FBy 2035, rankfurt is set to become the number one sports city in Germany. This is the idea of a group that sees itself as spokesman and representative of amateur and professional clubs, sports organizers and organizations in the city on the Main. Jürgen Lange, the chairman of the Frankfurt Sports Foundation, and Frank Manfred Schröder, as the coordinator of this interest group of Frankfurt sports organizations (IGFS), presented a “manifesto” at a press event in the Massif Central, which describes a possible path to this ambitious goal in ten demands.
Although sport achieves a great deal and the city benefits greatly from it, it offers children and young people meaningful leisure activities, helps with integration, and is the “engine of the economy” through major events such as the cycle race on May 1st or the marathon and ensure a good reputation, the existing infrastructure is far from sufficient to meet the various demands and to enable everyone to practice the sport of their choice. According to the paper, more than 3,000 children were waiting to be admitted to a club due to a lack of hall capacity.
In order to decisively improve the situation, the city’s sports budget should be adjusted to the culture budget, which according to Lange is currently about three times as high. As in other municipalities, the municipal sports facilities should be made available to the clubs free of charge. By 2030, the signatories to the catalog wish for seven new three-field halls, one with a pit for gymnastics, five new outdoor facilities, that the athletics center on Hahnstraße will be expanded into a stadium including a hall that is also suitable for international competitions, and the construction of a swimming pool A jumping facility and grandstand that meets international requirements, the construction of a multifunctional hall for professional sports and greater support from the city for major events.
The Main and the banks of the Main are ideal for sports in public spaces
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Image: Martin Albermann
So far, the Skyliners basketball players, the Frankfurt swimming community and the Society for the Promotion of Cycling as the organizer of the Eschborn-Frankfurt cycling race have all signed it. In many other places, according to Claudio Montanini from Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG, who attended the event, the manifesto is already being worked on, and the makers are confident of finding many more supporters.
The wishes summarize the results of two events, the first of which took place at the end of 2022 at the suggestion of Mike Josef. The original idea was that the representatives of the sport should join forces and consider how to make themselves more attractive for the economy in the region. The conviction quickly crystallized that sport had no real lobby, “wasn’t loud enough,” as Petra Preßler, the chairman of the sports youth group who was also interested in the IG, put it. That is why popular and top-level sport should speak with one voice in the future. The current paper is not carved in stone, emphasized Lange, but can continue to grow and be changed.
The two mayoral candidates Uwe Becker (CDU) and Mike Josef (SPD), who attended the event, unanimously assured that sport played an important role for them. The fact that little is said about it during the election campaign has to do with the fact that everyone is quite unanimous on this subject, says Becker. He himself would also like to see Frankfurt in a top position nationwide in this area, and we should set out to get there. But that takes time, and aligning sports and culture budgets one-to-one is difficult; Finally, that of culture also includes the high personnel costs for the municipal theaters.
Sports director Josef wants to continue to work primarily for quick solutions. He has in mind the release of more public space for sports, for example by releasing parks or the banks of the Main at certain times. But also that school gymnasiums and pools can be used to a greater extent for clubs. “Many assume that it works in sports,” said Josef. The IGFS wants to correct this misjudgment. The deceptive silence should be a thing of the past. The kick-off event in the Massif Central should only be understood as the kick-off.
