Radical Football

Steve Fleming

Description

From using football to promote peace on the gangland streets of Medellin, to building a global network of 'Football for Good' organisations, Jurgen Griesbeck is now, through Common Goal, leading transformational change across the football industry. Set up in partnership with World Cup-winner Juan Mata - and with the likes of Megan Rapinoe, Mats Hummels, Pernille Harder, Paulo Dybala. Jurgen Klopp, Casey Stoney, Julian Nagelsmann and even entire competitions and clubs already taking the one per cent pledge of earnings - Common Goal aims to reconstruct football's role in society and put purpose, people and the planet at the heart of the game. This incredible story of one of the world's leading social entrepreneurs captures Jurgen's passion, drive and leadership, and presents a hopeful vision for the future of football, with contributions from some of the most disruptive, innovative and progressive thinkers in the game - the Radical XI. This remarkable book shows how the power of football can - and must - be unleashed for social change.

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 31 janvier 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781801502153
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2022
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Steve Fleming, 2022
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Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.
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A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 9781801501149
eBook ISBN 9781801502153
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
The First Half
1. Manrique, July 1995
2. Costa Rica, 1989-1990
3. World Upside Down, 1990
4. Cologne, 1990-1992
5. The Return to Medell n, September 1992
6. A House in the Andes
7. The Gentleman of Football
8. The 1994 World Cup the Murder of Andr s Escobar
9. A Game of Three Halves, 1995-1997
10. A Man on a Mission
11. F tbol por la Paz, 1997-2000
12. A Road Back to Germany, 1998-2000
13. From the Black Forest to Cologne, 1965-1987
14. A Cold Reception
15. Street Football for Tolerance, 2000-2002
16. Enter Borkovi
17. The World Beyond
18. streetfootballworld is Born, July 2000-March 2002
19. The Letter
20. The Launch of the Global Network, April 2004
21. The Unofficial Co-Founders
22. A Hybrid Structure, September 2004
23. The Volleyball Player
24. Kreuzberg
25. festival 06 and the 2006 World Cup
The Second Half
26. Southampton, 1980s-1990s
27. Kick4Malawi to Kick4Life, September 2004-May 2006
28. A Strategic Alliance, 2007
29. Lesotho, 2007-2008
30. Remaining Independent
31. Puky s Team
32. Eleven , March 2010
33. festival 2010 and the 2010 World Cup
34. The Opening of the Lesotho Football for Hope Centre, September 2011
35. The Crisis
36. Washington D.C., August 2011-July 2013
37. The Coup d tat, September 2012
38. On the Board
39. From Kick4Life to Kick4Life FC
40. The Social Enterprises
41. FIFA Corruption Scandal, 2015
42. The Boy from Oviedo
43. Manchester, 2015-2016
44. The 1%
45. India, June 2017
46. The Launch of Common Goal, August-December 2017
47. Right to Dream
48. The Common Goal Community
49. The Pandemic
50. Reflections
The Third Half
51. Radical Football
52. Love Football - by Katja Kraus
53. Another Way - by Dale Vince
54. Everybody Football - by Khalida Popal
55. Natural Football - by Pippa Grange
56. Giving Back to Youth - by Pamela Coke-Hamilton
57. Maximising the Social Benefit of Football - by Moya Dodd
58. Team Game, Individual Roles, Collective Impact - by Serge Gnabry
59. Reconnecting with the Soul of Football - by Tom Vernon
60. Shining a Light - by Eniola Aluko
61. Embedding Purpose within a Football Club - by Preeti Shetty
62. A New Democracy Must Put Our Human Needs First - by Jonas Baer-Hoffmann
63. Radical Teamplay - by J rgen Griesbeck
About the Author
Photos
Life doesn t end here. We have to go on. Life cannot end here. No matter how difficult, we must stand back up. We only have two options: either allow anger to paralyse us and the violence continues, or we overcome and try our best to help others. It s our choice.
Andr s Escobar, Wednesday, 29 June 1994
Acknowledgements
J RGEN AND Steve would like to thank everyone who has been a part of the story, and the many people who have contributed directly to the creation of this book; it has been a team effort, and it wouldn t exist without the time, energy and commitment of family, friends and colleagues around the world. The telling is one part, the sharing is another, so we also take this opportunity to ask for your help in spreading the word, and in taking the book and its message far and wide.
A special note of thanks to the thousands of Football for Good practitioners - the coaches and the educators - who are on the pitch every day, using their passion for football, and sometimes risking their lives, to tackle the world s most pressing challenges. We honour those colleagues and young people who have been killed for standing up for what they believe in, and we thank the people in the background - the friends and family members - who, like our own loved ones, have made great sacrifices along the way.
We also recognise that this is not the whole story of Football for Good, and there are many people not mentioned in the book who have contributed enormously to the mission. We acknowledge you all. And it is, of course, a story that continues to be written, in thousands of back yards, streets and classrooms, on concrete pitches and dusty fields, and, increasingly, in the stadiums and boardrooms of professional football. We are a growing team, playing together, for the game of our lives.
Foreword
I VE LEARNT most about life with a ball at my feet.
Born and raised in London, I was immersed in street football from a young age. In football I found freedom and independence. On the concrete pitch where my love for the game began, anything was possible. And that is a feeling that years later, as I play week-in week-out professionally, I still fight to hold on to.
When I read J rgen s story, I felt an energy that I can only liken to that which you share with team-mates in a huddle before a big game. J rgen has managed to unite competing players, managers and brands in a unique huddle that is the Common Goal movement. Harnessing the power of football, Common Goal encourages all within the industry to pledge 1% back to a chosen cause. This book details the incredible journey that led to the establishment of the movement, going on to explore its growth from strength to strength in the years since.
I am proud to be a member of Common Goal.
At seven years old, I would get home from school and stuff down a snack. Then it was immediately out the door to play football on the housing estate at the end of my road. I wouldn t even pause to change my shoes, having worn my beloved astroturfs all day ready for lunchtime kick-arounds. I would get to the pitch and begin the match I had been waiting for. It didn t matter if there were nine others at the pitch when I got there, or no one, the number of girls playing would always be the same. One. That was me.
I rarely knew any of the boys I played football with. We would go from strangers to team-mates in the space of an evening. When we took to the pitch it was less about who was playing and more about what we were playing - that s the beauty of the game. The possibility that in a moment, nothing else matters. With the ball, I found self-expression through the language of football, and a world where everyone was accepted and could be understood.
It is astonishing to think that if I had been born in London 30 years earlier, I would not have been allowed to even play football; 2021 marked the 100th anniversary of the FA s ban of women s football. That ruling lasted for 50 years. Could I have even dreamed of playing for my country at Wembley during that time? It would have seemed absurd. But I was born in 1999, my generation could dream, and in 2021 I turned that dream into a reality.
What does the next 50 years hold for football? Radical Football puts forward an exciting vision for what might be possible if we approach the future as a team. It is a story with an important message for every football fan and player, about working together to put purpose at the heart of the game. I see my pledge to Common Goal as a piece of that future. I want to empower thousands more young people to dream of representing their country, to discover the language of football or to simply enjoy a kick-about. After all, I learned most about life with a ball at my feet.
Lotte Wubben-Moy
Arsenal, England and Common Goal

1
Manrique, July 1995
THE TWO groups of young men pulled out guns from their jeans and leather jackets and put them in piles on the ground. One member of each gang was left to stand guard over the weapons while the others stepped on to the football pitch. In that moment everything changed; the two gangs became two teams, and with the tools of violence left on the touchline, a game of football commenced. The players were unaware that watching from outside of the wire mesh fence that surrounded the dusty pitch was a young German man. Nor could they have anticipated that this fleeting moment in their lives would trigger a change of direction in his, which would ultimately transform the landscape of football forever.
J rgen Griesbeck was walking the hilly streets of Manrique, a district in the north-east of Medell n, Colombia s second-largest city, when he saw the rival gangs take out their revolvers and ritually place them on the ground. What followed was a competitive football match, with the two teams self-officiating and reaching agreements. J rgen watched the game for ten minutes before continuing his walk, taking with him the genesis of an idea.
In previous months, J rgen had been walking a lot. He wanted to explore the city, na ve to the danger that he faced every time he stepped out alone into the unfamiliar streets. The Medell n Cartel had collapsed 18 months earlier in December 1993 with the killing of its leader Pablo Escobar by the Colombian National Police, and in the aftermath, a fragmented collection of gangs emerged. The boys J rgen saw on the pitch that afternoon, just a 20-minute walk from the rooftop where Escobar was shot dead, were a part of that chaotic legacy.
J rgen s walk