Can't Say Strawberry

Live in Dortmund for long enough and you’ll see that football here is like a religion. Everyone here supports BVB Dortmund (Ballspielverein Borussia) without question. Walk into Dortmund Hauptbahnhof on a match day in the Signal Iduna Park (Dortmund’s stadium) and you’ll see the place overrun with people in yellow shirts, hats, scarves waving yellow flags, singing songs about how great BVB are… the atmosphere is electric.

British football fans get a bad rep for hooliganism, but that’s certainly not the case here in Germany. BVB Dortmund have their enemy (Gelsenkirchen Schalke), but you don’t hear about organised fights like there has been between clubs in the U.K. Everyone goes to football matches here; the BVB fanbase remind me a lot of how the Welsh are with our rugby team… we’re always loyal whatever the score, and just as Wales’ pride in their nation extends to their rugby team, the Dortmunders are always loyal to BVB.

Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to go to Signal Iduna Park and see BVB play, shame on me! One day, I’ll make sure to go see them. It is an institution here after all, like a religion, just as rugby is in Wales!