Hockey against racism

Our initiative started after a general meeting of my field hockey club, Real von Chamisso, in November 2019. The original idea came from my long-time teammate Dr. Rami-Habib Eid-Sabbagh. He is German-Palestinian and approached me that evening as 'Honorary President' of Real and project leader of 'Yadan Biad', an accompanying project for refugees in mass accommodations in Berlin (www.yadanbiad.de). In cooperation with the DRK, I have brought together refugees with their neighbors since 2015 to promote their integration through cultural exchange and human encounters. Some of Real's teammates have been involved there as companions.

Rami suggested that as a field hockey club, they could send a clear message against the increasing racism in Germany. The assassination of government president Walter Lübke on June 1, 2019 by neo-Nazi Stephan Ernst, the attempted murder of fellow Jews on Yom Kippur in a synagogue in Halle on October 9, 2019 by right-wing extremist Stephan Balliet, and the dramatic rise in attacks on refugees, refugee shelters and mosques after 2015 were stirring testimonies to this need. That very night, I set about implementing the idea and contacted my old friend, field hockey player and art director, Soenke Busch, asking him to design a logo for it. We wanted the logo to give other clubs and the DHB the possibility to follow this clear statement. 

After the first visualizations, long and controversial discussions about the logo started with players of different political views and opinions within our club. What statement do we want to make with it, how does it look exactly and what connects us all in any case? The next act of racist terrorism in Germany took place during this period. On February 19, 2020, Tobias R executed 9 defenseless people with a migration background in Hanau for the basest of motives and then killed himself. Afterwards, we agreed on the statement that can be found on the website www.hockeygegenrassismus.de.

 

Soenke Busch developed the final logo after numerous drafts, which were closely coordinated with the DHB via Benni Wess, from whom the slogan 'Hockey against Racism' originated. On February 5, 2020, we applied for the logo as a word-picture mark, which was registered with the German Trademark and Patent Office on June 22, 2020. On May 8, 2020, we received permission and approval from the DHB, and a short time later also from the DSOB, to wear and distribute our logo.