Diva Rot-Weiss Essen storms through the 3rd division with drama
Last season, Rot-Weiss Essen managed to avoid relegation by the skin of its teeth. The fans rage against the coach - six months later, he is the celebrated man. RWE cautiously sniffs promotion in the 3rd division, but of course not without drama.
Excerpt from a WhatsApp chat with a Rot-Weiss Essen fan: "Say something positive about Dabrowski again". Behind it, a fiery red anger smiley, sent on October 7, 2023. On that Sunday, the cult club had allowed itself to be humiliated 5-0 by SC Verl at home on Hafenstrasse. It was the second defeat in three days; the Red & Whites had previously been thrashed 4-0 at promoted SpVgg Unterhaching. Hardly anyone around Essen could understand what was going on again. The debacles followed the furious home win against the all-dominant team in the 3rd division, the 3:1 against Dynamo Dresden.
There is hardly a fan base that is more often baffled than that of Essen. Perhaps even those of the fickle Borussia Dortmund. But if there is one thing that has worked excellently for RWE in recent years, it is the unpredictability of their own performance. For years, the traditional club, which is forever associated with the old heroes Willi "Ente" Lippens, Helmut Rahn and Horst Hrubesch and is under the protection of the late legend Pelé, struggled through the lowlands of North Rhine-Westphalian soccer, despairing at the eye of the needle of the pig league (Regionalliga West), before finally returning to profitability last season.
Capriciousness as part of the club's DNA
And once again, the red and white diva struck hard. Capriciousness is so deeply rooted in the club's DNA that the fans themselves cannot keep up with their raging emotions between total euphoria and doomsday mood. So it should come as no surprise that last Sunday there were chants in the stadium for the coach, for Christoph Dabrowski. For the Dabrowski that the vast majority of fans would have liked to have chased off the pitch at the end of last season. Although the season's goal of staying in the league was achieved, it wasn't easy. Scarves and shirts with the "kicked out" slogan were in the making. And even at the start of this season, he struggled to win the hearts of the supporters. The coach was quickly identified as the root of the problem again. The team, which underwent a major rebuild in the summer - fewer big names, more big players (physicality was the key word) - did not deliver as it should have done according to the unwritten law of the club. Meaning: working until you drop.
This passionate pursuit of footballing happiness sets Rot-Weiss Essen apart from many other clubs - even in the region. Sure, the results have to be right. But the really big luck wafted through the Borbeck district when the players' shirt colors were no longer recognizable. Who needs double passes or tiki-taka? And this also explains how the supporters and players have grown together this season. There is running and tackling on the pitch, soccer is played on the pitch. The spirit of the glorious industrial past has returned to Hafenstrasse. That's the way it has to be. Five wins in a row after the Verl debacle. For comparison: in the shaky previous season, there were only eight sporting victories and one on the green table.
And then the captain is kicked out ...
But Essen's unexpected upswing, which has seen the club rise to third place after 15 match days (three points ahead of Verl), cannot be explained by virtue alone.
A personnel decision has changed the wind. Three days after the devastating defeat to Verl, the Red & Whites surprised everyone by sacking captain Felix Bastians. And they hurled venomous words at their leader, who had already played for SC Freiburg, Hertha BSC and VfL Bochum: he had increasingly failed to live up to the expectation that "as captain, he should not only perform on the pitch, but also lead the way on the pitch and in the dressing room. Without going into too much detail, we all believe that this measure is not only necessary, but that there is no alternative in order to set a clear impulse," the statement said. We will only be successful "if sensitivities and egos are put aside and everyone is 100% committed to the big picture."
Last-minute victories create euphoria
It worked. The very next game. 10,000 fans from Essen traveled to Dortmund to support the team against BVB. Against their second team. An insane crowd that hardly any other third division team could manage. The love for this club is boundless, no matter how great the pain. The match took place in the former Westfalenstadion, RWE won 2:1 and has not stopped winning since. And how good these successes sometimes taste. With MSV Duisburg struggling massively for survival, RWE first shot the ball into the net itself in the 89th minute, only to escalate four minutes later, 2:1. Derby victories unleash the really big emotions. No less dramatic and thrilling: the 2:1 against Arminia Bielefeld, where the supporters also collapsed shortly before the end of the game when the equalizer was scored. But again, the players did everything they could to turn the tide in the 91st minute. They were successful.
The last stop of the resurrection journey so far, last Sunday. Home game against Waldhof Mannheim, under the eyes of club legend Otto Rehhagel, 2:0 and suddenly hymn-like adoration for the coach: "Olala, we have a coach, olala, Dabro wonderful". He only indulged in the moment of affection for a moment and then emphasized: "We're very happy for the moment, but we're already realists - the environment and the fans perhaps not included." Message via Whatsapp from the RWE fan: "Now relegation against Herne West!"* Three smiley faces laughing with tears - and the warning: "But first 13 points to stay in the league."
*Editor's note: the currently relegation-threatened second division team FC Schalke 04
The soccer team, Rot-Weiss Essen, is still competing fiercely in the 3rd league, hoping to secure promotion despite the past challenges. Despite the humiliating 5-0 loss against SC Verl, fans are now rallying behind coach Christoph Dabrowski, a stark contrast to their rage against him last season.
Following the surprising dismissal of captain Felix Bastians, the team has seen a significant turnaround, winning five games in a row and climbing to the third place in the 3rd division.
Source: www.ntv.de
