Big gap, but licence for 3rd division to be applied for

Rot-Weiß Oberhausen is currently ten points behind leaders Preußen Münster with one more match played in the Regionalliga West. Nevertheless, the third league licence will be applied for.

Every year at this time, clubs in the Regionalliga have to decide whether to apply for a licence for the 3rd division. Before the season, Rot-Weiß Oberhausen had set itself the goal of playing in the top flight until the end of the season.

Currently – after 15 of 38 games – the goal has not been achieved. With one less game played, top-ranked Preußen Münster is already ten points behind.

Nevertheless, RWO has decided to apply for a licence, as RWO president Hajo Sommers told RevierSport: “We intend to do so, because we haven’t written off the season. We’ve had a season like this before, where Viktoria Köln were far away.”

In the end, the Kleeblätter came closer and closer and almost passed the Cologne team. Sommers is counting on a similar spurt in this series, as he classifies the season so far as only “mediocre”, adding: “I’m with the coach on that, we could have had four to six points more, then we’d be on target. “

Points Table
Points Table

But they are missing now, so RWO must start a series – preferably as early as this weekend (Saturday, 2pm) when they face SC Wiedenbrück at home.

A series would also help the U19s, who are fighting against relegation from the U19 Bundesliga. With five teams being relegated, the save shore is currently in sight, but Sommers also knows “that it will be a tough fight to stay in the league.” Looking at the league, the RWO boss stresses, “Something has happened that everyone can’t explain. Nobody seems stable, maybe it’s also because of Corona and the consequences.”

Or the league’s mode, where once again only a single round with 15 games is played, so the teams can never get into a rhythm because there are always long breaks. Sommers, like many others before him, speaks plainly: “Thanks to the association, it’s unbelievable that the teams have more free time than games. How are any of all the talent from this year group supposed to make the leap up the ladder like this?”

While the U19s are fighting against relegation and the RWO professionals are fighting to stay at the top, SG Wattenscheid are struggling to find the person who allegedly racially insulted the referee of the game against RWO.

Oberhausen was also asked about this issue, Sommers reports: “The police asked us if we had noticed anything. But we didn’t, so unfortunately we can’t help. “

Points Table
Points Table