International relationship Newcastle / Gelsenkirchen

[Hintermann 3]

Lads and lasses,

 

for a report for the fan newspaper "Schalke Unser" https://schalke-unser.de/, a Schalke 04 fan magazine, I am starting a report on the city partnership of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gelsenkirchen which is celebrating its 75th anniversary next year. This report is mainly about this partnership, the clubs Schalke 04 and Newcastle United as well as portraits of fans of both clubs should appear there in the margins. For this report I would like to ask you a few questions.

 

Which NUFC fan clubs in England or in Germany have relationships with fans in Gelsenkirchen or Schalke-Fanclubs in the UK or Germany? Is there a NUFC Fanclub in Germany? Who is going to watch Schalke 04 matches?

 

Who has been in Gelsenkirchen before? I am thinking of economic and cultural cooperations as well as with linked educational institutions? Here I am thinking in particular of student / pupil exchange programs.

 

There are Schalke fan friendships with Nuremberg and Twente, what are the NUFC fans' efforts to establish friendships with Schalke and are there any NUFC fans to establish friendship with Schalke? Were there any in the past?

 

How is the partnership between the cities anchored in the minds of the fans?

 

Where in the Toon will you find signs of the twinning of the cities (e.g. advertising, distance signs)?

 

In 2014 NUFC (with Malaga, West Ham) was invited to Schalke Day. Many Newcastle fans have fond memories of the city and the Schalke fan scene. Why has nothing else been established in view of the town twinning?

 

Schalke is a district of Gelsenkirchen. How well known is that in Newcastle, in England and the NUFC fan scene particularly?

 

What are NUFC's biggest rivals (Scumberland, i guess)? And friends? How did that come?

 

A few words about me: 53 years old, working as an assistant editor at the Evangelischer Pressedienst (epd, a news agency) in Frankfurt am Main, Schalke-Fan since I was ten years old. Father and sister born in Gelsenkirchen. NUFC fan and in love with the Toon since 1991.
In this report, I want to present the partnership in a benevolent manner with a view to establish and expand relationships, because both cities and the football clubs are very important to me.

Thank you for your replies and I am very interested in further exchanges.

 

Cheers,

Howay the Lads,

Glückauf,

 

Rainer Hollenstein

--

Rainer Hollenstein

60385 Frankfurt am Main

 

 

Edited September 4, 2022 by Hintermann

[Monkeys Fist 42449]

[ewerk 30611]

Lukas Ramsauer is the man you want to speak to.

[OTF 7295]

@Isegrim is our German relations officer.

[Monkeys Fist 42449]

Genuinely, I was not aware we were twin cities, nor that we had been since 1947. 
I’m 54, and I’d say that I’m very much pro-Europe, but this just isn’t common knowledge here? 
Most people are aware of our relationship with Bergen in Norway, mainly due to the annual gift of massive Christmas tree from there. 
Obviously we’ve played Schalke in pre-season friendlies, and this now makes more sense 

 

I can’t recall seeing a “city sign” with our twinning anywhere in the city, and given that we’re twinned with 9 cities, it’d be a pretty big sign, so you’d think it’d be noticeable? 
 

 

[Monkeys Fist 42449]

8 minutes ago, OTF said:

@Isegrim is our German relations officer.

Also paging @Meenzer, your time to shine. 

[PaddockLad 17262]

I think it was the coal initially

[Gemmill 44881]

I thought it was South Shields that was twinned with Gelsenkirchen? I remember there being signs around when I was a kid. 

[Monkeys Fist 42449]

You a sand dancer Gemmill? 

[NJS 4386]

2 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

I thought it was South Shields that was twinned with Gelsenkirchen? I remember there being signs around when I was a kid. 

Wuppertal was Shields. 

[Monkeys Fist 42449]

Wuppertal always sounds like a shite 1940s comedian’s catchphrase. 

[Rayvin 5223]

Also had no idea about this, but will start paying more attention to Schalke from now on

[Gemmill 44881]

10 minutes ago, Monkeys Fist said:

You a sand dancer Gemmill? 

 

Born in Beverley. Moved to South Shields at about 6 weeks old. That's where my mam's from. Dad is Cornish. 

 

It's what makes me such an exotic enticing mix to the opposite sex. 

[trophyshy 7083]

I’ve been to Wuppertal.  Fucked if I can remember why.  

[wykikitoon 20145]

You're a Yorkshire lad then? 😂 

[Monkeys Fist 42449]

4 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

 

Born in Beverley. Moved to South Shields at about 6 weeks old. That's where my mam's from. Dad is Cornish. 

 

It's what makes me such an exotic enticing mix to the opposite sex. 

Sorry, I don’t speak Yorkshire- can anyone translate this gibberish? 

[Gemmill 44881]

I'm a global sensation. 

[Hintermann 3]

15 minutes ago, Monkeys Fist said:

Wuppertal always sounds like a shite 1940s comedian’s catchphrase. 

😄 Such like "Ohne Wupper wär hier nur ein Tal" (Without Wupper there would only be a valley here). It's very funny as a football chant on away match in the Wuppertaler SV stadium.

[Renton 21626]

Schalke lad, give us a massive Christmas Tree then we'll talk. NOT this one though.

 

 

[Meenzer 15527]

I think Newcastle's level of official engagement with the twin town relationship varies depending on who's in power on the city council and how much funding is available for that kind of thing (which isn't much nowadays, since there are more pressing priorities locally). For example, a delegation from Gelsenkirchen council came to Newcastle for the Bobby Robson Trophy match in 2009 and there were football-related meetings between local officials as part of the same visit, e.g. so that Gelsenkirchen could advise on what it learned in 2006 that would be useful to Newcastle as a potential host city for the 2018 World Cup.

Anecdotally, I get the feeling that the intensity of such twin town relationships tends to rise and fall with the personal interests and contacts of the people in charge at the respective city councils at any given time - which is why they fluctuate over time, and one reason why there probably isn't as much focus on the twin town relationship with Gelsenkirchen right now. But I'm writing this from London so obviously there might be things happening that I'm not aware of.

 

I've never been to Gelsenkirchen myself, but a few years ago I had a nice chat about our cities' shared industrial heritage with an old boy from Gelsenkirchen at the top of the Tetraeder in Bottrop (this is not a euphemism). I'm not sure that counts as the partnership being especially anchored in anyone's minds, but it's a story, anyway.  

[Hintermann 3]

7 minutes ago, Meenzer said:

Anecdotally, I get the feeling that the intensity of such twin town relationships tends to rise and fall with the personal interests and contacts of the people in charge at the respective city councils at any given time - which is why they fluctuate over time, and one reason why there probably isn't as much focus on the twin town relationship with Gelsenkirchen right now. But I'm writing this from London so obviously there might be things happening that I'm not aware of.

 

I've never been to Gelsenkirchen myself, but a few years ago I had a nice chat about our cities' shared industrial heritage with an old boy from Gelsenkirchen at the top of the Tetraeder in Bottrop (this is not a euphemism). I'm not sure that counts as the partnership being especially anchored in anyone's minds, but it's a story, anyway.  

That definately counts.

 

In 2013 in Newcastle's civic center there still was a showcase with a presentation plate from Gelsenkirchen with a coat of arms that had already faded; after a renovation I didn't find this showcase again when i was visiting Newcastle in August this year. There is probably still a plaque of the city in the depths of the building.

[Hintermann 3]

27 minutes ago, Renton said:

Schalke lad, give us a massive Christmas Tree then we'll talk. NOT this one though.

 

 

 

 

Ehm, really? Have you seen Gelsenkirchen's christmas tree? Google it. 😁

[Monkeys Fist 42449]

27 minutes ago, Meenzer said:

an old boy from Gelsenkirchen at the top of the Tetraeder in Bottrop (this is not a euphemism)

It is now. 

[trophyshy 7083]

I can feel the fewm about this from here. 

[Rayvin 5223]

Aye, supporters of Schalke are going to wake up soon to find they've actually been in a previously unknown but deeply intense 30-40 year relationship with Sunderland based on a Schalke fan once having a pint with a mackem who he probably mistook for a Stoke supporter.