Interview | Schalke fan in exile in Berlin
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“With appreciative envy to Köpenick”
02/12/21 | 6:18 am
Dennis Rosenzweig is 39, a police officer and a member of the Schalke fan club “Königsblau Berlin”. Why he no longer recognizes his favorite club, what he says about the rivalry between Hertha and Schalke and what he likes about Union.
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rbb | 24: Dennis Rosenzweig, how do you become a Schalke fan in Berlin of all places?
Dennis Rosenzweig: I grew up in Gelsenkirchen and then there is only Schalke and nothing else. I only came to Berlin in 2006 for work.
And since then has the only official Schalke fan club in the capital, “Königsblau Berlin”, been in existence?
It already existed before, since 1999. Founded with eight plus one members.
So nine.
That’s a bad number for us. Because of BVB (Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund, editor’s note). We would never write that out or say it. We now have around 90 members. A third of this comes originally from the Ruhr area, the majority from Berlin and Brandenburg.
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The rivalry with Borussia Dortmund is also lived out in exile in Prussia. How is it with Hertha BSC?
As Berliners, we feel that more. But in general, that’s the one-sided fan hostility that is talked about so often. And before I came to Berlin, Hertha didn’t exist for me either. A bit neutral – like Freiburg. Here, of course, you get it a little more.
And then Schalke 04 get Vedad Ibisevic, of all people, before the season, whom they considered to be an obsolete model at Hertha.
I said directly: You can see in which direction the whole thing is going. We’re no longer talking about the Europa League or even the Champions League. This is clearly a squad that you play with to stay up.
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You should be right. What is it now?
That has been announced for some time. Even if it was still the Champions League three years ago. But even then, money was paid for players who didn’t have the value at all. On the other hand, good players were and had to be sold because the money attracted them. And then Christian Heidel was brought in as the sports director, who just didn’t understand Schalke and did a lot wrong. His predecessor Horst Heldt was someone who was just about to remedy the old sins of Felix Magath. And a trainer like Domenico Tedesco (Vice Master 2017/18, Anm. D. Ed.) was left alone when he had to deal with the faction around Amine Harit and Nabil Bentaleb. All in all, it was like a vortex that the club got caught in.
You are still loyal to the club, even in the capital, which is more than 500 kilometers away.
Since 2009 our home is the restaurant “Berliner Hof” in Hildegardstraße in Wilmersdorf. This is a really good restaurant with a great kitchen. The landlord switched to Veltins especially for us. And we are lucky that we were allowed to go downstairs in the cellar. It used to be a bowling alley and now has a very rustic look with open walls. This is another reason why we say: This is our shaft. Completely equipped with projector and television, all of course in blue and white.
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The Bundesliga continues to play, but the catering is closed. How active is “Königsblau Berlin” during Corona?
We try to inform our members about current events by email. Also how it looks with our host. We also try to support him with donations. Of course, it is currently suffering a lot.
On the coming weekend you would not have driven into your “shaft” anyway, but into the Alte Försterei. How is the relationship between Schalke and Iron?
We look more positively to Union than to Hertha. We’ve had that before Cup final (2001, Anm. d. Red.), the fans of both clubs got along well. And you basically stick with the underdog. Although today people look to Köpenick with appreciative envy.
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Why this?
Anyone who knows Schalke from earlier – that was a completely different club. It used to be called the “Buddy and Malocher Club”. There isn’t much left of that. Schalke has been first in the table “Which is the most expensive club for its fans” for years. So when it comes to what tickets, jerseys, etc. cost. Schalke has become a commercial empire. At Union you get the impression, with the stadium construction by the supporters or the Christmas singing: The small circle of Unioners holds together. There used to be that at Schalke too. But that has not been the case for a long time.
And sporty?
You can also see with the Union players on the field that they simply give everything to get the win off the pitch. You don’t get that impression with our team.
Does that mean that Schalke won’t get anything on this 22nd matchday?
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Have you already come to terms with the fact that Schalke will be relegated?
Not quite. If everything goes well, we’ll make it into relegation.
After all, they avoided breaking Tasmania Berlin’s age-old record.
That was more than difficult. You really feared you would get this stupid record (31 Bundesliga games in a row without a win, editor’s note) not fetch. Simply because it would stick with you forever.
If you could choose a Union player for Schalke, who would it be?
We have Steven Skrzybski (From 2007 to 2018 player at Union Berlin, editor’s note) – so much for Union players at Schalke. Well, such a Max Kruse wouldn’t be bad. Oh, maybe we can swap the whole team (laughs).
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The interview was conducted by Ilja Behnisch.
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Broadcast: rbb UM6, 02/11/2021, 6 p.m.
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