Rot-Weiss Essen against MSV Duisburg: On Sunday (5 February, 2 p.m.), the football Ruhr area looks towards the stadium on Hafenstraße. The RWE vice-record player will be there live.
Kevin Grund is now under contract for 1. FC Bocholt in the Regionalliga West. The 35-year-old has never made a secret of his love for Rot-Weiss Essen – and he will not do so before the derby against MSV Duisburg. A duel between his two ex-clubs.
RevierSport spoke to the Essen legend ahead of the explosive neighbourly derby between RWE and MSV.
Kevin Grund, what goes through your mind when you think about this coming Sunday?
The game has been on my mind a lot in the last few days. I spent 13 years in Duisburg. I switched to MSV when I was ten and made the jump to the pros there. But then I found happiness in the professional ranks at Rot-Weiss Essen. I was a regular player in Essen for ten years and experienced a lot.
Who does your heart beat for on Sunday?
This question doesn’t arise for me: Rot-Weiss Essen is deep in my heart. I joined MSV as a little boy and became a professional, but at RWE I experienced everything. There were so many great games, but also sad moments. Just a lot of emotions that I don’t want to miss and that I will never forget.
The tension, the thoughts are different than before ordinary games. You know exactly that there are only three points here, but that there is much more at stake. If you win, you win the derby and are celebrated. If you lose, you can hear for a fortnight how shitty you were. That’s the truth
Kevin Grund
You are second in terms of RWE record players with 326 competitive games. Only Heinz Wewers (360) has played more games. But some people smile at you when you talk about a “Kevin Grund legend” and argue that you can’t compare Grund with Willi Lippens, Helmut Rahn or Frank Kurth. How do you react to that?
I’ve heard that too (laughs). But quite honestly: I’m not interested. It’s nice that people make a fuss about it and lump my name together with these RWE icons. But the fact is that I’ve played the second most games for Rot-Weiss and I’m very, very proud of that. I don’t think it happens very often that a player plays ten years in the professional league for just one club. Because whether it was in the Oberliga or the Regionalliga, it was always professional football for RWE during my time with the club.
At the same time, you could have left RWE a few times…
Yes, of course. There were always offers. There were concrete enquiries from VVV Venlo in the Netherlands or the U23 teams of TSV 1860 Munich and Greuther Fürth. I can tell you all about that today (laughs). But for me, a change was never an option. I simply loved the club and still do today. I’m also a family man and never wanted to leave the Ruhr.
Until the summer of 2021: Then you left RWE after all…
It was the right time. I don’t regret this change either. I was promoted with Bocholt and have also gained a foothold in my professional life with the sports equipment supplier Teamsport Philipp and am also happy in my private life with my wife and our two sons. It was meant to be. The only thing I missed during my time at RWE was promotion to the Third League. Unfortunately.
Was there a squad that should have been promoted during your time at RWE?
Yes! In 2019/2020, under coach Christian Titz, we had by far the best team in the Regionalliga West. It should have worked out. We played great football. But unfortunately, it was all down to the little things in the Corona season.
Who was actually your best coach at RWE, and who did you get on less well with?
First of all: I had no stress with any coach. Not even with Marc Fascher, who didn’t trust me at all. But he was a great human being. In terms of football, I learned the most from Christian Titz and Jan Siewert. They were coaches of the new generation, very modern. But I also want to mention Waldemar Wrobel. I had a great time under ‘Waldi’ and still have a good relationship with him today.
What did games like the one on Sunday do to you as a footballer?
It’s a lie when players claim that such a derby is a game like any other. That is simply not the truth! The tension, the thoughts are different than before ordinary games. You know exactly that there are only three points here, but that there is much more at stake. If you win, you win the derby and are celebrated. If you lose, you can hear for a fortnight how shitty you were. That’s the truth.
So what’s your tip?
Both teams don’t do much to each other. But it’s also a fact that there will be some unrest at the club that loses this derby for the first time this season. I am convinced of that. With a draw, nothing will change, just standstill. But I think the unrest at MSV will come because RWE wins.
On Saturday, 1. FC Bocholt should also win in Wuppertal, otherwise it could also become restless or?
Many people simply forget that we are a promoted team. We can’t allow any unrest to get in. We’re above the line in the regional league, we’re in the semi-finals of the Niederrheinpokal. When was the last time that happened in Bocholt? We should be incredibly proud of what we’re doing right now. We can go to Wuppertal free. WSV are under pressure because they want to catch Münster at the top and can hardly afford to slip up in the second half of the season.