Corny Littmann is the only openly gay figure in the German soccer world
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The Homophobic World of Football – Taboos on the Pitch
Dagmar Giersberg, goethe.de
Against all the odds professional football seems to be the only section of society in which there are no homosexuals. The fact however that nobody has come out can be put down to the extremely homophobic mood prevailing in this domain of the alpha-male.
Ever since Klaus Wowereit ,the Governing Mayor of Berlin, became the first leading politician in Germany to publicly announce with his famous words "I am gay – and that’s the way it is!", coming out in Germany has become much easier. Yet what these days might be considered to be a matter of course in the realm of culture and politics would shake the macho world of football to its very foundations.
Football – the last great taboo zone
According to statistics 10 to 15 per cent of Germans are either gay or lesbian. In terms of figures this means that there would have to be a whole bunch of gay men playing football in the German football leagues. Up to now however not a single one of the 800 players in German professional football has come out. (συνέχεια στο σχόλιο 1)
The Homophobic World of Football – Taboos on the Pitch
Dagmar Giersberg, goethe.de
Against all the odds professional football seems to be the only section of society in which there are no homosexuals. The fact however that nobody has come out can be put down to the extremely homophobic mood prevailing in this domain of the alpha-male.
Ever since Klaus Wowereit ,the Governing Mayor of Berlin, became the first leading politician in Germany to publicly announce with his famous words "I am gay – and that’s the way it is!", coming out in Germany has become much easier. Yet what these days might be considered to be a matter of course in the realm of culture and politics would shake the macho world of football to its very foundations.
Football – the last great taboo zone
According to statistics 10 to 15 per cent of Germans are either gay or lesbian. In terms of figures this means that there would have to be a whole bunch of gay men playing football in the German football leagues. Up to now however not a single one of the 800 players in German professional football has come out. (συνέχεια στο σχόλιο 1)
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Germany's Gay Soccer Players Stuck Firmly in the Closet
Sonia Phalnikar
Politicians, pop stars and artists coming out of the closet hardly raise eyebrows in Germany. But it's an entirely different ballgame on the soccer field, where being openly gay remains strictly taboo.
German professional soccer hasn't seen a gay player to date. At least not officially. That isn't because there aren't any, but because they've decided keeping their sexuality hidden is preferable to the career-ending scorn, ridicule and even physical danger they would face if they came out of the closet.
That was the bottom line of a cover story by the popular German soccer magazine RUND last month which interviewed players who kept their homosexuality tightly under wraps. (συνέχεια στο σχόλιο 2)
Sonia Phalnikar
Politicians, pop stars and artists coming out of the closet hardly raise eyebrows in Germany. But it's an entirely different ballgame on the soccer field, where being openly gay remains strictly taboo.
German professional soccer hasn't seen a gay player to date. At least not officially. That isn't because there aren't any, but because they've decided keeping their sexuality hidden is preferable to the career-ending scorn, ridicule and even physical danger they would face if they came out of the closet.
That was the bottom line of a cover story by the popular German soccer magazine RUND last month which interviewed players who kept their homosexuality tightly under wraps. (συνέχεια στο σχόλιο 2)
The Homophobic World of Football – Taboos on the Pitch
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήDagmar Giersberg, goethe.de
Against all the odds professional football seems to be the only section of society in which there are no homosexuals. The fact however that nobody has come out can be put down to the extremely homophobic mood prevailing in this domain of the alpha-male.
Ever since Klaus Wowereit ,the Governing Mayor of Berlin, became the first leading politician in Germany to publicly announce with his famous words "I am gay – and that’s the way it is!", coming out in Germany has become much easier. Yet what these days might be considered to be a matter of course in the realm of culture and politics would shake the macho world of football to its very foundations.
Football – the last great taboo zone
According to statistics 10 to 15 per cent of Germans are either gay or lesbian. In terms of figures this means that there would have to be a whole bunch of gay men playing football in the German football leagues. Up to now however not a single one of the 800 players in German professional football has come out.
The reason for this is quite simple – "A player just would not be able to take the social pressure if he were to come out," says Corny Littmann, President of the FC St. Pauli club and a practising homosexual. This leads to many professional footballers leading a very difficult double life. Many of them are married, others always appear at club celebrations or are seen in public in the company of a pseudo-girlfriend – and do all they can to avoid arousing suspicion.
The reason – coming out is absolute poison for a career in football. Nobody would ever dare to, because the first player to come out in over 40 years of German league football would have to face a media feeding frenzy, not to mention animosity from his team-mates, fans and opponents. "It would most definitely be a year of pure hell for him – both home and away," as former international, Jens Todt, sees it.
Homosexuals as the bogeymen
"Queer" is not only one of worst insults used on the stands in the football stadiums, but also the one heard most often. "The tenor in whole sections of the stands is so homophobic," explains Martin Endemann, a spokesperson for Bündniss aktiver Fußballfans/BAFF (Alliance of Active Football Fans). "If the German football association were to add homophobia to its list of punishable offences, it would have to close down almost every league stadium and abandon every second game."
For such a long time however the German Football Association seems to have been ignoring this form of discrimination. "Football seems to be the only cultural sphere that has developed no awareness of the subject," comments Oliver Lück, the deputy editor-in-chief of the German football magazine, Rund.
Tatjana Eggeling, who is doing research into the topic of "Homosexuality in Sport" at the University of Göttingen, views homophobia like this, "As sport is such a close-contact activity, it is the unknown, the alien, that triggers so much fear. And it is this fear that causes such an aggressive and intolerant reaction."
"But what the people in the stadiums with all their homophobic ranting and raving are so afraid of remains a mystery to me," says Oliver Lück. "A common cliché says that the game of football is too tough for gays." In 1981 FIFA banned players from kissing each other on the pitch – maybe after scoring a goal - for "it was unmanly, exaggeratedly emotional and therefore not the done thing." Football is obviously the last remaining place where machismo is still alive and kicking.
As silent as the grave
It is above all the gay and lesbian football fan clubs that are beginning to counteract this. The first of its kind – the "Hertha-Junxx"- was set up in August 2001. In the meantime others have come into being in Bielefeld, Dortmund, Dresden, Hamburg, Mainz, Munich and Stuttgart. You can see them in the stadiums waving their rainbow flags as a challenge to the antigay atmosphere.
The reason why discrimination against gays in the world of football has been able to take such a hold can mainly be put down to the fact that the associations, clubs and the fans tend to keep quiet about it and act as if it were not there. Most of the German league clubs as well as the players are extremely sensitive when it come to answering any questions on the subject. Statements like "That’s a hot potato on which I have nothing to say", made by German international, Christoph Metzelder, are quite common. For Tatjana Eggeling the reason is quite obvious – "People will think I am gay, if I support the gays."
The first glimmer of hope
After hearing all this it may come as no surprise that only a few clubs attended the first evening meeting of the "Campaign against Homophobia in German Football" that was organised by the European Gay & Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF), BAFF and Rund in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on 12th October 2007.
The fact that the DFB (German Football Association) had taken part in the panel discussion was seen as a quite definite positive sign. Helmut Spahn, the safety officer and head of the Task Force against Violence, Racism and Xenophobia, made the following statement, "We have realised we have a problem and we are going to deal with it." At the moment the DFB is revising the stadium rules and regulations for Germany in such a way that discrimination of any kind will be outlawed. This will mean that antigay comments on the stands will be punishable – as is already the case in England.
What would really be of great benefit – more than a list of punishable offences – would be a clear show of solidarity on the part of the top football stars, as they have been doing for quite some time in the fight against racism and violence. Of course, if one of the stars were to come out, that would bring about a sea change. "I would never advise a player to come out alone," says Corny Littmann. "In the world of German professional football it would have to take a group of at least 20 players to get together and announce they were gay." Yet in German football it seems that we are going to have to wait a long time for that to happen.
Germany's Gay Soccer Players Stuck Firmly in the Closet
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήSonia Phalnikar
Politicians, pop stars and artists coming out of the closet hardly raise eyebrows in Germany. But it's an entirely different ballgame on the soccer field, where being openly gay remains strictly taboo.
German professional soccer hasn't seen a gay player to date. At least not officially. That isn't because there aren't any, but because they've decided keeping their sexuality hidden is preferable to the career-ending scorn, ridicule and even physical danger they would face if they came out of the closet.
That was the bottom line of a cover story by the popular German soccer magazine RUND last month which interviewed players who kept their homosexuality tightly under wraps.
"Soccer is still unbelievably backward when it comes to homosexuality. Gays on the pitch remain a huge taboo," said Rainer Schäfer, chief editor at RUND, who spent two years researching the topic and winning the trust of two gay players in the two highest German soccer leagues. They eventually agreed to tell their stories provided they remained anonymous.
Creating a 'normal' image
Both spoke of going to great lengths to hide their sexuality from their clubs, managers and teammates and living in constant fear of being discovered.
One player, who is married, said even his wife had no idea he was gay and that he was involved in a long-term relationship with a childhood friend. "But what am I to do? Coming out would mean death," he was quoted as saying in the article.
The other gay player profiled said that a female friend in the know often accompanied him to club celebrations and parties to give the impression that he was straight.
Clubs also sometimes step in if gay rumors persistently circulate around a player. They usually enlist PR agencies to create a "normal" heterosexual image for the player, which includes parading hired models and kids around the players during publicity events.
"Constructing a fake identity and an elaborate web of lies takes a heavy toll on the players and doesn't make it easier for them to focus on their game," said Schäfer, who added he was taken aback by how widespread homophobia continued to be in the soccer world.
Germany, in fact, is considered fairly liberal regarding gay rights. Same-sex unions are legal here and it's not unusual to see high-profile personalities open about their sexuality. Berlin's mayor, for example, is gay and appears at functions with his partner.
Macho attitudes
Though there are no figures on the number of gay players in Germany, Tatjana Eggeling from the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology at the University of Göttingen said she estimated there were about 30 in the top two leagues.
That guess is based on statistics that say around 5 to 10 percent of the adult population in Germany is gay or lesbian.
Eggeling added that a combination of macho attitudes and prejudices is to blame for the enduring gay taboo in soccer.
"Sport is one of the most conservative fields in society. It's still dominated by men and 19th century values such as honor and bravery as male virtues," said Eggeling. "Soccer doesn't allow you to be different."
She pointed out that being homosexual was often equated in sport with being effeminate and weak -- a view that is perpetuated in soccer clubs with players calling their colleagues "pansy" or "fag" the moment they show any weakness.
Learning from Britain?
Apart from the straights-only attitude within clubs, some say homophobia in stadiums -- in the form of chanting and jeering -- remains a problem that hasn't been taken seriously in Germany by either the clubs or the German Soccer Association (DFB).
Many point to Britain as an example of a country that has taken steps to address the problem. In 2001, the Football Association -- four years after the suicide of Britain's only openly gay player, Justin Fashanu -- changed its charter, which imposed penalties for sexually discriminatory behavior. Recently two Norwich City fans were sentenced to time in jail for violating those rules.
But a spokesman for the DFB who declined to be named said the German association's charter did not penalize sexually discriminatory behavior and said he did not see why it needed to.
Some say it's this refusal by the authorities to even acknowledge there is a problem that makes it difficult for gay players to come out of the closet. Things are made worse by straight players often refusing to acknowledge publicly that they have gay teammates.
"It would be a big help if heterosexual players would stand up and say 'I have a gay colleague on the team and he plays great soccer, that's it,'" said Eggeling.
"As things stand now, I wouldn't advise a single German soccer player to come out because it would be just too much of a risk for him, both for his career and personal life," she said.
Corny Littmann, president of Hamburg's St. Pauli club and the only openly gay figure on Germany's soccer circuit, told German news agency dpa last year he did not expect any player to come out anytime soon.
"If one did come out, there would be a media frenzy. I don't know how a 20- or 25-year-old would handle it," Littmann said, adding the player would be the target of abuse both on and off the pitch. "Being gay just frightens people."
"Soccer is everything, even gay"
So far even the handful of gay and lesbian fan clubs attached to the Bundesliga has been unable to put an end to homophobic behavior in stadiums.
Gerd Eiserbeck, a member of Hertha Junxx -- the first gay and lesbian Bundesliga fan club in Germany -- said that though their debut in 2001 had initially led to some "verbal confrontation" between ostensibly straight Hertha BSC fans and gay fans, they were now largely accepted. Even their rainbow-colored banner reading "Soccer is everything, even gay," is tolerated in Berlin's Olympia stadium, said Eiserbeck.
"But we still don't travel to away games," he said. "That's too risky because we don't know how the opposing fans will react."
More discussion needed
Despite the odds, some believe that pushing the topic into the public consciousness and keeping it there will eventually create enough pressure on the DFB to deal with it.
"Remember that's exactly what happened with racism. The DFB eventually gave in to the campaigns and imposed harsh penalties for racist behavior," said Schäfer.
"The same could happen with homophobia, hopefully."
αν δεν κανω λαθος, ειχε κανει ενα αφιερωμα το "Κ" πριν κανενα χρονο στην St. Pauli και στην ιστορια της.απο εκει την εμαθα και εγω και εκτοτε δηλωνα fun της στη Bundesliga :-)
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήντροπη μου, αλλα δεν ηξερα πως ο προεδρος ηταν gay, και μου κανει εντυπωση πως ο χωρος αυτος ειναι ακομη τοσο ομοφοβικος...
υπαρχει και ελληνικος συνδεσμος φιλαθλων της St. Pauli.
θα ειχε ενδιαφερον να μαθουμε πως αντιμετωπιζουν το gay ζητημα οι ελληνες φιλαθλοι lol
Το lgbtdar σου λειτουργεί άψογα.
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήΣυγχαρητήρια! :)