Recreational soccer
Recreational soccer or amateur football called voluntary or independent football game . A distinction is made between kicking on the football field or street football and self-organized, regulated play in a leisure league (also known as the Colorful League or Wild League ).
There has always been football organized outside the DFB and not affiliated with any sports club . Most of the colorful leagues, however, follow a tradition (originated in the 1970s) when the desire for self-organization, the solution of club structures and the connection between sporting and political activity gained in importance. That is why recreational football is also associated with “left” or “alternative” football, or even viewed as the “real” football that has returned to its roots. This cultural and social aspect becomes very clear at the German Alternative Championship (DAM) , which has been held since the 1980s.
Association football also had to react to the popularity of the colorful leagues. The Berlin Football Association set up a leisure league as early as 1977. In the meantime, new clubs that want to take part in regular BFV games have only had to play in this leisure league for three years. This blurs the difference between the official and leisure league considerably. On the other hand, many leisure teams in the colorful leagues are forced to join a club in order to have a football pitch at all.
While club football is struggling with increasing membership decline, the influx of colorful leagues continues unabated. This sometimes leads to conflicts with the clubs, who fear for their survival.
On the threshold between recreational and association football, there are company teams and old men teams of the clubs.
Hobby tournaments
In addition to the league system, hobby tournaments are also organized in which these leisure teams participate. In the south of Germany, these events are known as the junk tournament (or junk ), which is intended to underline the character of self-organization and the clubs and association independence of the teams. Originally this term only existed in Switzerland, but was taken up in German by foreign Germans.
The SOCCACUP takes place in Munich every year, bringing together participants from all over Europe. In winter there is the WINTERCUP. The tournaments are organized by volunteers and participation fees are therefore only expenses.
The rules of such tournaments are given by the organizers. Specifications that differ from the official football rules are mostly about the size of the pitch (often the game is played on a small pitch), the number of players on the pitch (e.g. a goalkeeper and five field players) and the duration of a game. There is also often a restriction on the number of players in a team who may be organized in club teams in addition to recreational football.
literature
- Richard Gebhardt, Undogmatic Physical Exercise. A portrait of German alternative football , in: Forschungsjournal Neue Sozialebewegung, issue 2/2010, pp. 73–84.
- Bernd Müllender and Jürgen Nendza (eds.), Gib mich die Kirsche, Germany. Colorful leagues and alternative football , Klartext-Verlag , Essen 1992, ISBN 9783884740194
- Werner Augustin, Die Freizeitkicker: Rammler und Alte Herren , epubli Verlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-8442-2250-0
- Werner Augustin, Die Freizeitkicker: Rudelbildung , epubli Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-8442-5082-4
Web links
- Directory for leisure teams, leagues and tournaments in Germany
- Directory for recreational soccer in Germany
- Recreational player search and recreational game organization in Germany