In 1996, Ulf Gebken started a girls' football project in Oldenburg, which has since become popular throughout Germany. In this interview, the sports educator explains how this success came about - and why the topic of poverty is so difficult to communicate.
QUESTION: Mr Gebken, pretty much everything that goes by the name of "girls' football" in Germany can be traced back to your "MICK-Mädchen kicken mit" initiative. Did you expect this success?
GEBKEN: Not at all. I still remember the first time I sat down with the head of the integrated comprehensive school in the Ohmstede district of Oldenburg. And how the sofa collapsed beneath us. The Rennplatz cultural centre was in a state of ruins. Like all the open cultural and youth work of the 70s and 80s. And the three community workers who were there rightly realised that people didn't even notice us.
QUESTION: Neither did the socially disadvantaged children you were concerned with in the early stages.
Socially disadvantaged children - a blind spot in sports science in the 1990s
GEBKEN: That's right. When I drove through the Oldenburg Rennplatz neighbourhood, I was very surprised that there really was such a blind spot. The problem was quite obvious there. I didn't find this in my academic work: in the 1990s, sports science and sports education failed to recognise the living environment of socially disadvantaged children.
QUESTION: How did the initiative develop?
GEBKEN: In 1996, I offered a seminar on "Sport with socially disadvantaged children and young people". Together with the students, we analysed the sports facilities for children and young people at the racecourse in Ohmstede. The result was depressing. There were zero programmes for girls and very few for boys.
QUESTION: No sign of girls' football yet?
Football club at Ohmstede primary school
GEBKEN: The trail then formed via my daughter. We set up a kind of football club at Ohmstede primary school, and then suddenly lots of people wanted to play. The then President of the German Football Association, Dr Theo Zwanziger ...
QUESTION: ... with whom you were able to open the university's affiliated Institute "Integration through Sport and Education" in Oldenburg a few years later ...
GEBKEN: ... included the project in the first German integration summit. To say, of course, that the DFB is committed. And to say: there's a university lecturer who doesn't just talk the talk, but also puts it into practice. And we think such projects are great. That was just before the World Cup in Germany in 2006. What followed was pioneering work.
QUESTION: In what way?
GEBKEN: I wanted to get the universities on board in various places. Sometimes that was successful, sometimes not. It still exists today, the blind spot in all the studies on the so-called excluded young people and children who do not participate in sport. Only by using the concept of integration do we have a chance of acquiring funding from politicians. Tackling poverty was actually my topic. Originally, I didn't want to focus on Turkish and Arab girls, but on the girls who are excluded. Who are not included.
QUESTION: Why is the issue of poverty so difficult to communicate?
"A politician can rarely make a name for himself with poverty."
GEBKEN: There's often the attribution that it's their own fault that they can't get out of their situation. And then I always counter: It's not the children and young people's fault. They were born into these living conditions. There's always the worry that it's a bottomless pit: you put money in and nothing comes out anyway. Poverty is a rather sordid subject. A politician can rarely make a name for himself with it.
QUESTION: Nevertheless, poverty is always present in your work with the footballers.
GEBKEN: There are many drastic examples. When a girl comes to the football club shyly and only has a pair of pyjamas with holes in them. Discussions with the school management have revealed this: The girl really only has her pyjamas, over which she puts on a jumper and a pair of trousers. The lack of trainers is no exception. We then organised clothes and shoe exchanges.
QUESTION: Do you also see the topic of "integration" as a way of drawing attention to the issue of "poverty"?
GEBKEN: You could put it like that. For me, integration means that all children can play. Really all of them. The question is: how are children with five or more siblings supposed to take part in club sport if their parents can't afford it? That's why the difficult transfer we are making is via the low-threshold programmes in schools to the clubs. The children are involved nationwide via the school as an institution.
QUESTION: You can also utilise the integrative power of football itself ...
Appreciation through success in football
GEBKEN: Yes, it's that simple: one ball, two goals. You can play anywhere. That also applies to girls - as long as their parents allow it. In football, it's all about finding your role in the group. This really integrates the children into a social structure. In an individual sport, they would just be on their own. The second great point is that migrant children receive a great deal of appreciation through their success in football. At school, but also at home. The trophy is always a symbol. When it's carried around the school, it's a great moment for the children - one that many of them will never experience again.
QUESTION: In order to draw attention to your university project, you sought publicity right from the start. Even the New York Times reported widely.
"Commitment to public relations"
GEBKEN: Yes, the university also has a commitment to public relations. We wanted to involve clubs, associations and schools. We don't just want to look at the English-language journal, where you get points as a scientist if you publish there. We wanted to involve the people who make such projects possible. Not just sports scientists, but club chairmen, headmasters, mayors. That is very important. I'm also calling for more of this from my colleagues in Germany.
QUESTION: Do you mean your colleagues in science, also in other disciplines?
GEBKEN: There is no substitute for transporting what you have investigated and the findings you have gained into the local area, into the community, into the region. Our project is only praised today, sometimes it's frightening (laughs). But it all worked because we got involved in the hard work of talking to the schools and finding out about their sensitivities.
QUESTION: What else needs to change so that more socially disadvantaged children can be involved?
GEBKEN: Quite clearly, we can only reach the disadvantaged milieu if we invest in these children at a very early stage. Compulsory daycare for socially disadvantaged children is very important. It allows children to take part in physical activity and language development at an early age. I think that the opportunities to promote physical activity in daycare centres have not yet been sufficiently recognised. That doesn't mean that we have to play football there. That's not the point.
QUESTION: What is it?
"We know that language and physical activity are closely linked."
GEBKEN: We conducted a study on parent-child programmes in socially deprived areas. And found out: They don't even exist nationwide. How are the children supposed to have a chance of making connections there? In the education system and in sport? And we know that language and exercise are closely linked. Very closely. This has always been underestimated. You can only promote language if you also promote movement. You can only promote movement if the children can also articulate themselves.
QUESTION: You are not only concerned with the integration of disadvantaged children, but also with gaining skills: you train young people as helpers and trainers in the football clubs.
GEBKEN: We have treasures in our society. Tremendous treasures. Take Hayet, for example, who is of Arab origin and trained as a football assistant in the Ruhr region four years ago. Today she manages two girls' teams. At the time, her father forbade her from taking part in the training programme and coaching a team. Today she is in the media spotlight in the Ruhr region because she is doing such a great job. I believe that there are young people like Hayet everywhere. You just have to win them over - by allowing them to get involved and recognising them for it.
The interview was published in the autumn issue of the research magazine EINBLICKE.