In the 2nd round of the Oberliga Niederrhein, WSV finally showed what they are capable of. It was a “regional derby” against SSVg Velbert, for supremacy in the Bergische Land. And of course Velbert is now under patronage of Friedhelm Runge, who was WSV boss for some 21 years. (The chief sponsor, Runge’s company EMKA, is actually based in Velbert, so it’s actually not too illogical.) Needless to say, Runge is not the most popular man in Wuppertal, as his “leadership” basically ruined the club. So there was some fear of poor fan behaviour, but in fact in turned out to be nothing. The only acknowledgement was the constant chant of “Nie wieder Runge!” (“Never again Runge”).

Some 2,500 fans showed up in Velbert, which is a pretty decent crowd for Oberliga standards. (If you look at numbers, the average club draws around 300 per game, although for WSV it’s usually closer to 2,000).

This turned out to be a dominant WSV performance, as they shook off their horrible opener against Sonsbeck and crushed Velbert 4-0, perhaps one of the best performances in over a year. However, it’s too early to say what team is the “real” WSV, since they’ve sucked for so long, you never know what to expect.

If you’re interested, highlights and interviews on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwuAkBq0StQ. They did screw up the microphone on the interviews, but this is the Oberliga Niederrhein, not the Premier League, so cut them some slack. Not quite “Match of the Day” quality. Perhaps some day “WSV-TV” will be right up there with those crappy “Milan-TV” or “Barca-TV” shows…certainly more interesting!