A Bundesliga experience

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At 3pm we piled onto another bus to take us to a Budesliga game Schalke V Boruusia Monchengladbach. It is in a town named Gelsenkirchen. This was considered a 'local derby' meaning highly competitive local teams. We passed by rolling farmland and a few small villages on our way into Dusseldorf, crossing the mighty Rhine River several times.
Dusseldorf is very industrial with a huge coal mining industry.

The Stadium for Schalke has a crowd capacity of 80,000 and last night there were 61,673 in attendance. Fans buy life memberships and 'Will' these to family members. Our tickets had been supplied by Egon's contact at Borussia Monchengladbach and were like VIP seats high in the stand, just outside the Museum. Our bus had parked amongst those of the Borussia Monchengladbach fan buses. They were a scary bunch of folks who glared at us but luckily we were wearing our "Australia " jackets so they decided not to murder us afterall.
We were seated directly above our carpark friends i.e. the 'bullpit' or Visiting Team seating area. It was only a small triangle of seating compared to the overall capacity of the stadium. But the lower numbers did not deter these loyal Monchengladbach fans who chanted, clapped, jumped, drummed, waved flags, swirled scarves, and even let off a smuggled flare !! They were relentless and LOUD !!
I felt Monchengladbach were the stronger team but as in many a game of soccer ( football) it was Schalke who scored the only goal. As this meant the majority of the crowd would be happy with the result I was relieved. Everyone left the stadium calmly and without incident.
It was truly an awesome experience and another 'bucket list' event is ticked off.

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