In mid-May, members of the Borussia Dortmund soccer club once again visited Israel in yet another step against antisemitism. This time they came with a major gesture in the form of a donation worth 1 million euros to the national Holocaust memorial and museum, Yad Vashem. In recent years, the German club has spearheaded the fight against racism and antisemitism in the world's global sporting scene, using a host of engagements both inside and outside the pitch. This includes its ongoing efforts to foster strong ties with its soccer counterparts in Israel.
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Head of Corporate Responsibility at Borussia Dortmund Daniel Lörcher, who also manages the community outreach for the club, already knows a few words in Israel due to his frequent visits to the Jewish state. He even has some thoughts on Israeli soccer.
The overarching takeaway from the interview he granted Israel Hayom is that he has a sober assessment of how far the club has come, as well as how much more needs to be done despite the tremendous strides. In fact, notwithstanding this German sporting empire's many successes, its battle is far from over. Just when it appeared that the great club could succeed where all the others have failed, the coronavirus pandemic hit and reshuffled the deck. This was noticeable outside the stadiums, but of course, inside as well: The violence, the racism, and the bigotry all came back roaring to the soccer pitch all over the world. In Europe alone, there was a spike of some 36 percent in such instances observed in European soccer events. In many ways, European soccer has come full circle to the eighties, and now the managers are playing defense in this effort to stop this violent contagion from spreading even further.
Q: People claim that the coronavirus has had the world reverse much of the progress in many fields. How do you see this from your end?
"What I can tell you is that when we saw the protests against coronavirus restrictions in Germany, we could see that these had antisemitic elements in the truest sense of the word, even if they tried to hide it under the guise of some other context. This is obviously also trickling into the pitches, perhaps because people have this feeling they are entitled to take out their aggression in these games."
Q: When you started your corporate responsibility projects, did you set specific goals when it comes to the battle against antisemitism?
"That is a good question. I think there was no specific deadline. Our learning was conducted through the process, and we gleaned our insights as one group with our fanbase. We have kept making adjustments along the way, by adding layers from which we can progress even further. We have a long history of antisemitism in Dortmund's fanbase on the stands in the stadiums, emanating from the radical Right. There are several troublemakers among our fans and we try to crack down on them by placing sanctions. But the overall educational efforts are aimed at the other segments of the general population who comes to our games."
Q: This is an interesting approach – you have basically given up on the extremists because it is a lost cause. The goal now is to engage the others in the fanbase so that the extremists' clout won't grow.
"I think that the education efforts have reached out to the general audience rather than the few people on the margins. With the latter group, there is nothing we can do. It is important to remember that soccer clubs are not educational institutions. We are not the government, we are not a church and we are not a school. But we have leverage and we choose how we wield this power. For us, by realizing who we are as a club, we consider it imperative to use our ability and the club's brand in the world so that we can change what needs to be changed. For us it is part and parcel of who we are as a sporting organization."
Q: In Israel, for example, there are many ideas of having a quick and easy fix when it comes to racism and bigotry. It appears this is the typical approach in most sporting clubs around the world, isn't it?
"Such an approach would not work [in this case]. Let's say we take our players or fans to visit the Auschwitz death camp. Then what? Do you think this would radically change the picture just after this one experience? You need to take people to these places only after they had internalized and understood history, and after you had given them the tools to cope with this situation [of racism and antisemitism]. We keep changing and updating our programs so that they are tailored to the general audience, and our fans are fully engaged with this around the world."
Q: In other words, this is a process that takes time and requires a lot of money, and doesn't always reach the desired results?
"Look, you can take players to the pitch with the slogans on their jerseys saying "no to racism" or "end bigotry." Yes, that is the easiest thing you could do. Why would anyone oppose that? After all, we all want a world free of racism, But you must ask, What are we actively doing to realize this vision? When it comes to slogans, telling someone 'No to racism' may be good, because he knows about it and hears about it. But if you give him a sticker that reads 'No beer for Nazis' the fan may see this as a small nudging attempt that could be perceived differently, perhaps on a linguistical level."
Q: This means that a club or any sporting body that wants to take this responsibility must create its own unique brand within this process?
"I think this has to be part of the club in every aspect. For example, when new players join our team, they learn the basic game strategy, and they learn about the work we do in other fields. When it comes to our fanbase, our work is definitely far from over, especially since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. This new era has made people think that if you bought a ticket for a match you also got a free license to do and say whatever you want in the stadium. The soccer stadium cannot be a place where you let your guard down and engage in unacceptable behavior. When a fan conducts himself inappropriately in the stands, they must realize that this will hurt him in other fields as well. They will lose their job, for example, and their conduct will be known far and wide in the community as a whole."
Q: One of the interesting challenges is that on the one hand, you need to inform people about the past, but on the other hand, you must keep your sights trained on the present and the future.
"You hit the nail on the head. We may be talking about things that happened in the past, but there are still people in our day and age who subscribe to Nazi ideology. The voices we hear now are those that could be heard in the past, and you have to know your history in order to have the means to deal with what is unfolding in the here and now. But of course, the struggle is first and foremost in the present."
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