The number of members does not hold much sex appeal, but this Saturday there will be a lot of talk at the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB). At first glance, the annual DOSB general meeting, which is being held digitally this time, is lacking in exciting topics: no decision to apply for the Olympic Games in the Rhine-Ruhr region for the 2032 Summer Games, even if the busy private organizers have built up a lot of pressure this year . President Alfons Hörmann is also sitting relatively firmly in the saddle. So you might think that there is no reason to be upset. And yet DOSB spokesman Michael Schirp said before the meeting: “German sport is in its greatest crisis in decades.”
Of course, the pandemic and the measures to contain it also have sport firmly under control. There was extensive public debate – because it was blessed with a powerful lobby – Bundesliga football and perhaps the rest of professional sport, including Olympic squads who should somehow continue to play and train. Rescue packages worth millions are helping the professional clubs because fans are not allowed to come into the arenas.
But amateur sport has been standing still since November. The partial lockdown has been extended a second time this week, this time through mid-January, and that could affect thousands of sports clubs as membership numbers begin to decline. »While bankruptcies are foreseeable in the catering and event industry, the development in popular sport is slowly bleeding out. Many clubs can not yet benefit from the special aid because there is currently no threat to their existence, “said a position paper from mid-November. It was written by the Freiburger Kreis, a working group of more than 180 larger German sports clubs. The forecast made for the next year: ten percent fewer members. Large clubs would then have to “accept losses in the six-figure range” in terms of membership fees. However, the costs for operating own systems, for employees and hygiene concepts remained. Politicians should therefore turn short-term emergency aid into long-term subsidies until at least 2023, for example through higher subsidies for trainers, according to the appeal.
The Bavarian State Sports Association also predicts a “dramatic drop in membership figures” of 100,000 by the end of the year in this state alone. Another 65,000 already announced layoffs by January 1 would be added. That would be a decrease of about four percent. This value has already been reached among children and young people. An annual fluctuation of up to ten percent is normal because people die or move. But they are picked up again by newly admitted children and newcomers. “But it is precisely those who do not join sports clubs as long as they are not allowed to offer any sport,” said DOSB spokesman Schirp.
The state sports associations and DOSB President Hörmann had already asked Chancellor Angela Merkel and those responsible in the federal states not to understand sport as part of the problem, “but as part of the solution to fighting pandemics.” After all, exercise strengthens the immune system, and chains of infection are easier to track in fixed training groups than in private, uncontrolled areas.
At least children and young people should be able to play sport again, the Freiburg district also demands. One does not understand why “school classes populate the sports facilities in the morning, but children are not allowed to come to the club’s sports lessons.” The thought that opening up clubs to clubs means a greater mix of children from different schools. Another point of criticism: Billions would be invested in research into vaccines, but not in studies of how infection chains arise. Despite this uncertainty, pleading for the opening of the sports facilities across the board then seems illogical, even if the clubs are made available as test fields for such studies.
In amateur sport, there is clearly a lack of understanding and a fear of the existing. This should lead to discussions and appeals to politicians on Saturday. So far, however, the DOSB lobby has not been powerful enough to push its concerns through.
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