It would have been an easy way to send a valuable signal: In November, the Berlin Football Association (BFV) had to decide whether it would no longer allow “88” as a shirt number in its playing regulations. The combination of numbers that is well known to be used in right-wing extremist circles as a code for the eighth letter of the alphabet and thus specifically for “Heil Hitler”.
And precisely because this symbol would have been so easy to obtain, because something was very easy to gain without anything important being lost, it was not just a negligent shot, but a serious miss at the association conference: rejecting the proposal of the Vice President for Social Responsibility, Özgür Özvatan, with 52:48 votes.
Expression of a special personal resilience
Özvatan himself never took the easy path. As a Turkish-born soccer player born in Berlin (who made it to the U-15 national team of the German Football Association), he has experienced pretty much all types of resentment first hand. The fact that during his active career he still chose playing fields that were among the more problematic in this respect, the Oberliga Nordost at TSG Neustrelitz and later the BFC Dynamo in Berlin, can be seen as an expression of a special personal resilience.
His engagement with the topic as a social scientist and podcaster (now with a doctorate) must be viewed as a social concern: not to become speechless about all of this – even when faced with opposing positions. In his current role, Özvatan apparently did not expect that his own association would make it so difficult for him – unlike Bavaria, Lower Saxony or Saxony-Anhalt, which have already blocked this hate code.
Expand horizons beyond the turf
The Germania 1888 club, the oldest still existing football club in the country, lobbied against the application, arguing, among other things, with the identification of its players. Even if that is the case: if you broaden your horizons a little beyond the turf, it would still have been a good opportunity to identify with something more important, while other forms of expression could also be found for the love of the club.
One can certainly ask the question of where one starts and ends with something like this, especially since every regulation carries the risk of serving a certain narrative. However, while “18”, which is also used as a code and refers to AH, i.e. Adolf Hitler, has an everyday anchoring in the consecutive numbering, “88” already includes the will to send a message. And if you really believe that it’s primarily about your own house number, your grandpa’s age or your heart for your own club, you can ask the DFB department that, in collaboration with the public prosecutor’s office, searches the Internet for hate comments.
It is therefore good that Özvatan is not making it easy for his association and wants to put the ball back on the penalty spot in the form of a new request. However, it would be even better if someone else took it: the DFB, with a uniform regulation like the one that already exists in Italy.
