Handball manager Bob Hanning – Top sport system is sick

As of: September 19, 2023 8:48 p.m

Handball official Bob Hanning has harshly criticized the current developments in German sport. “Let’s not kid ourselves: the top-class sport system is sick,” wrote the managing director of the handball Bundesliga team Füchse Berlin in a guest article for the “Berliner Morgenpost”.

There is a lack of infrastructure and staffing. “We do far too little with the opportunities we undoubtedly have in a country where there are so many unique and ambitious young people,” wrote the 55-year-old.

“With their decisions, politicians accept that we are completely driving the car into the wall,” criticized Hanning. “That disastrously bad World Championships become the norm for track and field athletes. That we get used to the early elimination of footballers from major tournaments.” The potential analysis system (Potas), which has come under criticism, is “a disaster and another nail in the coffin for our sport”.

More coincidences than plans and structures

Hanning also criticized the attitude towards sport and attributed this to supposed undesirable developments in society. “The idea of ​​performance, which has always made us strong, is gradually being undermined by decision-makers in politics,” he wrote. Currently, top German sport “lives more from coincidences than from sophisticated plans and structures.”

The 55-year-old made various suggestions for improvement. More money is needed for infrastructure and a higher priority for sport, among other things, in schools. Hosting the Olympic Games “would also create an enormous incentive for our children and young people to do more sport in a performance-oriented manner”. Hanning also spoke out in favor of a pure sports ministry and the creation of an “agency for competitive sports”. The latter is already part of a reform concept in top-class sport.