Buntkicktgut is an intercultural street football league for children and young people. Unique in Europe, the non-profit organization brings children, young people, and adults together from different cultures and social backgrounds in a playful way through its ongoing pioneering work. The approach develops boys and girls all year round, through continuous leagues in several different age groups. With its special form of participation, integration, and identification, Buntkicktgut harnesses the power of street football to enhance the social prospects of the youth based on the promise that football is a common language that it is understood worldwide.
The initiative strives to bring together people from different cultural, social, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, through their involvement not only as participants, but also as organizers and creators. In addition to the location in Munich, there are now street football leagues following the model and accreditation of Buntkicktgut in Dortmund, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Basel, Würzburg, and a multi-city league in Niederbayern.
Origins Buntkickgut was founded in 1997 as a wave of refugees entered Munich fleeing the Yugoslav Wars. It was an initiative of three social workers engaged in refugee work at the time – the geographer Rüdiger Heid as well as students Memo Arikan and Hans Peter Niessner. With their youth teams “Harras Bulls” and “Weigl Heroes” from two social housing developments laid the foundations for the first league in the U14 age category. Through football, the founders wanted to break down the inter-cultural barriers and language barriers between the young people. The “Refugee League” grew as more and more teams formed and started playing. Since 1998 it has operated under the name of Buntkicktgut.
Molded according to the vision of co-founder and director Rüdiger Heid, the project expanded and in Munich alone, it now includes over 2500 participants in over 200 teams from over 100 different countries of origin (correct as of 2015). The most strongly represented countries/regions continue to reflect the origins of the project, as well as former Yugoslavia Bosnia, and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, Croatia. These include Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Palestine, Angola, Togo, DR Congo, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Alongside these, there is an increasing number of participants with migrant backgrounds from EU member states, Turkey, eastern Europe as well as young German people. The leagues (originally supported by the City of Munich Department for Refugees and now by the Initiativgruppe – Interkulturelle Begegnung und Bildung e.V) are firmly established and are being set up in other cities and communities. Through strong cooperation with these institutions, a broad network has been developed with those who provide youth, social and migration work whether independently or on behalf of the community (Kreisjugendring; AWO; Caritas Social Services; Diakonie; Condrobs; Bildungszentren; Kinder- und Mutterschutz e.V.; Verein für Sozialarbeit e.V.)) and involving all relevant government departments (Department for Schooling/Sport; City Youth Department; Streetwork; Department for Health and Environment; Department for Work and Business; Foreign Advisory Council; Regional Committee)
Objective Through football, children come into contact with other young people from German and foreign backgrounds. Alongside the prevention of youth crime and violence, the objective of the project is to broaden perspectives and to laying educational foundations for young people who grow up in difficult social or economic conditions. As a team sport football acts as a catalyst to break down aggression and frustration, whilst improving social interaction and cooperation. At Buntkicktgut, children learn to accept others regardless of their situation in life or their cultural background. Through a playful and competitive culture, central values are laid down: fairness, tolerance, participation and non-violence. These values are conveyed in particular through the fundamental attitude of the social worker; through recognition of a role model's actions and behavior.
Leagues The leagues are the central pillar of Buntkicktgut's pedagogical program. Work with children and young people throughout the year is structured around this system. For instance, in the intercultural street football league in the main location of Munich, children and young people between the ages of 7 and 22 play in teams split up into six categories: U11, U13, U15, U17, 17+ and Girls. They play to qualify for the “Champions League” which since April 2006 has run under the motto “Show us your stadium” – with varying locations for matches around the city. Each registered team acts as the host once a season and decides where the match day will take place (e.g. their local recreation ground, school playing fields, park). The match days are organised and coordinated by the Buntkicktgut team and the host team.
The playing year is split up into a summer and a winter league. Matches are played at recreation grounds, playgrounds, parks and sports halls. Girls are eligible to play in all age categories, and there are therefore no restrictions on the number of girls in a team. To cater to the wishes of many female participants, there is also a separate Girls League.
In Munich alone in the 2014 season there were over 200 match days with a total of 2524 matches played on the recreation grounds and parks of Munich. 159 teams took part in the U11, U13, U15, U17, 17+ (Seniors) and Girls (U13-U17) across the whole city. Over the course of the year there were 1091 training sessions, in which around 2500 children and young people took part. Nationwide over 4000 children and young people participated in buntkicktgut, taking part in over 50 training sessions a week and 250 match days per year.
Participation
The second pillar of the program is the active involvement and participation of young people in key decision making processes. “Buntkicktgut is a street football league for children and young people by children and young people. Along with scoring goals and presence on the pitch, it is about taking responsibility for yourself, your team and the league.”, says Rüdiger Heid. The Buntkicktgut concept of participation consists of six fundamental areas:
Street Football Work In districts with points of social conflict, Street Football Workers train individual teams and spread the philosophy of Buntkicktgut: fair play, tolerance, participation and non-violence. Street Football Workers are mostly young people who know the league inside out, play football and have themselves made the leap to overcome difficult social relationships.
With the “Street Football Work” program and the follow-on “School Football Work” program, Buntkicktgut offers open training sessions in recreational grounds and parks based in targeted districts of the city. Street Football Workers are active in their own city district and undertake responsibility for younger participants there. Every Street Football Worker offers regular training sessions at set times (minimum once a week) for groups/teams of 8-12 children or young people on their “home pitch”, be it the school playground, the rec around the corner, a patch of grass in the park or the courtyard of their block of flats. The training session is open to everyone. The teams take part in the city leagues, which span all city districts and run all year round in the form of a summer and a winter season. On top of that there are regular events, camps, and tournaments for special occasions. An important component of the project is the unique organisation of the teams and the assumption of responsibility by young people in the different areas of participation. From this independence and responsibility stems a dynamic which keeps the leagues alive and running.
League Council
The League Council makes rules, monitors compliance with the rules by participants and teams, resolves conflicts, and determines bans or other sanctions. For instance, in Munich, the League Council is composed of the official buntkicktgut referees, who have successfully completed their training. In regular sittings (once or twice a month) they ensure the smooth running of the league and learn to manage responsibility and act conscientiously. The League Council also has the goal of improving identification with others through participation and therefore creating a better understanding of the problems of the different leagues.
Buntkicker The street football magazine Buntkicker is published by a youth editorial team in online and print form and serves not only to shape identity and build confidence, but also as an educational tool. It includes match reports, interviews, team and player portraits from the leagues, as well as reports and commentaries on important themes which affect the young people of Buntkicktgut. Joining the editorial team is seen as a creative and educational opportunity for players, allowing them to improve their own and others’ language skills. Those interested gain a first impression of editorial work and thus acquire key skills for the job, utilizing computers, the internet and multimedia technology.
Learn-Camps
As well as the continual leagues, Buntkicktgut offers additional holiday programs in cooperation with various partners. For instance the program “Buntkochtgut” is a football nutrition workshop, in which children aged 11 to 13 cook together and thus learn about healthy eating. Additionally, participants learn how they should act in the case of injury and receive intense football training sessions. Alongside paramedics and specialists in nutrition, the Learn Camps are run by Buntkicktgut participants who themselves gain valuable experiences.
A further program that is organised by Buntkicktgut is a language development scheme for primary school children which in particular benefits children from migrant backgrounds. It closes the hole in early language development and moreover bridges the school holidays. The project combines language development and football in a single holistic learning experience. It aims to prevent the early formation of a gap in individuals’ prospects compared to those of their native German counterparts and to improve children's chances of academic and extracurricular success. Of particular note in these Learn Camps is the creation of new partnerships in neighborhoods and the integration of different skills.
Referees and officials Participating children and young people can also contribute to Buntkickgut as referees at match days and tournaments. Buntkicktgut's specialist course for referees consists of two classroom-based sessions and culminates in a written exam. In this way, the rules are enforced by young referees instead of adults. The referees have an important function as mediators on and off the pitch. Through this, young people learn how to deal with responsibility, to remain unbiased despite friendships, to put ethnic differences behind them and to referee matches fairly.
Representative teams
Special talents and players from Buntkicktgut may play for one of the intercultural street football league's representative teams – e.g. FC Interculturale München. Every Buntkicktgut location has a representative team which competes at events, festivals and international trial tournaments (such as the FC Bayern Youth Cup).
‘Open door’ ethos