My first time, when I went to watch Schalke
Well let me think back for a minute….
Oh yeah, I remember now. At the time I still was living in Germany and my first Schalke game which I went to was in the early 80s.I was about 11 or 12 years of age and my dad took me to the game between Borussia Dortmund vs Schalke 04 and because at the time I still was a little nipper. me and dad were sitting in the “west-stands” (opposite to where the coaches/managers/players sit if ya know what I mean ) anyway we sat in the middle of BvB Supporters and there was me, an 11/12 year old kid who never been to a stadium before and so naturally i was woried because i was the only one in that block with a blue n white scarf round me and a Schalke hat. Of course i got plenty of abuse during the game from the Dortmund Fans and so when Schalke scored through Klaus Fischer the first Goal i was the only one who jumped up and cheered while waving my Schalke scarf when angry faces from the Dortmund Fans surrounded me which of course got me a little bit worried. However at the end Schalke lost 1:2 with Rolf Ruessmann (Ex Schalke Player) scoring the winning Goal for Borussia Dortmund and I still remember crying all the way back home because we lost….
Of course since then things have changed and i started to go and watch Schalke play whenever I could/can and i still remember the good and bad times we had at the Parkstadium Gelsenkirchen. Then I moved to England and have managed to watch Schalke a few times in the Arena Auf Schalke/Veltins Arena and my last visit at Schalke was two or three years ago and yes you might have guessed it was against Borussia Dortmund, the game was in februar if I remember rightly and it was freezing cold. In fact it was snowing at the time, so i went to that pub at the train station “Charlys Bummelszug” and from there to the stadium where i met up with some good friends and after a having few beers we watch the game together and it ended 0:0 .Nevetheless it still was good day because you had the Schalke Feeling/Buzz around you all day
Finally not to forget the cold freezing night in November (around Bonfire night).What a night in Edinburgh…lol ,there must have been at least 5000 Schalke Supporters and the town was “painted” blue n white and in the middle of it a Scot in a kilt playing his backpipes to the tune of “Scotland the Brave” oh and btw Schalke won 1:0 that night against Hearts of Midlothian…
SCHALKE – LOVE IT – BLUE N WHITE FOR LIFE
Frank Josinger
