A great card of football terminology (in German). The sender in a Bayern Munich fan.  Bocholt is located 4 km from the border of Netherlands. It was first mentioned in documents in 779, when Charlemagne won a battle against the Saxons nearby. Today it is a city of over 70 000 people and is mainly a manufacturing town. Textiles are a main industry, but is declining. It is a leading manufacturer of transmissions for wind energy plants. Industries here are smaller and manufacture highly specialized products.  Bicycles are the norm here and the bicycle network is vast and convenient. In 2005 and 2006, Bocholt was named "most bicycle-friendly city in Germany" (for cities of less than 100 000 people. 

Lehre became Lehre on 10 June 888 and it consists of eight surrounding villages - Beienrode, Essehof, Essenrode, Flechtorf,  Groß Brunsrode, Klein Brunsrode, Wendehausen, and Lehre.  Of interest to me is August Hermann, who was born in Lehre. Hermann was a German physical education instructor. It was he and Konrad Koch who introduced association football to Germany from England in 1874. In Germany he is also known a Braunschweig (Father of Physical Education).  Hermann became a school teacher in Dresden. He was a big proponent of exercise and physical education. He began inter school football competitions. He also brought cricket to Germany, and, when he found out about basketball, introduced it as well. It took a couple of more decades for basketball to catch on. Hermann also invented a number of sports and set up a gymnastics training school in  Wolfenbüttel.  Hermann died in Braunschweig on 20 February 1906 at the age of 70.

A great football card from the send. Football, of course, is the most popular sport in Germany. The men have won the FIFA World Cup four times, and the women twice. Germany always seems to be a favourite to take the title every tournament.  Bergkamen is a town of about 50 000 people. It is a new town, founded in 1966, when five smaller communities were merged into one.  The local football team is TuRa Bergkamen. They started out in the Amateurliga Westfalen from 1948-62. Today they play in the Kreisliga A (IX) (lowest division of German football). 

Braunschweig, Brunswick in Low German, is a city of ancient origins and home to about a quarter of a million people. It was founded in the 9th century and was a powerful and influential centre of commerce in medieval Germany. It is the second largest city in Lower Saxony, and a major centre of scientific research and development.  The first ever game of football in Germany was played in Braunschweig in 1874 between students of Konrad Koch's school, Martino-Katherneum. Koch, and his colleague August Hermann organized the game. Koch was the first to write down the laws of football in Germany.