Rhein Derby and Hip Hop for Hertha!

74th Rhein Derby this Saturday in the Bundesliga: 1. FC Köln against Borussia Mönchengladbach. A Derby with great history and even better stories, most of the time Borussia came out ahead. 19 times Mönchengladbach has been able to win in Köln, more than against any other Club they have visited in the Bundesliga.

Bundesliga.de conducted an interview with the Borussia Fan Coordinator Thomas Weinmann about this Bundesliga Classic and what makes it so special.

bundesliga.de: Herr Weinmann, what is the current mood of Gladbach Fans after the clear 4:1 Victory against the HSV and ahead of the Derby with Köln?

Thomas Weinmann: Everyone is in great spirits and the confidence in being able to stave off relegation is also improved. We beat Hamburg convincingly and even though we lost to Berlin dominated a good portion of that game. We are pretty confident: We will stay up!

bundesliga.de: How important is the game against Köln?

Weinmann: It is the highlight of our Season, the most important game of the year. For over 30 years now. We don’t want to be relegated; obviously that is the most important thing. At the same time we do not want to lose any games against Köln.

bundesliga.de: How many tickets do you think could have been sold to Gladbach Fans?

Weinmann: At least 20000, perhaps even 30000. Borussia Fans have always traveled well to Köln, in the old Müngersdorfer Stadion in the 80’s and 90’s we often had 15000 to 20000 Gladbach Fans. Today Away travel has only increased because in and around most Stadiums it has gotten much safer. Unfortunately the ticket number to Away fans is set at a certain number.

bundesliga.de: What make this Derby special?

Weinmann: Köln’s view is like this: Köln is a big city and the 1. FC Köln is the Number 1 in the region. In the 70’s you suddenly see “the Farmers from the country” become successful and are the Number 1 team. That laid the foundation for this rivalry; it was played hard but still remained fair. When both teams went through hard times in the 90’s with relegation and trying to survive economically a lot of bitterness came up on both sides. That set the tone and the intensity got a bit rougher.

bundesliga.de: The last Derby in Köln had some tension after the “Fahnenaffäre” (BMG Ultras had their Flags stolen by Köln Fans). How do you see this one?

Weinmann: Difficult to say exactly as there is still some thought about that incident. At the same time our Fans are in a good mood after the win against the HSV; we are confident we will win there again like we have in the past even though we have not won at their new Stadium yet. And I would like to add that even though there was tension at the last match, after the game was over Fans of both teams crossed paths outside of the Stadium and nothing happened.

bundesliga.de: What sort of influence as Fan Coordinator do you have on the behavior of the Fans?

Weinmann: Not much on a match day, our work is more long term. We try to communicate to certain Fans how to behave, that there are rules and consequences. There is no place for violence. This is a process that does not happen overnight; ideally the Fans come to a realization by themselves how to conduct themselves.

bundesliga.de: There is no other team that Gladbach has been able to beat on the road as much as Köln. Is there a game that has a special memory for you?

Weinmann: 1975 I attended my first Derby, at the old Kölner Radrennbahn and we won 2:1. Or the 4:0 win in 1993, as Peter Wynhoff made a spectacular Goal after a solo run that covered half of the field. We also lost there once by 0:4, but the only thing that matter to both Gladbacher and Kölner is that the other team does not win.

Ten thousand Hertha BSC Fans have changed the text to a Hip Hop Song. The Melody is from two Hip Hop artists from Tempelhof that discovered their sudden fame on TV watching the Sportschau.

 Two weekends ago Vincenco de Marcos, 30, was sitting on his couch in Tempelhof. The TV was on and the “Sportschau” was reporting on the Bundesliga Games of the day. “I was sort of flipping channels” said de Marcos. When the Hertha BSC game highlights came on and the Fans were overjoyed at taking over the top spot in the Bundesliga, Vincenco de Marco almost fell off his couch. “The whole Stadium was singing our Melody, our Song” he said.

Vincenco de Marcos is a Rapper, he calls himself “Frauenarzt” (Gynecologist) and together with his friend Marc Schneider, 28, they appear as “Atzen DJs” on stage. They mix Electro beats with Rhymes and published a song that included the lyrics: “Hey, das geht ab – wir feiern die ganze Nacht!” (Hey, this is happening – we party through the whole night). At Concerts the crowd was jumping along and somehow, sometime the song was added to a CD from Fans of Hertha BSC, they played it on a Bus heading to away games. The same way Fans adapt other songs is what happened next: They took the Melody and changed the lyrics. The lyrics that were heard in the Stadium came out like this: “Hey, das geht ab – wir holen die Meisterschaft!” (Hey, this is happening – we are going to be Champions).

This past weekend the Team also sang the Song in the Olympiastadion, dancing arm in arm on the blue running track. “We are not even real Hertha Fans, at least not as bad as the Fans in the curve”, the Rappers said while sitting in their favorite Café near the U Bahnhof Kaiserin-Augusta-Straße. This is their “Hood”, where they attended School. “I have to go back to the Stadium”, said de Marcos, “that deal with our Song – it is hot.” “We make Ballermann Music (so called after the legendary Ballermann 6 Club in Mallorca, many (some older) German Language Songs that are infused with a techno beat), inspired by the 80’s beats from the Band Kraftwerk”, said de Marcos. It seems to be successful since their video for “Das geht ab” was viewed on Youtube over 1.4 Million times. Their Song “Florida Lady” is played at a lot of party’s. And now they created the Melody for the Championship Hymn at the Olympiastadion. And since Berliners are practical people, they are also preparing for the contingency of a UEFA Cup spot: “Hey, das geht ab – wir holen den Europacup!” Hertha Fans have already practiced this one just in case.

I apologize in advance if some of the terminology in the story about the Hertha song is wrong, but I am not well versed in Hip Hop terms.  Especially the German Hip Hop Scene that likes to mix US terms and some of their own as well.