The Ethical Question of Hertha Freundin
By: Abby | November 15th, 2007
One of the first times I was aware of Hertha BSC Berlin’s existence was at the launch of the Hertha Freundin website. Yes, this marks me out as a new Hertha fan, but I admitted as much in my very first post here.
It struck me as odd that a football club would need an entirely different website for female fans, and I was worried that it would be a ridiculous, condescending thing. There’s no reason for female and male fans to be segregated. It struck me, and still somewhat strikes me, as saying that women needed a ‘lesser’ website for their interests. After all, aren’t we just fans? We don’t need a candy-colored version of football to make it interesting.
Also, why does the girl’s site need recipes?
It’s something I’m still grappling with, because now that I’m more involved in the team and better at reading German I find that I like the site a lot. While it is presented in baby-blue, it’s interesting. Useful, even. It also has a lighthearted tone that I personally enjoy when I read about football, particularly in player interviews- I like knowing things such as that Marko Pantelic doesn’t like to read, or what Solomon Okoronkwo’s tattoos say, or the slightly ridiculous tastes in music. The list of Bundesliga mascots is worth reading just for the pictures. It talks about the women who work at Hertha and has interviews with prominent female fans and sportswomen.
Also, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy this photoshoot with Tobias Grahn. (I have a long-term weakness for Swedes.)
So there is the question I’m posing to myself, and any readers out there who care to chip in during this international week without a lot of actual news to post about. With Hertha Freundin, is Hertha reaching out to female fans, providing them a place in football and showing that they’re welcome? Or is it a condescending way of separating out and marginalizing female fans?
As much as I enjoy the site I’m still not sure if it needs to exist. That doesn’t stop me from checking out the new content when it comes out every month.
Category: hertha freundin
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Comments
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Hertha Freundin has already made the rounds on German blogs and sites. The tenor was as ambiguous as your thoughts.
It’s worth pointing out, that this site is a pet project/labour of love of a couple of women who work at Hertha.
Now, first of all a quick general thought about football:
People enjoy football for many different reasons. The game, the players, the tactics, the technique etc. are at the core. And many people are fine reducing their interest to that and the one team they support. But on top of that football is writing plenty of stories on and off the pitch and there are people who find those stories exciting as well. Football is business and some people might find it fascinating to read how much money a shirt sponsor is paying and learn about Real Madrid’s yearly revenue. Football is showbiz and so some people find celebrity gossip surrounding the stars entertaining and look forward to their weekly WAG. Etc. Etc.There are sites that cater to one, some or all of the above mentioned facets of the game and you are free to chose what interests you.
Hertha Freundin doesn’t mean, girls/women have to stick to this site if they want to be Hertha fans. They can skip it completely and instead buy the weekly Kicker or Sport Bild and rant about the player ratings for the weekend in the pub around the corner. Or whatever. It’s an extra option if you like to supplement your Hertha fan existence with pretty pictures and iPod playlists of players.
As such I see no problem at all with such a site. Doesn’t explain the recipes though.
On top of that. For teenage girls footballers can often act as a ersatz-boy group they can fantasise about during their over-admiration years. Hertha Freundin can help in those cases as well.
Posted from
Germany
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I figured it had, but I’m behind the times myself and therefore just getting around to writing about it now (I blame not knowing German properly and also writing a thesis). And I’ve sort of come to the same conclusions as you, Jan, but it does make me a little uncomfortable still if that makes sense. And it supplements my fan existence as well, because I like ridiculous things like iPod playlists. Which puts me into more issues, because it becomes a question of whether it’s female fans who like the sillier things or if it’s just me as a person.
In general, I like the site a lot and enjoy its existence, but it’s not untroubled for me. However, I’m probably more convinced that it’s a good thing.
I’d also be lying if I said that discovering Freddie Ljungberg’s Calvin Klein ads in a magazine when I was getting my hair cut in my teens didn’t get me on the path to becoming a football fan. I don’t think that makes my fandom any lesser, but it is a non-footballing reason.
These are not straightforward issues. I think that’s why I like them.
Posted from
United States -
I’m glad you’ve brought this up, because it’s an interesting issue. I’d seen this site back when it launched, but didn’t spend too much time with it since there weren’t enough pictures of Arne.
I’d be lying if I said that seeing a bunch of fit men run around and get sweaty, then take their shirts off, isn’t an appealing prospect. The site seems to be an attempt to acknowledge that there are a lot of women watching soccer and to welcome them. It’s a thousand times more welcoming than the woman’s butt juxtaposed next to the soccer ball on the World Cup Blog.
I honestly don’t know if men are really interested in the personal side of players, but I know I am. Does that content really need to be separated out in a “girls clubhouse” format that might scare guys away… probably not. “Masculine” stories about training sessions are fine, but it’s the personal touches that bring fans closer. Bayern Munich occasionally puts up lighthearted stories with personal details on their main page — but now I wish we had a site like this one. The Freundin website is a very cool resource — I think they just need to package it better. Also — gay guys might like it, too.
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United States -
To add to the discussion I guess it’s worth pointing out, that football for a very long time has been basically a boys only thing, at least in Germany.
A lot has changed in that respect thanks to the recent success story of the women’s national team, but even more so thanks to the “positive vibe” of the World Cup. The German national team is currently probably the one team in Germany with the highest percentage of female fans (at least during big tournaments the ratio must be close to 50:50). The whole positive social aspects that the WC advertised are said to have triggered more women to become football fans.
But that’s probably news to some conservative Ultras in the curves. And since Juliet mentioned gay guys. More and more clubs have separate gay fan clubs. VfB Stuttgart just recently acknowledged one as official. Berlin has one for quite some time already. You could pose the same question there. Why do they need a separate fan club? Probably for the same reason, why the members of those fan clubs don’t join conservative Ultras in the curves, but rather settle down in a different part of the stadium, where they demonstrate for less homophobia in football.
There is plenty of homophobic, misogynistic white trash in football stadiums each week. So a resource like Hertha Freundin probably helps making girls feel more welcome at this club.
But yes, maybe the contents could be incorporated into the main page instead. There are actually a couple of articles that would be fun to read for men as well. E.g. I guess only a few guys could tell you how exactly a football weekly like kicker comes up with its player ratings. But I like the Hertha Freundin design better than the rather clunky Hertha main page, so probably it would be better to integrate the main page into Hertha Freundin.:-)
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Germany -
I agree with you on that, Jan. I do wish that all the groups could work together, and we wouldn’t need Hertha Freundin or Hertha Junxx. But that’s not the case. So I think that Hertha is doing the next best thing, really, by providing a place for groups that may otherwise not feel welcome.
Perhaps some of it should be better incorporated, though. As you said, it’s not just for girls. I don’t want some of the interesting content to be marginalized, or for people to think that being interested in content that doesn’t directly relate to a game played is somehow a lesser use of time. Although in general I do like the Hertha website, even the English one with less content. It’s useful to me as a Hertha blogger.
Especially the press roundup, since it’s difficult to find out what the press is reporting otherwise in Seattle…And I definitely agree with you, Juliet. It’s a much nicer way to promote girls in football. And more than just girls enjoy reading more things about their heroes.
Posted from
United States -
[...] Ethics: Do girls need a separate clubhouse to enjoy the beautiful game? (Hertha Offside) [...]
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