Gelsenkirchen

[comme]

Sorry to ask some really stupid questions.

How big a place is this? I have looked on maps and in books about Germany and cannot find it in any of them. how is it able to support as big a club as Schalke?

[Mattbro]

It's part of Germany's biggest urban agglomeration. There are approximately 7 million people living in the area I believe, although their loyalties are divided between Dortmund, Bochum, Duisburg and to a lesser extent Oberhausen, Rot-Weiss Essen, etc. Plus it is a very working-class area. Tons of potential for fan support.

[Frankfurt Blue]

It's part of Germany's biggest urban agglomeration. There are approximately 7 million people living in the area I believe, although their loyalties are divided between Dortmund, Bochum, Duisburg and to a lesser extent Oberhausen, Rot-Weiss Essen, etc. Plus it is a very working-class area. Tons of potential for fan support.

The Ruhrpott is the most heavily industrialised area in Germany, and as you said with a population to match.

[comme]

I realise that but why is Gelsenkirchen not on any maps? Is there a comparable city in the UK?

[Mattbro]

http://www.isoplan.de/aid/2003-4/stadtportrait.htm

According to this link Gelsenkirchen had a population of 274,326 on September 30, 2003. Probably you can't find it on a map because there are a lot of decent sized cities in immediate area (Essen, Dortmund, Oberhausen) and they don't all fit on the map at the same time.

[herewego]

The towns in the Ruhr area growed in the era of industrialization in the 19 th century in a explosive way. So today you have all the seperate towns but each town assimilates to the neighbour town, no countrysides between them, if you would change the political structure it would be like a 8,5 million metropole with some quarters.

[96Squig]

Plus, don't ask me why, but it is very common in germany that ppl don't support a local team (maybe because there is no local team successfull) but another team, and it goes beyond glory hunting. Look at Mönchengladbach, it is a city of 200 000 inhabitants or so and they attrackt more fans to their games than Hannover 96 for example does (500 000 plus 500 000 in the Region plus another million in the nearer cities and only two real competors: Wolfsburg and Brunswick). Gladbach is near Cologne where you have the FC Köln being a big club, than Duisburg, Aachen, Fortuna Köln, Leverkusen, and the Rurhpott clubs like Dortmund, Bochum, Schalke, Düsseldorf, ...
I think Gladbach is when it comes to popularity somewhere in the top 5 or so..
(Bayern, Schalke, Dortmund, Gladbach I'd say)

[Mattbro]

I suspect many of Gladbach's fans are from Düsseldorf. Wouldn't surprise me if they were more popular in Düsseldorf than Fortuna!

[Alex_K]

Enjoy ;).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Rhine-Westphalia

[herewego]

This about the Ruhr Area only:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhr_area

[jonam]

Sorry to ask some really stupid questions.

How big a place is this? I have looked on maps and in books about Germany and cannot find it in any of them. how is it able to support as big a club as Schalke?

http://www.schwatzgelb.com/fanservice/guestguide.htm3 (scroll down)

[Mattbro]

http://www.schwatzgelb.com/fanservice/guestguide.htm3 (scroll down)


I didn't realize that Hagen and Hamm were in the "Pott". I travel through there on the train every year on business. I guess you learn something new every day. Probably would be a good idea for me to look at a map every once in a while.

[jonam]

I didn't realize that Hagen and Hamm were in the "Pott". I travel through there on the train every year on business. I guess you learn something new every day. Probably would be a good idea for me to look at a map every once in a while.

Hmmm, normally the "Ruhr Valley" is defined as the region between Lippe (North) and Ruhr (South). As Hagen lies at the Southern shores of Ruhr it is actually not part of the "Ruhrpott" but of course part of the metropolitan area. Same goes for Hamm.

[Dead Fingers]

Still a lot of heavy industry, such as steel and coal????

How is the employment rate here compared to other regions? Sorry for the questions--they just popped into my head. :rolleyes:

[Mattbro]

Hmmm, normally the "Ruhr Valley" is defined as the region between Lippe (North) and Ruhr (South). As Hagen lies at the Southern shores of Ruhr it is actually not part of the "Ruhrpott" but of course part of the metropolitan area. Same goes for Hamm.

Gotcha. I guess I didn't even realize it was anywhere near the Ruhr Valley.

By the way, where or what is Chancellorville? It sounds more like a U.S. Civil War battle than a town in Germany.

[96Squig]

Well, schröder, our chancellor, is from hannover, we cal ousrelf Kanzlerstadt, Chancelortown, sometimes... Jonam?

[Mattbro]

Well, schröder, our chancellor, is from hannover, we cal ousrelf Kanzlerstadt, Chancelortown, sometimes... Jonam?

That's actually what I was thinking, but I didn't want to sound like an idiot in case that's not where Jonam is from! :D

[jonam]

That's actually what I was thinking, but I didn't want to sound like an idiot in case that's not where Jonam is from! :D
Hehehe...let's say chancellorville since 1991. Berlin that is. ;-)


(edit: plus I was born and grew up where Schröder was born and grew up...in Eastern Westphalia...so chancellor Schröder would also match. (;-)

http://www.blomberg-lippe.de/stadt/art/stadt_anreise01.gif (http://www.blomberg-lippe.de/stadt/art/stadt_anreise01.gif)

My hometown is where the plane is, Schröder was born in Mossenberg(Blomberg))

[Alex_K]

Well, i go to the same university as he did. Just wanted to say something, too :D

Still a lot of heavy industry, such as steel and coal????

How is the employment rate here compared to other regions? Sorry for the questions--they just popped into my head. :rolleyes:
Not nearly as important as it was a few decades ago. The entire German coal industry isn't that important anymore (there are less than 70.000 people working there in the entire country, iirc).
The unemployment rate in Gelsenkirchen is quite high. I'll check the statistics (they are somewhere on the web).

[Alex_K]

Unemployment rates (October 2004, unless stated otherwise):

Ruhr area 12,5 %
Gelsenkirchen 20,3 %
-----------
Germany 10,1 %
(West) Germany 8,0 % (2003)
(East) Germany 18,5 % (2003)