Marcus Urban

Making her gibfootballshow debut is – She tells us of the problem and the actions surrounding homophobia in German football culture.

On the pitch there are 22 strong physical men. There are two teams, and on each, 10 kick the ball around the field, one stays between the posts. The whistle blows, a red card is given. But to what you may ask?

To homophobia.

A news story broke about a footballer who was fired from his club because he admitted being gay. Clubs do try hard to cover up such issues because it will harm both the player and club’s reputation. This is just one of the few and rarely talked about taboos in football. Being gay is equated to committing a crime of treason to the beautiful game. The game is played by real men, it is manly, and it is not for lily livered men. It is exclusive for pure men alone. But is that how you really define men? Male football players’ qualifications include that you can play football and male; so, if you put yourself in the gay category, you cannot play football. And if you do want to play, shut up about it. This has been the way football has faced the issue of homosexuality for years now. It is a stigma, it must not be spoken about, and it is shameful.

Archaic: a word that aptly describes football’s views on such issues.

It seems football wants to take things one step at a time, right now, they are fighting for racism in a perfunctory manner. Team captains reading aloud, pre-made anti-racism essays is not enough to stop racism, if that is the way football’s governing body is handling that issue then how well do you imagine they would do the much more sensitive issue of homosexuality? It is unfortunate, but so far, there are reasonable excuses for their disinclination. Gay, Faggot, Fairy, Poof, these words are the worst thing you can say about a football player, and it’s the lowest form of insult for them. An example of this happened during the 2010 world cup, a top footballers’ agent was reported to have called the German National Football team as a bunch of gays. This fiasco happened during the world cup, in criticism of the newer, lighter and elegant style of play of the German national team.

Some fear this may be the case for many years but somehow, it changed when prominent members of the German National Football team decided to speak out against homophobia. The Die Mannschaft captain himself, Phillip Lahm was awarded the Tolerantia prize last 2008 for being the first national football player to stand up against homophobia. But beyond that, he was also noted for saying it would be difficult for gay footballers to come out. He would accept them like any other team mate yes, but it will still be a trial to be exposed to more abuse from both fans and team mates. This opinion is shared by the national team’s goalkeeper Tim Wiese who anticipated the merciless taunts they would get from fans saying that football still remains to be a macho sport.

Mario Gomez, a striker from the national team also expressed his sentiments. He said that being gay should not be a taboo topic anymore and that the football gay community need a role model to come out and lead the fight for them. He cited examples of prominent gay members of the community vice-chancellor Guido Westerwelle and the Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit. Just recently, Germany’s number 1 goalkeeper Manuel Neuer followed suit and urged on gay footballers to come out. Neuer said that their sexual preference should not matter because what’s important is their performance on the pitch. These two players have a great intention but unlike Wiese and Lahm who saw the implications of being gay in football, Gomez and Neuer regretted to think of the torment the gay footballers might encounter.

Deutscher Fußball-Bund (“German Football League,” or DFB) also declared its support for gay players who want to come out. But they, too warned of the consequences. Even of homosexuals are accepted in the fields of politics, arts and culture, sports is a very different manner.  Tatjana Eggeling from the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology at the University of Göttingen is also of the same opinion saying that it’s a great risk for both personal and professional life and that soccer does not allow you to be different. Corny Littman the only openly gay figure in football who is also the president of Hamburg’s St.Pauli club said that soccer is everything, even gay but in football’s overall view regarding homophobia he does not expect any player to come out; “Being gay just frightens people”.

So far, the only German player to come out is Marcus Urban in 2006 . He was a rising star in German football but had to stop his career because life as an openly gay footballer became impossible He said it can be difficult but not impossible for players to come out. “One must bear in mind that many gays and lesbians are taken ill by the daily game of hiding and the social pressure they have to endure. Many suffer from depression; others are seriously affected by medical addictions. There is a prevalent sense of utter helplessness”. Marcus Urban also noted that for some time, gay and lesbian organisations have reached a point where they haven’t managed to make any progress in terms of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) equality in Germany. He then co-founded “Fussball gegen Homophobie” or football against homophobia which consists of a network of experts that joins forces that help develop and take action regarding homophobia and making it more visible.

Currently, there are 2 German clubs with openly gay players. Cream team Cologne and Team Munich belong to the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association. Cream team Cologne is the oldest gay and lesbian sports club in Europe. They are under the Bunte Liga, a fixed size league in Germany. They claim they have a motley crew, even if they are mainly a homosexual football club they also accept heterosexuals. Team Munich plays in the Bavarian Soccer Association and participates in the Euro and Gay games. These two clubs have been around since 1992 and 1994 respectively. Smaller leagues have started out with dispelling homophobia, it’s long past time that higher leagues like the Bundesliga should start their awareness campaigns.

We cannot wait for these little baby steps of football towards these issues, big steps must be taken. They must be brave enough to tackle this issue actively because homophobia exists, they cannot deny it nor can they hide it. It will come out. And day by day, these issues are taking on a snowball effect. Anti-gay abuses, taunts, and bullying do happen. Even just plain accusations are enough to shatter a man’s psyche, enough for him to walk out of football because of humiliation. Active support must be done. Actions have long been overdue. Fans everywhere are campaigning for the cause. We need the players to step forth and support their fellow team mates; we need the Football Associations to permanently remove the stigma. We need change now.