Basketball is one of the most popular sports in Germany, but its future could be under threat due to a rise in right-wing extremism.

In the eastern state of Thuringia, two coaches have warned that some young non-white players are concerned that they could encounter racism if they were to move to the state. In an interview with the Thüringer Allgemeine paper on Thursday (August 22), Björn Harmsen, coach of second division Jena, said "the shift to the right and political developments" are playing a greater role when signing new players to his club.

"Where we have a problem is the acquisition of German players who want to come here with their families and have fears," he told the paper.

Harmsen’s comments come as Thuringia is gearing up for elections on September 1, when the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is expected to become the strongest party. It is currently polling far ahead of the Christian Democrats and the populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance. The state leader of the AfD, Björn Höcke, is on the extreme right of the party and has been convicted for using banned Nazi slogans.

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'Serious concerns and uncertainty'

Alongside Harmsen, the coach in charge of another Thuringia club, Florian Gut, spoke of similar experiences.

"If we wanted to sign young players from Germany with a migrant background, they themselves, and even more so their parents, would bring up this topic very early on in discussions," the trainer of third division Erfurt told the paper in the same interview.

"Do they need to be afraid of racism? Are they aware of the rise of the far right? There are very serious concerns and a great deal of uncertainty here, especially in Thuringia."

Populism is becoming more and more acceptable

Racism against non-white players in the state is not new. The two coaches both recalled incidents of discrimination in the past.

In 1997, Harmsen’s basketball team in Jena, which had one Black player, was confronted by a racist mob of around 60 or 70 right-wing extremists wearing jack boots and bomber jackets.

"That must not happen and it must not be repeated," he said. "The scenario in which you are scared to walk down the street or you think twice about which route to take."

Dennis Schröder, the captain of the world champion German men's national team – who grew up in Braunschweig and whose mother is from Gambia – was constantly called the N-word in school. "That obviously made me really angry. Almost no one called me Dennis," the 30-year-old said in a recent podcast.

Since then, according to Harmsen, things have improved, but they have started heading in the wrong direction again. "Populism is becoming more and more acceptable and there is increasing acceptance of it," the coach said.

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When players reach the professional level and they become recognized as celebrities, the racism is not such an issue, according to Gut. But younger players from non-white backgrounds are feeling a lot of uncertainty, and that is affecting their futures, the trainer said.

While racism was one of the motivations for Schröder to show what he could achieve on the basketball court, coach Gut says his club can offer an example to the community in Thuringia of how to resolve their differences. "We have to work together," he said.

"[Harmsen and I] are both convinced that this is very important for our society. That’s why we’re talking about this… [We’re] two people who care deeply about this and about Thuringia."

With dpa