Yellow and Black!

I'll wear it. It's all my fault. It was innocent enough too, a throwaway comment that was more of a backhanded compliment than a malicious put down, but it was there nonetheless. It was the 4th of March and game day in the German footballing capital of Dortmund and it was something the likes of which I've never seen. So I tweeted:

Ninety Thousand rabid nutters making a sea of yellow and black. I mean I can even imagine what it would be like if Richmond ever got good...

So I'm sorry Hawks fans but yesterday was my karmic comeuppance. The worst thing is what I was trying to say is that like Dortmund, Richmond have a wonderful, passionate supporter base just waiting for a premiership contending team they can get fully behind. From what I saw yesterday, it may only be so far away.

Mind you, no AFL club's support can hold a candle to what I experienced over there. When we first watched Dortmund play an away match in the amazing Olympiastadion in Berlin we were told that thirty thousand Dortmund supporters had made the trek North to watch their beloved top-of-the-ladder side play a team placed 17th in the table.

Collingwood have a very special fan base, but thirty thousand of them are not getting on a train to go watch Greater Western Sydney play anytime soon.

The view from the "Jesse Owens Allee". This photo doesn't do the sea of fans justice.

And that would only ring true if it were the mere thirty thousand who went. I think they exaggerated the claim somewhat. It appeared to me to be closer to forty thousand.

This one, however, just might.

In any event, the experience of eighty thousand supporters in a veritable football cathedral all singing and dancing and only so fussed with the final result is something I won't ever forget. There is nothing, nothing in Australian sport that could ever compare with it. This is not to deride Aussie Rules Footy or Cricket or whichever sport is the poison of your choice, Australian sport has its own uniqueness that cannot be found elsewhere. It's just that this was something else entirely.

Does your team have its own Monopoly game? Can you see the AFL releasing its own drinking game?

But there is one thing us Aussie neanderthals can teach our cultured European brethren. The chant of "Wir wird Deutscher Meisters! (We are German Champions) Bey Vey Bey Borussia!" is wonderfully spine tingling when heard the first time, a little tired by the 176th rendition. So my tribute to Borussia Dortmund football club is to give them a real song and as every footy fan knows, Richmond have the best club song in the AFL, so here is my tribute to them as well. Apologies in advance...

Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund's home ground. Less a football stadium, more a place of worship.

"Oh we're from Dortmund land

we're fighting für ja and we're Dortmund fans

in rotten weather you will see us shiverin'

guards on both our shins

if scores are tied then nevermind

sometimes we score and win oh we're from Dortmund land

we never give up 'til the final whistle blows

like the kaisers of old,

we're damn bloody cold but we're from Dortmund

YELLOW AND BLACK

oh we're from Dortmund land" 

Borussia Dortmund FC. Deutscher Meisters 2010-11 and 2011-12.