Women's football: Chased out of Hoeschpark – celebrated at San Siro | OneFootball

“Ekki, can you save it?” Renate Breß asks cheekily. Breß shoots. Ekki saves. Admittedly, the ten-meter shot wasn't much of a test for Ekkehard “Ekki” Brach. But it's also true that Renate Breß is already a proud 88 years old. Whenever Breß sees a football, she has to play with it. Today just as much as in the old days. A true football enthusiast. In 1955, at the age of 17, she was the co-founder of the women's football club Fortuna Dortmund – even though the German Football Association (DFB) banned all women's teams from playing football that same year. “Today we're very proud that we persevered. We could have stayed home, but we wanted to play,” says Renate Breß, who was still called Müller back then.

Breß and Fortuna Dortmund paved the way for the success of the BVB women's football team. On this November Monday, the former left-back not only watches the BVB women's training session but afterwards recounts the resistance and challenges she faced in the 1950s. A little time later, in the meeting room, 19 young professional female footballers listen with great interest to what the pioneer has to say – in Hoeschpark, no less. “They chased us away with walking sticks. We weren't allowed to stay anywhere because they couldn't understand that women also wanted to play football,” Breß reveals.

But the women of Fortuna Dortmund were unstoppable. Their love and passion for the game were greater than any obstacle. Necessity was the mother of invention, even 70 years ago: “We made balls out of fabric and kicked them around in the street or even in some old man's garden.” When a training ground was finally found in Schwerte, the late training time again demanded ingenuity. “I always borrowed my father's moped to get to training; others were driven there by car. The cars were then positioned so that the headlights served as floodlights,” Breß describes the training sessions at the time.

Noreen Günnewig, a 24-year-old midfielder, raves after the extraordinary visit: "Renate shaped football and is a very inspiring woman.” She also participated in over 150 unofficial women's international matches between 1956 and 1965. “We were in Holland, Belgium, France, and Italy. The game in Milan at the San Siro was certainly the absolute highlight,” says Renate Breß, passing around two heavy albums. Just moments before, everyone listened in complete silence, but suddenly, enthusiastic whispers erupt. The albums are filled with numerous photos, match reports, tickets, and newspaper clippings, and passages about “braided Miss Müller” are carefully underlined.

It’s history that you can actually touch. That also applies to her heavy football boots from back then. “Compared to these, you're all playing in ballet slippers today,” says Breß, unable to suppress a mischievous grin. And the purchase of the appropriate playing kit back then is something unimaginable today. “We got our kit from the Wiethoff sports shop and had to pay it off in installments of two German Marks a month. It took us years,” the pensioner recalls. While nowadays “equal pay” is being discussed, back then “money wasn't an issue at all, according to Breß. We just wanted to play. After a few years, we got ten marks for away games so we could buy something to drink at service stations.”

“An impressive woman,” says Rita Schumacher (25), adding: “She loves the sport and fought so hard for it. This has really shown me that it is not something to take for granted, the advantages we now enjoy and the fact that we can even earn our living with football.”

In 1965, Fortuna Dortmund was dissolved “amid tears”. “We were all around 30, and there were no new players because women's football was banned. So we called it quits,” Renate Breß recounts about the end of a memorable decade. “For years, I wondered why Borussia Dortmund didn't have a women's team,” she adds critically. She is very glad, however, that something has finally been done about it.

After nearly an hour, all the questions have been answered, the albums have been passed around, and as a thank you, captain Paula Reimann (23) presents a signed home jersey. “Are you all crazy? Thank you so much!” the overwhelmed pioneer exclaimed. Only seconds later, she discusses the Westphalia Cup match against their local rivals from a few days earlier which BVB lost: “Next time, I want Schalke to be beaten again.”

Two weeks later, the top match against the U21 team of 1. FC Köln was on the schedule. At the invitation of BVB, Renate Breß and her good friend Ekkehard Brach were visiting the Rote Erde Stadium for the first time. Sporting a BVB women's fan scarf, she watched as the Black & Yellows miss their chance to take the top spot in the table after a 1-1 draw, remaining three points behind Köln. The Regionalliga championship would be a tough road. But if the story of Renate Breß and Fortuna Dortmund has taught us anything, it's to never give up and to fight for our goals and dreams.

Author: Danny Fritz Photos: Eileen Doeker

This text is from the members' magazine BORUSSIA. BVB members receive BORUSSIA free of charge every month. Click here for membership application.