The Fourth Sunday of Advent

In November 1901, the Catholic youth confraternity "Dreifaltigkeit" ("The Holy Trinity") was founded as the youth wing of the parish of the same name in Flurstraße in the north-east of Dortmund. The church had recently come into being due to an influx of Polish workers, and served to integrate the immigrants in a predominantly Protestant Dortmund. 

The members of the confraternity were mainly young steelworkers and miners who not only took part in the doings of the church, but who also actively participated in sport, especially gymnastics and track and field athletics. However, football was also being regularly played on the fields and meadows around Borgisplatz by 1906 at the latest. Chaplain Hubert Dewald became chairman of the youth confraternity in the same year, and railed energetically against both the "crude" and "wild activity" on the football pitch, and the cultural side of the game that surrounded it.

Consequently, he began to hold additional prayers on Sunday afternoons in order to prevent the playing of football, and demanded that the footballers no longer hold their meetings in the "Zum Wildschütz" inn ("The Poacher") in Oesterholzstraße 60, but rather in the Pius church hall. 

The escalating conflict between the leadership of the confraternity and the young sportsmen ultimately resulted in the grounding of Borussia. On 19 December 1909, the fourth Sunday of Advent, around 50 members of the confraternity met in a side room in "The Poacher" to discuss the foundation of a club independent from the church.

During the meeting, separation from the parish was robustly debated. A few of the participants left the sitting after about an hour, and informed chaplain Dewald about the imminent foundation of the club. The clergyman was soon at the alehouse to the end of breaking up the meeting, but was denied entry.

The 18 remaining persons – Franz and Paul Braun, Heinrich Cleve, Hans Debest, Paul Dziendzielle, Franz, Julius and Wilhelm Jacobi, Hans Kahn, Gustav Müller, Franz Risse, Fritz Schulte, Hans Siebold, August Tönnesmann, Heinrich and Robert Unger, Fritz Weber as well as Franz Wendt established the club that same evening.

After chaplain Dewald had accused the Borussia members of splitting the Holy Trinity parish during the service held on Christmas Eve and thrown them out of the confraternity, a few of the founding members decided to leave the club, but Borussia remained intact. Heinrich Unger became the first chairman, though stood down from the position soon after in the middle of 1910. After a six-week long interregnum during which Franz Risse served as interim chairman, Franz Jacobi succeeded him, and led the club until 1923. (br)