Tourist’s Guide to the German Ruhrgebiet” by Peter Alder.
Today sees Rot-Weiss (red-white) versus Rot-Weiss in the regional Cup final for the Niederrhein (Lower Rhine) area.
As discussed previously on here, the 21 regional Cup Finals are important in that they can achive entry into the lower half of the draw for the DFB Pokal (and a potential payday) in the following season. This year the Niederrhein Finale is a replay of last year’s final, with the same two teams, in the same venue. Last year it was won by Essen:
Essen then drew Hamburger SV in the first round of the DFB Pokal, losing 3-4 after extra time.
Rot-Weiss Oberhausen historically are something of a “Fahrstuhlmannschaft”, yo-yoing between the divisions. When the Bundesliga was formed in 1963, they were put into the Regionalliga West, which was at that point the second tier of the pyramid- they when went on to win this division in 1969, earning a promotion to the Bundesliga. Notably, in the 70/71 season, Lothar Kobluhn scored 24 goals for RWO, becoming the top goalscorer in the Bundesliga, ahead of even one G. Müller. Here is a pic of him bestriding a cannon:
Unfortunately because of the 1971 Bundesliga bribery scandal, Kobluhm was not actually awarded the Topjägerkanone (top scorer trophy) until 1987. For more on the 1971 scandal, see here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Bundesliga_scandal
RWO remained in the Bundesliga for three seasons, before going back down to resume yo-yoing once more between the 2nd, 3rd and 4th tiers.
The other Rot-Weiss, RWE, are previous German Champions (1955) and Cup Winners (1953).
Like many other clubs in this area, their subsequent decline is a reflection of the decline of the heavy industries (with which the clubs were, and in may cases still are, associated) in the Ruhr region.
In terms of a famous name connected with RWE, there is only one choice. Helmut Rahn (‘der Boss’).
“Kopfball…abgewehrt..aus dem Hintergrund musste Rahn schießen..Rahn schießt!….Tooooor!!! Tooooor!! Toooor!!”
You probably only need to know that ’Tor’ = goal to get the gist here. Rahn scored the winner in the 1954 ‘das Wunder von Bern‘ World Cup final, and the above commentary is the German cultural equivalent to our ‘they think it’s all over!’ etc.
Naturally, there is a statue of Rahn in Essen, which I am hoping to go and see.
Off we go. Cup Final Day! (And good luck to FCK in the big one!)
