In Germany’s Ruhrgebiet, football and Catholicism jostle for position as the most popular creed. The most-densely populated area of Germany, finds itself suitably packed with football clubs - with the most successful being the Champions League winning Borussia Dortmund. February 2026 saw SGS finally meet this footballing powerhouse, with much to be learned on both sides about how to play the beautiful game.

Monday was taken up almost exclusively by the journey - an excruciating 13 hour coach drive starting at 3:30 AM. Having made good progress up to Belgium, we found ourselves stuck in a two hour traffic jam outside of Antwerp. Tuesday saw us pay two trips to the Signal Iduna Park - Borussia Dortmund’s home ground - for a training session and the Champions League tie against Atalanta, with a trip to the museum and club shop snuck in after training. I’m not joking when I say this was one of the best experiences of my life: training in the daytime in front of an empty stadium and then returning in the evening to sing You’ll Never Walk Alone with 75,000 in attendance was unbelievable. The limbs when Guirassy opened the scoring after 2 minutes weren’t bad either.

Following the highs of Tuesday, we awoke for a similarly busy Wednesday, including a training session at FC Koln, go karting and a match. Muscle soreness was beginning to set in, even inducing an unprecedented cooldown after training. Having watched a shocking Blunt bottom two in the go-karting, we were driven to our matches. All games were eventful: the 3rd XI lost 5-0; the 1sts 4-2; and the 2nds drew 2-2. Considering our makeshift keeper Timmy got lobbed directly from kickoff, the 2nds did well to get a draw. Meanwhile, the 1sts got clipped when an opposing player rainbow-flicked the ball over two defenders in the build up to a goal. The Tiktok is on over 2 million views.

Thursday began with some free time before a tour of the Signal Iduna Park, with which we were becoming very well acquainted. The more cultured among us took the opportunity to pay a visit to the Marienkirche - which Wikipedia tells me is Dortmund’s oldest surviving church - although they first had to brave the bitter cold which had gripped the city overnight. We then mustered in the lobby at midday and headed once more to Borussia Dortmund’s stadium for our tour. Having sat opposite it on Tuesday night, it was incredible to stand in the 25,000 capacity Yellow Wall - and even more incredible to find a Middlesbrough F.C. sticker there. The unpretentiousness of the dressing rooms was made up for by the cells round the back of the stadium, where the German police bang up fans stirring up trouble. Following the tour, the three XIs again travelled to their second games. We in the 2nds were level 1-1 at the break, but struggled in the second half on what must have been the biggest pitch in Germany - eventually falling to a 6-1 defeat. The 3rds’ succumbed to the same fate, and it appeared that the 1sts would too; they trailed 4-2 in the second half. Yet an incredible hat trick from Eric turned the game in their favour, earning them a 5-4 win, provoking wild celebrations, and finishing the trip on a high.

The coach ride back to London was maybe the funniest 10 hours of my life, but seen as there’s still the Suttonian article for the trip to come I won’t spoil any of it. Big shout out to the two heroes who got us through the trip: REWE Base Camp, described by Nirvana as the ‘German Lidl’ (he clearly doesn’t know where Lidl’s from) and our coach driver Colin, without whom we wouldn’t have got anywhere.

Roddy D, 12GA