Inka Grings played for the German national team from 1996 to 2012. In the t-online interview, she looks back at the time at the DFB, women’s football and the backlogs of our society.
October 31, 2020 is a special date in German professional football. 50 years ago today, women’s football was first included in the DFB statutes. This day is the hour of birth, even if women’s football was of course played long before – just forbidden.
The lifting of the ban marked a milestone in the history of women’s football. But to this day, women struggle for recognition, equality and acceptance.
One of the people who followed the association’s development from 1996 to 2012 as a national player from close quarters is Inka Grings. In an interview with t-online, the 41-year-old doesn’t mince her words and says: “The appreciation for women’s football is not everywhere in Germany.”
Mrs. Grings, “In the fight for the ball, feminine grace disappears.” This is how the DFB established its ban on women’s football in 1955. What is on your mind when you read something like this?
Inka Grings (41): First and foremost, I have to smile about it because you can’t even imagine something like that these days. I also think that one or the other who made such sayings back then thinks differently about it today. Reading something like that is bizarre. It is inconceivable that this was ever thought of.
You were a national player yourself from 1996 to 2012. What has changed since you played at the DFB?
I was allowed to be part of the national team at a time that was really very exciting. All in all, it has to be said that it took a long time for the DFB to recognize what you had achieved as a woman in the national team. I’m thinking, for example, of the then national coach Tina Theune. Everything she had to evaluate herself, with limited material, under difficult conditions. Compared to today, when a much larger staff is available, this is interesting to follow. At the time, she did pioneering work.
Bayern captain Lina Magull recently spoke on Deutschlandfunk of “clear priorities for men’s football” at the DFB. However, the association has a responsibility and must act as a pioneer. Does he live up to this role?
I think the DFB has invested a lot in women’s football in recent years. Yes, he has to act as a pioneer, but the clubs are also responsible. If three people do the job in the club that is actually intended for four or five people, then that is problematic and permanently unsustainable. Much more must be invested in public marketing. There is a lot going on there. But that is not all.
What are you specifically complaining about?
I am thinking, for example, of how few former players are involved in club work after their careers and are not active there. In 16 years in Duisburg, for example, I was never asked whether I could imagine a follow-up contract with the club. Involving former players, like a Kim Kulig in Frankfurt, for example as the coach of the second team: more identification is not possible.
09/11/2009: After their 6: 2 final victory against England in Finland, the victorious German soccer women celebrate winning the European soccer championship on the balcony of the Römer in Frankfurt. Here Inka Grinks (lr), trainer Silvia Neid and Birgit Prinz. (Source: Jan Huebner / imago images)
I don’t see this development in women’s football either. This factor is increasingly being considered and recognized among men. Why reinvent the wheel? I don’t break my crown when I copy and adapt good examples from other clubs or associations.
The already mentioned Lina Magull welcomes the merger of women’s and men’s clubs, as it was done at Eintracht Frankfurt. How do you feel about the topic?
I am with her 100 percent. That’s the only way. All the possibilities that a men’s club has to offer increase the attractiveness of the club and the league enormously. Such partnerships are fantastic signals for women’s football, because they also increase the quality and level within the club.
Do you still look enviously abroad, where such collaborations have been better and more professional for years?
Of course I sometimes think to myself that there is a greater willingness to invest in one or the other European country. Work is done more professionally in many areas, especially in England. In the mental area, in the athletic area, also in the coach position. You have to be ready to invest, because good quality costs. Point. And Germany can and must catch up.
What conclusions did you draw from last year’s World Cup when the national team was eliminated in the quarter-finals?
If you are not ready to take a different, professional path, you will not stand a chance internationally in the long term. In Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, the DFB has found a person who is going exactly this way.
Overall, was the World Cup a sobering admission?
Hardly anyone noticed the tournament. How few German spectators were in the stadium, even compared to the Dutch, was terrifying. Other countries are much further ahead than we are because they appreciate sport differently.
Goalkeeper Nadine Angerer with the trophy, Inka Grings and Fatmire Bajramaj are celebrating the 2009 European Championship title. (Source: Sven Simon / imago images)
For years it has been said that “something has to change”. In fact, nothing changes, or only very little and slowly. Are we going in circles?
You shouldn’t lie to yourself and you have to be clear: The appreciation for women’s football is not everywhere in Germany. Showing games at attractive airtime, announcing them big: that has to do with appreciation. To put it charmingly: everything can still be improved.
Why is that?
I dont know. If not now, then when, it’s always called. I think the problems go deeper. People are so polarized that they say to themselves: why do what when everything is ok. He is then ready to change something when under pressure. This is where the wheat is separated from the chaff, who thinks outside the box and who doesn’t. Anyone who is innovative, courageous and informs and exchanges ideas with clubs and associations, with colleagues, will progress, develop and work successfully.
Who are you taking responsibility for?
Association, clubs, but also the media. The broadcasting stations such as ARD, ZDF or Eurosport. You have to be convinced of the product that you are marketing. And I don’t see that it is being sold with absolute conviction. It can’t be, to give an example, that you live in Cologne but don’t notice that the women’s DFB Cup final is taking place. That’s insane. But I also appeal to society.
Is our society backward?
Not necessarily backward. That would mean that we were once “further” in our thinking. Rather, I think it’s still a “battle of conviction and intelligence”. In the 21st century we are still grappling with the fact that men and women have a wage difference of up to 40% despite the same age, the same education or the same profession. That we have to apply a quota for women and that women who are eligible for a certain position and are suitable for it are given a chance.
World Cup 2011: The reservists Inka Grinks (left), Fatmire Lira Bajramaj and Lena Goeßling in the preliminary round match against Canada. (Source: Matthias Koch / imago images)
Our society is far from being as tolerant and friendly as some think. But I am convinced that the generations will change – there are many people who fight very loudly – we will develop as a society and see people with their qualifications and personality and not gender in the foreground. I believe in the good. We’re actually fine. I am grateful to live in Germany. But when it comes to equality, we are way down in the table compared to other countries.
Was there a decisive experience for you that revealed that?
I never really thought about this topic. The sport was the sport. But when I got my coaching license and someone seemed stupid to me, I asked myself: Crazy thing, who do you think you are? I clearly told him my opinion – after that it was good.
Because you are addressing the subject of coaches: At the moment, almost only men train in the women’s Bundesliga.
With Nora Häuptle from SC Sand there is currently only one trainer. Perhaps one also has to think about a quota for women here, but also how women could be promoted in this area. Often you are brought up in such a way that a job or study is taken for granted. But I repeat myself there too: trainers, clubs and the association are also obliged to do so. To pay attention to who I have in front of me and to evaluate which skills a player has. To see if she might be a great trainer because she has qualities that should be encouraged.
Finally, to come back to the topic of the DFB: Which experience from your time with the national team do you particularly remember?
I was just incredibly proud to play for the national team. For me it is and was the greatest. To train and play together with the best players was always the best time! Plus the great trips and tournaments. Anyone who works in competitive sports must have the clear goal of becoming a national team. When you stand in the square and hear the national anthem, it makes you proud. I always have been.
Most recently, the men played players who only sat on the bench in their clubs.
The situation is currently certainly different due to corona. It was even more difficult in the game against Turkey, because the U21s were on the road at the same time, from which perspective players could have been used. Nevertheless, for me it is incomprehensible to let players appear who play no role at club level – for whatever reason. I really give every player this experience, because it’s unique and the guys certainly gave everything. But I don’t know whether Joachim Löw and the DFB did each other a favor.
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