Julian Nagelsmann: German football coach condemns broadcaster's 'racist' survey
www.bbc.com
Julian Nagelsmann condemned the poll, which asked if people wanted more white players on the German team.

The poll by the ARD public broadcaster said 21% of respondents agreed with the proposition.

“It is racist. I feel we need to wake up. Many people in Europe had to flee… searching for a safe country,” Nagelsmann said on Sunday.

The 36-year-old said he agreed with Germany midfielder Joshua Kimmich, who described the questionnaire as “racist” a day earlier.

“Josh [Kimmich] responded really well, with a very clear and thought-out statement,” Nagelsmann said at a briefing at his team’s training base.

“I see this in exactly the same way. This question is insane.”

“There are people in Europe who’ve had to flee because of war, economic factors, environmental disasters, people who simply want to be taken in," he went on.

“We have to ask what are we doing at the moment? We in Germany are doing very, very well, and when we say something like that, I think it’s crazy how we turn a blind eye and simply block out such things.”

ARD - the German public broadcaster - said it had commissioned the survey to have measurable data, after a reporter working on a documentary on football and diversity was repeatedly asked about the make-up of the national team.

The poll was conducted among 1,304 randomly selected respondents.

Karl Valks, sports director with the ARD station who commissioned the poll, said the company was “dismayed that the results are what they are, but they are also an expression of the social situation in Germany today”.

“Sport plays an important role in our society, the national team is a strong example of integration,” German media cited him as saying.

The current national squad has a number of players with mixed heritage, including captain Ilkay Gündogan and winger Leroy Sané.

Germany is hosting the Euro 2024 tournament later this month, and Nagelsmann said his team would be playing “for everyone in the country”. They will kick-off the competition with a clash against Scotland at Munich’s Allianz Arena on 14 June.

The controversy comes just weeks after the team’s kit manufacturer, Adidas, was forced to ban fans from buying German football kits customised with the number 44, after media raised their resemblance to the symbol used by World War Two-era Nazi SS units.

The SS was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity committed by the Nazis. Members of the SS ranged from Gestapo agents to concentration camp guards. SS duties included administering death camps where millions of Jews and others were put to death.

  • klisklas@feddit.deEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    Not a football fan, but good answer to a stupid racist question. Journalism needs to reflect on how their reporting is enabling the far right and legitimising racist talking points in society. At least here in Germany the media plays a substantial role in the rise of the AFD and normalising right wing policies.

    • gian @lemmy.grys.itEnglish
      0·
      5 months ago

      The main point is that the starting question is so stupid that it is an offence to the stupid questions.
      In a national football team you should get the best of the best, whatever color the skin is. You want to win, not to parade.

      Journalism needs to reflect on how their reporting is enabling the far right and legitimising racist talking points in society. At least here in Germany the media plays a substantial role in the rise of the AFD and normalising right wing policies.

      I think that the rise of AFD (and the Right in general) is tied more to the failures of the Left than to the journalism. If people have (or think to have) a problem they will vote for the party that will promise to solve it, not for the people who say them that they are too ignorant to understand that they have not a problem.

      • phneutral@feddit.deEnglish
        1·
        5 months ago

        I don’t agree with your last paragraph. We face many crises today and to solve them is challenging our way of life. The political (far)right answers with simple, populist sentiments that will not solve anything: Just drive your car, just eat your meat, we need growth — look: migrants!

        The left tries to explain very complex concepts, but all people hear is „you have to change your way of living“.

    • The Octonaut@mander.xyzEnglish
      01·
      5 months ago

      I don’t think a survey question can be racist. An answer can, and I’m not sure that not knowing the answer is better than knowing it.

      Edit: No wrongthink on feddit.de, got it.

      • FiskFisk33@startrek.websiteEnglish
        0·
        5 months ago

        I get what you are saying but I disagree. Such a question comes with an implication that whoever posed the question thinks both answers are valid, unless the context implies otherwise.

        Edit: No wrongthink on feddit.de, got it.

        Oh come on now, people disliking your opinion is not the same thing as you being silenced, get over yourself.

        • The Octonaut@mander.xyzEnglish
          0·
          5 months ago

          The downvote button is not the “I disagree” button. It’s a “this is irrelevant or destructive to the conversation” button. “I get what you’re saying but I disagree” to me indicates you don’t think my comment was either.

          If the question was phrased as “Is the German national team diverse enough?” - which asks for the same opinion - would that be somehow better?

          This type of finger-in-ear nonsense is the type of behaviour that leads to Germans supporting a genocide in 2024 and AfD’s success being a surprise.