Deutsche Welle, 10 December 2012
In the
Bundesliga, there's only one known gay player. And he's not even known - he
came out "anonymously." DW met up with a gay team in Cologne - the
Cream Team - to see how homosexuality is perceived in German soccer.
For 30
minutes it had the makings of an upset. Last-place Cream Team Cologne scored
early in the fifth and 17th minutes, taking a 2-0 lead over first-place Dynamo
Tresen.
By
halftime, though, the score is tied, 2-2. Coach Holger's inspirational halftime
speech quickly becomes a tirade. He compares his team's play to "soft
cheese," and, as his team trots back onto the field, a sense of the
inevitable follows them.
A handful
of yellow cards later, Cream Team Cologne leaves the pitch with a frustrating
6-3 loss.
The team
won't stay down for long. They're on their way to a local bar, where they'll
celebrate 20 years of being Germany's winningest gay soccer team.
A
Bundesliga mystery
Even today,
the words "gay" and "soccer" have an oil-and-water-like
quality for many Germans. In the Bundesliga, Germany's professional soccer
league, 100 percent of the players are heterosexual - at least on record. Some
doubt the veracity of that number, though.
 |
| Merkel surprised many with her direct comments |
"Out
of 500, 600 players?" said Cream Team member Till. "I would be very
surprised if not one of them was gay."
In a recent
interview with a German cultural magazine called Fluter, a German professional
soccer player did "out" himself as gay. He did so anonymously,
though. The admission left many German soccer fans scratching their heads. Who
on earth could it be?
Even
Chancellor Angela Merkel weighed in, calling on soccer players to have
"courage" and reassuring them that they lived in country where they
"shouldn't have to worry" about being gay.
Her
well-intentioned words didn't strike a chord with everyone. With 20 years'
experience, Cream Team Cologne thinks it's a bit more complicated than that.
A public
shaming
"I
wouldn't do it," said Christoph, who joined the Cream Team a few years
ago. "Imagine if you play in Dortmund, 80,000 people, if they all scream
'fag,' 'die' – or I don't even know what they would scream."
 |
| Co-founder Andreas Steine sees stadiums as bastions of bigotry |
He also
believes that the first player to out himself officially will take a financial
hit as a result. "If you say OK, I [out myself] and I don't get another
contract, that's fine. But if you're not willing to accept that or you can't
accept it because you haven't earned enough money…?"
Regardless
of how many players in the Bundesliga are gay, Cream Team team co-founder
Andreas Steine hopes that the first to out himself will be the "right
kind" of gay soccer player.
"If
it's someone from our national team and everybody likes him, it'll be OK. But
if it's someone who isn't a favorite in the public eye, and the newspapers
don't like him - that will be a problematic situation."
'Of Wimps
and World Champions'
At the
Cologne Sports Museum, an exhibit dedicated to the team's 20 years of success
includes old photographs, retired jerseys, and a small mountain of trophies.
The team has come a long way.
"At
the beginning of the 1990s a gay soccer team couldn't get soccer field,"
said team co-founder Rolf Emmerich. "They wouldn't take us, we just didn't
have anywhere to train." Since then the Cream Team has won two gay world
championships and five gay European cups.
One of the
Cream Team's players, Igor, translates a quote scribbled onto the wall. It's
attributed to former professional soccer player Jürgen Roman. "Gay
footballers must exist. However, I don't know where."
 |
| A men's bathroom? Not exactly. Visitors are encouraged to scrawl graffiti at the Cream Team exhibit |
In Cologne,
they play behind the city's professional soccer stadium on a broad expanse of
green fields. And while the Cream Team eagerly awaits the day that professional
Germans can be both gay and play Bundesliga soccer, it isn't their immediate
concern.
The Out
Games are taking place in Antwerp next summer. If Cologne's going to take down
London Stonewall or the teams from Paris or San Francisco, they have a lot of
work to do.
Related Articles:
About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”
"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)
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