From Freiburg to St. Pauli: The Bundesliga is mobilizing against right-wing extremism. But some clubs are also silent – for now.
Oke Göttlich had more important things on his mind than football. “Hamburg stands up” was the motto of the demonstration against right-wing extremism, which the president of FC St. Pauli also called for on Friday. The simultaneous start of the second division? By the way, many Hamburger SV fans also joined in. The picture is becoming more solid: from Freiburg to Bremen, from Cologne to Leipzig, many in the Bundesliga no longer want to remain silent.
“If you don’t stand up now, you haven’t understood anything. If you don’t do anything now, you haven’t understood anything at school or in history,” said the usual opinionated Freiburg coach Christian Streich – and this time he wasn’t alone. Werder Bremen’s President Hubertus Hess-Grunewald, for example, called for a “loud, decisive signal against any form of exclusion, intolerance and discrimination.”
There will be a demonstration in Bremen on Sunday, and this was already the case in Mainz on Thursday. “Mainz remains stable,” wrote the 05ers on X (formerly Twitter). Hannover 96 also positioned themselves: “Saturday is an important day. We hope for a successful start to the second half of the season and for many people to show attitude and take to the streets.”
But what became clearest was Streich, who had repeatedly positioned himself clearly against parties like the AfD in the past and took part in a demonstration himself on Wednesday. “Nobody should complain to me if they are then ruled autocratically by a right-wing nationalist party,” said the 58-year-old: “I have been living as a free person in a democracy for 58 years. I am eternally grateful for that. What a vocabulary that is used is unbelievable.”
On Friday, the DFB also reported in a statement: “These days, tens of thousands of people are gathering all over the country who loudly oppose the current developments. We as the DFB show solidarity with this attitude. Because it is our attitude.”
Bundesliga teams no longer want to remain silent
But many clubs also remain silent – usually with the convenient argument that they don’t want to mix sport and politics. Many people will also remember the loud discussion that Peter Fischer sparked in December 2017. At the time, the President of Eintracht Frankfurt found that membership of Eintracht and the AfD could hardly be reconciled – and (also) received headwinds.
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There are currently no plans to create an overarching message like in 1992, when all clubs refrained from advertising their sponsor and wore the slogan “My friend is a foreigner” on their chests. At that time it was the result of xenophobic attacks. More than 30 years later, the incidents have not been forgotten – which is probably why many clubs are currently reacting to the latest headlines with keen antennae.
This also applies to many fans. “To be clear: the free, democratic coexistence of our city is threatened,” wrote the HSV Supporters Club and called on its more than 65,000 members to take part in the demonstration. Oke Göttlich from rival FC St. Pauli must have been happy.