Championship race, promotion, third division false start: A crazy year ends for Rot-Weiss Essen. We look back at five memorable games.
Regionalliga title fight in the spring, glittering promotion celebration in May, reality check and catch-up in the third division in the autumn: An eventful, a memorable year 2022 ends for Rot-Weiss Essen. We look back on five unforgettable games.
20 February 2022: Rot-Weiss Essen – Preußen Münster 0:2
It was an explosive duel. RWE and SC Preußen decided the regional league champions between themselves. Whoever won the match in February could put an exclamation mark on the title race. The Essen team took the lead in front of 10,000 spectators, more were not allowed to attend due to Corona regulations, through a penalty kick by Thomas Eisfeld (45th minute), Gerrit Wegkamp equalised (73rd) – moments later there was a scandal.
A spectator from the Westkurve threw a firecracker towards the pitch, where Münster players were warming up. Marvin Thiel suffered a blast trauma. The game was abandoned and later scored 2:0 in favour of Münster. A suspect was found.
A few days ago, the Essen District Court sentenced a 29-year-old man from Marl to two years and two months in prison. A sentence with no possibility of parole – in the court’s view, the accused had been guilty of causing an explosive explosion and dangerous bodily harm.
3 May 2022: Wuppertaler SV – Rot-Weiss Essen 3:1
Preußen scored consistently in the spring, but the same could not always be said of RWE. While the Münster team was first two matchdays before the end of the season, great unrest broke out at Hafenstraße. After the 3-1 defeat in the Lower Rhine Cup at Wuppertaler SV, Christian Neidhart, the coach with the best points average in RWE’s history, had to leave.
Manager Jörn Nowak and U19 coach Vincent Wagner took over the team until the end of the season, which was dependent on a Preußen slip-up – otherwise RWE would have remained in the fourth division.
14 May 2022: Rot-Weiss Essen – Rot Weiss Ahlen 2:0
And the Münster team slipped away – a draw in Wiedenbrück. Rot-Weiss passed them with a win against Rödinghausen and were first again. RWE and SCP went into the final matchday level on points, the Essen team had the better goal difference (+2) – and were jubilant at the end.
Cedric Harenbrock (28th) and Simon Engelmann (60th) provided a 2:0 victory against Ahlen, Münster won in parallel, but not high enough to overtake Essen again. The rest is history. RWE had done it, RWE was back. Fans ran onto the pitch, crying, animated, screaming. A city was partying.
23 July 2022: Rot-Weiss Essen – SV Elversberg 1:5
They could hardly wait for kick-off. The RWE fans packed the hut on the first day of the third division match, almost 16,500 spectators wanted to see the opener against SV Elversberg. Elversberg, a team promoted to the second division, should be able to win. Wrong thinking.
The reality check came quickly and was painful. Essen lost 1:5. It took a few weeks for Rot-Weiss to settle into the new league. Christoph Dabrowski’s team did not win a single match in the first six games.
2 September 2022: Rot-Weiss Essen – Erzgebirge Aue 2:1
Then came 2 September, then came Erzgebirge Aue: RWE wrestled down the second-division relegated team. Felix Bastians (23rd) and José-Enrique Rios Alonso (63rd) scored, making the first third league win perfect, but: After the 2-1 victory, the RWE professionals refrained from a boisterous victory celebration in front of the West Stand. Whistles, jeers, chants; the team had to listen to a lot in return.
It was a reaction to a “cowardly and brutal attack”, the team said in a public statement. RWE fans had attacked other RWE fans in a car park after the game in Bayreuth – in front of the professionals.
Rot-Weiss Essen takes off in the third league
The anger was quickly cleared up, and Rot-Weiss Essen took off after the victory. In late autumn, the promoted team went on a strong run, remaining unbeaten in the seven games before the winter break. RWE spent the winter in thirteenth place in the table.