Bethel - Black, white and blue passion with the Arminenschmiede

A team poster, pennants and scarves hang on the walls and a jersey dangles from the cupboard. All in the colours black, white and blue. Anyone who visits Rainer Wollenburg in his home in Bielefeld immediately realises: here, on Gadderbaumer Straße, lives someone whose heart beats for Arminia Bielefeld. The man, who works at the Kracks workshop in Bethel, has been living out his passion for the football club in the Arminenschmiede for many years.

"I've been an Arminia fan since I was at school," says Rainer Wollenburg, now 59 years old. Back then, he lived on Hardenbergstraße in the west of Bielefeld and heard the "Roar" on match days, the cheers of the spectators in the stadium, which was still called the "Alm" back then. It wasn't long before the young Rainer Wollenburg was attending home games himself. The Arminia fever that gripped him back then has stayed with him ever since. The tall, soft-spoken man has travelled through the leagues with DSC over the past few decades, experiencing all the ups and downs. He has celebrated and suffered.

He now experiences Arminia in the Bethel Arminenschmiede community. The inclusive fan club was founded in 2004 and Rainer Wollenburg has been part of it since the beginning. Highlights for him in recent years have included travelling with the Schmiede to the professionals' winter training camps in Turkey and Spain.

"We stay in the same hotel as the team, and there's always a fan evening where you can have a nice chat with the players," says Rainer Wollenburg, listing his favourite things about these days abroad. Visits to training sessions and test matches also allow him to get very close to the team, provided the coronavirus allows it. Rainer Wollenburg has taken one Arminian in particular to his heart - but it's not a player or coach. "I know Rainer Schonz, the kit man," he says, "he's very nice."

Rainer Wollenburg is an active person, he enjoys playing table tennis and regularly plays for the Integra Bielefeld club. He is also involved in Bethel's integrative public relations work: Rainer Wollenburg accompanies information events and guided tours and answers questions from visitors to Bethel.

Rainer Wollenburg has been travelling to work by bus for 36 years. "I grind and mill barbecue tongs," he says. Rainer Wollenburg has already worked on a wide variety of models. He particularly likes the ones with Arminia lettering, of course.

Text: Philipp Kreutzer | Photo: Christian Weische