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EINBLICKE
21
GEBKEN: I wanted to get universities on board in various parts
of the country. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.
The blind spot still exists today, in all the studies on so-called
marginalised children and youths who don't participate in
sport. It is only by using the "integration" label that we are
able to secure funding from politicians. Tackling poverty was
what I was actually interested in. It was not Turkish and Arab
girls I was targeting initially, but girls who are marginalised.
Who are not taking part.
EINBLICKE: Why is the poverty issue so difficult to put across
to people?
GEBKEN: It's quite common to blame the poor for not rising
above their predicament. My response is always that it's not
the children and youths who are at fault. They were born into
their situation. Peopleworry that it's a bottomless pit: however
much money you pour in nothing ever comes out. Poverty is
a messy issue. It's generally not the kind of theme a politician
can use to raise his or her profile.
EINBLICKE: But in your work with girls' football, poverty is
always present.
GEBKEN: There are plenty of extreme examples. Likewhen one
girl came into the club ashamed at having nothing towear but
threadbare pajamas. After talking to the school administration
we found out that the girl indeed had nothing except those
pajamas, and she would pull on a sweater and trousers on
top. It's not unusual for kids to have no trainers. We organize
shoes and clothes exchanges.
EINBLICKE: So the "integration" issue is also a way for you to
raise awareness about "poverty"?
GEBKEN: You could put it like that. For me, integration me-
ans that all children can join in. Every last one of them. The
question is this: how can
children with five or more
siblings take part in club sport
if their parents simply cannot
afford it? This is why the difficult transfer that we try to make
possible goes via the low-threshold sports activities offered
in schools into the clubs. Through the schools, children are
involved nationwide.
EINBLICKE: You can alsomake use of football's own integrative
powers...
GEBKEN: Yes, it's so easy: one ball, two goals. You can play it
anywhere. And that goes for the girls too – assuming their
parents allow it. What's important in football is finding one's
role within the group. This helps to really integrate children
into a social structure. In individual sport they'd only be in it
for themselves. The second wonderful thing is that successes
on the football pitch garner a lot of respect for immigrant
Ulf Gebken: „Wir Forscher haben eine
Verpflichtung zur Öffentlichkeitsarbeit.“
Ulf Gebken: "We researchers have an
obligation to do PR."
"
Youth work in the 80s was
in a terrible state."
