Sport is seen as the engine of integration. But is that even true? Young Oldenburg academics Alexandra Janetzko and Micòl Feuchter take a critical look at the claims behind this theory - and put forward their own concept to counter it.
Sports officials and politicians repeatedly invoke the great integrative power of sport: it conveys values such as fairness and team spirit and promotes peaceful interaction. Sports clubs are a school of democracy. The idea is that people who share joy and passion when playing sport together also grow together off the pitch. Numerous sports programmes are designed to promote the integration of refugees and people with migration experience. "Our strategic goals remain firstly integration into (organised) sport and secondly integration into society through sport," reads a basic paper published by the German Olympic Sports Confederation in 2014.
The plan sounds good, but does it work? In February, an incident made headlines across Germany which shows that it is not that simple: a Muslim woman was thrown out of a gym in Hanover because she wanted to train wearing a headscarf. Allegedly there were safety concerns. For Alexandra Janetzko, a research assistant in the Sociology and Sports Sociology department at the Institute of Sport Science, this procedure is an example of the fact that although there is a lot of talk about integration in sport, this does not usually mean a reciprocal process. "There is often a demand for assimilation behind it," she says. This was also the case in this instance: "The needs of the woman concerned played no role; she was expected to adapt unilaterally."
Participation instead of integration
Together with her colleague Micòl Feuchter, Janetzko is constantly dealing with the question of how integration can be achieved in sport, both in theory and in practice. Both are active in the "Refugees Welcome in Sports (ReWIS)" association, which was founded in 2016. The project, which was originally founded by students on the Sport and Lifestyle Master's programme, is aimed at refugees, but is open to anyone who is interested.
Janetzko, who has just completed her doctorate, is also involved in various initiatives on the topic of migration and is currently coordinating the orientation year for refugees. Micól Feuchter, co-founder of ReWIS, is investigating in her doctorate the conditions under which a project in sport can be designated and recognised as an integration project.
The two recently published a study in the specialist journal "Sport und Gesellschaft" in which they take a critical look at the integration debate in sport. Their conclusion: in organised sports programmes aimed specifically at refugees or migrants, the focus is usually less on equal cooperation. Rather, it is imposed on this target group as a kind of obligation to integrate into society through sport. "People have to do something to fit into existing structures," explains Feuchter. The assumption that values are conveyed through sport also implies that immigrants lack certain characteristics or skills.
Various studies show that there is often a discrepancy between desire and reality. For example, migrants are underrepresented in traditional clubs, especially women and girls as well as people who barely speak German in everyday life or have a low level of education. Immigrants are even less likely to be active as coaches or volunteer officials. Other studies have shown that there are obstacles to integration in organised club sport, such as fixed membership fees, a focus on competitive sport and certain expectations of members to get involved on a voluntary basis. "Traditional sports clubs are theoretically open, but there are actually many structural barriers," says Janetzko.
Complementing traditional clubs
She and Feuchter contrast the concept of integration with that of participation. The researchers argue that sports programmes for refugees and migrants should be geared more towards their needs and offer them opportunities to participate on an equal footing. In their study, the researchers use the example of ReWIS, the Oldenburg sports project for refugees, to show what this could look like in practice.
The two are involved in the club as trainers, among other things. At the same time, they are providing scientific support for the project. "We meet as a team every fortnight to discuss new ideas and reflect on whether the programmes are still in line with our basic idea," reports Feuchter. This is that the programmes should be low-threshold, open and non-binding. It's not about performance, but about having fun playing and doing sports together, according to the organisation's website.
ReWIS does not see itself as a competitor to traditional clubs, but as a complement to them. Part of the concept is that participation is free and that you can take part without being a member of a club or having any previous knowledge of a sport. The regular membership fee can be set by the members themselves and starts at one euro per month. The sports facilities are easily accessible and if someone does not have trainers, the organisers will try to provide them. So far, ReWIS has reached around 500 people with this concept. "The flexibility and non-binding nature that we offer is not only interesting for refugees, many students also come, for example," says Feuchter.
In line with the basic idea of participation, the ReWIS programme has changed time and again since it was founded. In the sports programme for women, for example, the trainers noticed that many participants do not focus on yoga or fitness at all. Some use the sessions to have the trainers help them fill out documents or to socialise with friends while their children are being looked after. "That irritated us at first, but then we realised that this is also a form of self-determined participation," says Janetzko. Participation also means deciding not to take part in a programme - or using the opportunities according to your own interests.
