Dhe second division football club FC St. Pauli will wear a special jersey in the match against 1. FC Magdeburg. To draw attention to gender-appropriate language, the brown shirt is adorned with a gender asterisk above the club crest.
“Where the star of the championship is emblazoned at other clubs, the star of the north shines with us,” said President Oke Göttlich. The statutes of the club have been changed for two years: “We regularly use the gender star in speech and correspondence. For us, this is now part of everyday life,” stressed Göttlich. However, “a few expressions of opinion in the gender discussion” show “how necessary the whole thing still is”.
The club is once again clearly positioning itself on a socio-political issue. The fight against racism and homophobia has been part of the brown and white identity for years. The FAZ Göttlich said last year that sustainability and diversity issues are so important in football because they “breathe the social spirit of the necessary change and think about our future”. In his club, fortunately, such topics have been discussed “for over 30 years earlier, which is why they are often more coarse and harder than in other clubs, where things like this are sometimes hushed up because football shouldn’t be political.”
The gender star is part of a seasonal campaign by the Kiezklub. According to the club, it can be seen on the season tickets and communication areas. Wearing such a special jersey has become possible thanks to a new guideline from the German Football League. According to this, additional shirts may be worn this season as long as they deal with diversity or sustainability.
By the way, the Hamburgers have their jersey produced themselves. According to their own statement, they do this because they could not find a manufacturer who met their own sustainability standards.
