EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY SOCCER Small German soccer team finds reinforcement in refugees
Record ID:
142138
EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY SOCCER Small German soccer team finds reinforcement in refugees
- Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY SOCCER Small German soccer team finds reinforcement in refugees
- Date: 29th August 2015
- Summary: NEUAUBING, GERMANY (AUGUST 28, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF "ESV NEUAUBING" (pron.: Noy-OW-bing) SOCCER CLUB CONSISTING OF GERMANS AND REFUGEES POSING FOR GROUP PHOTO COACH OLAF BUTTERBROD TALKING TO PLAYERS IN GERMAN VARIOUS OF TEAM LISTENING VARIOUS OF TEAM WARMING UP BUTTERBROD GIVING DIRECTIONS PAN ACROSS PITCH AS TRAINING IS IN PROGRESS VARIOUS OF PLAYERS PLAYING SOCCER (SOUNDBITE) (German) 21-YEAR-OLD PLAYER FROM AFGHANISTAN, ANIL ASDI, SAYING: "To be honest, we are refugees. But Olaf (the coach) always tells us 'to me, you are not refugees.' Everyone here went to school and speaks German, we have jobs. He says refugee is a stupid word. But personally, it doesn't bother me if someone calls me refugee. Let them call me refugee, so be it." GERMAN GOALKEEPER DANIEL WENZEL PRACTISING (SOUNDBITE) (German) ESV NEUAUBING COACH, OLAF BUTTERBROD, SAYING: "The team was founded three and a half years go. In the beginning, there were a few Afghans and somehow, word got around the Afghan community. We also have Iranians, a Tunisian, a Pole, an Iranian, we have German youth coaches from the club, something which is very important for integration reasons. We have Eritreans and for next week, a Nigerian is announced. So it actually never stops because new players keep arriving which is a refreshing element for this team." VARIOUS OF TRAINING SESSION IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (German) ESV NEUAUBING COACH, OLAF BUTTERBROD, SAYING: "I speak German to them. A lot of the players speak German. The youths and young men who only just arrived get a translation and if need be, English always works. And incidentally, soccer can live without language. A lot during the training is about intuition and copying others, it's about participating. So actually, soccer works without talking. Or differently put, soccer is a language." BACK SHOT OF GOAL
- Embargoed: 13th September 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVABQ6DEGM2QYAUOYC2JHWKSUMHT
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A small soccer club in the outskirts of Munich in southern Germany has become the country's first amateur sports organisation to have refugees on its team.
One week after violent anti-refugee protests erupted outside an asylum seekers' shelter in eastern Germany, "ESV Neuaubing" (pron.: Noy-OW-bing) proudly calls itself "a real pioneer" on its website.
Twenty-one-ear-old Anil Asdi is one of the 34 refugees playing for ESV Neuaubing.
"To be honest, we are refugees," the young Afghan said on the sidelines of a training session.
"But Olaf (the coach) always tells us 'to me, you are not refugees.' Everyone here went to school and speaks German, we have jobs," said Asdi, who added that his coach told them "refugee is a stupid word.'
"But personally, it doesn't bother me if someone calls me refugee. Let them call me refugee, so be it," Asdi said in fluent German.
Coach Olaf Butterbrod says he is proud of his team which was formed more than three years ago.
"In the beginning, there were a few Afghans and somehow, word got around the Afghan community. We also have Iranians, a Tunisian, a Pole, ... we have German youth coaches from the club, something which is very important for integration reasons. We have Eritreans and for next week, a Nigerian is announced," Butterbrod said.
ESV Neuaubing, founded in 1921, has close to 4,000 members for 25 different sports types and several Olympic medallists began their careers here.
Among them is weightlifter Manfred Nerlinger who won silver for then West Germany at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
In recent times, recruiting soccer players became more and more difficult, until coach Olaf Butterbrod came across refugees playing soccer in Munich's nearby Englischer Garten park.
At the end of June, Butterbrod was able to officially register his newly-formed team with the German soccer federation DFB, making it the country's first refugee team.
Butterbrod said language has never been an issue for his team and for the sport in general.
"I speak German to them. A lot of the players speak German. The youths and young men who only just arrived get a translation and if need be, English always works. And incidentally, soccer can live without language. A lot during the training is about intuition and copying others, it's about participating. So actually, soccer works without talking. Or differently put, soccer is a language," said Butterbrod, a big smile on his face. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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