Outside must be in

Over the next three weeks, it is not just the over seven million members in around 24,500 DFB clubs who are called upon to support the petition and its cause. With the support of the DOSB, members, clubs and associations of other sports and all sports enthusiasts in Germany are being asked to give amateur and mass sports a common voice by participating in the easy-to-complete online petition. Under the umbrella of the DOSB, 90,000 sports clubs with a total of around 27 million members are being organised.

Ronny Zimmermann, DFB vice-president responsible for youth football, says: "Amateur clubs and their athletes have always been ignored and forgotten in the decision-making process. This must stop now, especially for our children and young people. Sport is important, sport has a high social value, sport is healthy for body and soul - even in the pandemic. What is needed now are quick, concrete prospects, and this is not just because current developments in vaccination and incidence rates give us hope in Germany. As disunited as the DFB may currently appear, we are all behind this petition, there are no two ways about it. The clubs operate in a highly responsible manner, as was demonstrated during the restart last year. Amateur sport must finally be heard with all the facts we have available. We want to find a sustainable way out of the crisis. What is needed is a new spirit of optimism for club sport, for movement, joy and a sense of community."

Amateur sport at a standstill

Dr. Rainer Koch, DFB vice-president for amateur football, says: "We all know about the current difficult situation in the DFB's governing bodies. The picture is one of disunity. But that does not absolve us from tackling the things that are of extreme importance for amateur football in our country right now. On the contrary, we urgently need to step up to our responsibility. 7.1 million members in football alone are rightly demanding that their precarious situation be taken more seriously than before.  Together with our clubs, the women and men, boys and girls, we are using this nationwide petition to speak the language that everyone understands. We want to make progress in the matter and demand the big, long overdue liberation blow for amateur sport: finally open up our pitches again!"

DOSB President Alfons Hörmann says: "Outside must be in stands for everything we are currently striving for. We are fighting for the urgently needed restart of sport in Germany. We need a return to regulated sports operations for all members and all sports. Clubs and associations, but also the health and social life of large numbers of our population depend on things finally getting moving again. We welcome the DFB's initiative, appeal to our member associations to join the campaign and to all members to support the petition."

For more than half a year, amateur sport in Germany has been almost at a complete standstill. Games and competitions have been prohibited, training is only possible with very severe restrictions, in some cases not at all. In football alone, almost 140,000 teams have been largely condemned to inactivity since October 2020 - although all the findings so far in the pandemic show that there is an extremely low risk of infection on the pitch. Although for months, more and more experts from medicine and science, including aerosol research, epidemiology and sports science, have been warning of the health and social dangers associated with the current ban on organised sports. There is particular concern about negative long-term consequences for children and young people. The hygiene concepts applied in the past year have proved to be effective, especially in football.

The current DFB campaign and petition are intended to mark an important step. The campaign is accompanied by extensive online and social media activities. At the DFB-Pokal final on Thursday in Berlin's Olympiastadion, a giant banner will be displayed in the stands to promote the petition. The petition for amateur and grassroots sport will run for three weeks. 

Survey: 98% miss amateur football

At the end of February, the DFB had already conducted a nationwide online survey to find out how amateur football was faring after one year of the pandemic. More than 100,000 people took part, spread across almost all age groups. Almost all of them were members of amateur football clubs. The results, presented at a live press conference, showed that the longing for a return to the pitch is huge, as are the challenges facing the clubs. 98% of those surveyed miss amateur football, 96% miss the activities in their club. People especially miss the community and the sense of community (71%), even more so than playing football itself (68%).

The social value of amateur football was calculated last year with the help of a scientific model calculation in cooperation between the European Football Union (UEFA), the DFB and ten universities. Based on the UEFA GROW SROI model ("Social Return on Invest"), the social and economic value added of amateur football amounts to 13.9 billion euros per year in Germany alone. 

The model quantifies the social and economic added value that arises because of the football and voluntary work that takes place in 24,500 amateur clubs. According to the model, playing football reduces, among other things, the risk of illness and thus health costs, saving 5.6 billion euros in the public health system. The increase in subjective well-being corresponds to a social value added of 4.86 billion euros. For children and young people in particular, amateur sports clubs are important social filling stations. Filling stations that have barely been used for months. That's another reason why it's time to get back out there.