Where and what is the Ruhrgebiet?
Follow a direct line east from London through Holland and into Germany. About 60 miles from the border you will come to a cluster of towns and cities. You will see names like Duisburg, Essen, Dortmund and Gelsenkirchen. You will notice two great rivers – the Rhine and the Ruhr – and a dense network of roads, motorways, railway lines and canals. This is the Ruhrgebiet. Locals simply call it “Das Revier” – ‘the district’- and it has played a vital role in Germany’s history for over two hundred years.
Industrial powerhouse
The mines of the Ruhrgebiet provided the coal that powered Germany’s industrial revolution. Its foundries produced the steel that was used to build the factories and machines. Its rivers and canals carried Germany’s products far and wide.
The epicentre of football
For most of the last century, the Ruhrgebiet was also the epicentre of German football. Just like in the North East of England, or the central belt of Scotland, they said that all you had to do was whistle down a pit to call up yet another outstanding footballer. Clubs from the Ruhrgebiet and its close neighbours totally dominated the game. Their players were the nucleus of the national teams of the day.
Late start and rapid expansion
The area was a quiet rural backwater up until the second half of the 19th century. Then, new procedures were discovered which enabled the hard native coal of the Ruhrgebiet – available in abundance – to be used profitably by industry. Before long coal from the Ruhr was being sent all over Germany and was powering almost the entire German steel industry.
The region did not just grow – it exploded. Mines and factories appeared everywhere.
This massive growth of industrialisation created a voracious demand for workers and resulted in a massive upsurge of immigration. For example, in 1850 the population of Essen was around 9,000. By 1910 this had grown to 295,000. In the brief period between 1895 and 1913, the population of the Ruhrgebiet more than doubled from 1,500,000 to 3,300,000. New settlements were created and the small towns and villages in the area expanded rapidly to house these new arrivals.
These people came in their thousands from all over Europe – particularly East Prussia, Silesia and Poland. They had esoteric, Slavic sounding names. They brought with them the cultures traditions and languages of home. As migrants do the world over, they gathered together in housing estates and villages. They set up social clubs to provide company and to keep the traditions of the homeland alive.
Football as mass sport
Just as the Ruhrgebiet was expanding, a new mass sport – football – was arriving from England. It immediately established itself amongst the young men from the pits and steelworks and soon every city, suburb and street had its own football club.
In many other parts of Germany football was a largely middle class activity and it took a long time before these upstart clubs from the rougher parts of the country gained acceptance (as late as 1925 Schalke were not even mentioned in a history of Gelsenkirchen), but as local teams began to collect trophy after trophy, Ruhrgebiet football could not be ignored.
There are many reasons why football did so well in this part of Germany :
- There was a ready supply of strong fit young men looking for a route out of poverty and the health-destroying work in the pits and steel mills.
- Life was very tough for many people. They had physically demanding jobs, little money and lived in very poor housing. Football provided a welcome relief from the worry and toil of everyday life.
- Immigrants far from home gathered around teams and clubs for company and a sense of solidarity.
- Because so many of the players came from and still lived in their local communities, fans felt a strong sense of loyalty to their clubs.
- The densely populated towns produced an abundance of potential fans, providing local clubs with regular and secure incomes.
- Clubs were very close together, making it easy to get to games. At least once a month – and sometimes more often – there would be the chance to go to a hotly contested local derby where next week’s workplace bragging rights would be contested.
Still a great destination for the football fan
Today the pits and foundries are mostly gone. The slag heaps from the pits have been converted into cycle trails and ski slopes. The factories and engineering works have been replaced with shopping and entertainment complexes, or become heritage sites. The cities have bright modern centres.
But the Ruhrgebiet remains the perfect destination for anyone who wants to experience German football culture at its very best.
Some of the famous clubs have disappeared, but the two biggest names – Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04 – are still amongst the most successful, richest and best-supported teams in Europe.
Second division teams like MSV Duisburg and VfL Bochum still have large, loyal fan bases. They play in modern, fan-friendly stadiums and can offer an exciting experience. And a trip to the amateur leagues would give you the chance to see yet more famous teams from the past such as Rot Weiß Essen, Rot Weiß Oberhausen, and SG Wattenscheid. Although recent years have been hard for these clubs, they are still supported by large crowds of passionate fans.