Matchday 12 in the 2. Bundesliga saw Hamburger SV host struggling Holstein Kiel, but the 1982/83 European Cup Winners entered the field of play with an obvious difference; spelling errors on the jerseys of two of their starting players.
As some eagle-eyed fans spotted, converted right-back Moritz Heyer and midfielder Jonas Meffert both had errors on the names of their shirts, reading ‘Heya’ and ‘Meffort’, however after the Hamburger SV twitter account hinted at ‘mistakes’ during the 24th minute of the game, it became clear that this was no ordinary blunder. The spelling errors, in fact, acted as a device to raise awareness toward reading and writing issues in Germany.
Roughly 3 million people in Germany have dyslexia, and a greater 6.2 million are unable to read or write sufficiently. Partnered with Hamburger SV’s large fan-base, this campaign accentuated the awareness for literacy issues in Germany. In essence, it conveys an important issue which society has often failed to give appropriate recognition towards.
The gesture picked up the ‘Fair Play’ award for all games across both Bundesliga divisions, but it goes further than that. Hamburger SV have shown that this is not just another halfhearted approach towards a societal issue that is so often seen through throughout the footballing world. This is about calling for more tolerance for those who can’t enjoy football the same way as others.
As a club, Hamburger SV are clearly passionate about those with reading and writing disabilities through their support of a previous jersey campaign. This is reinforced by the choice of language and layout on their website; simplistic language with plenty of pictures to aid those who may struggle otherwise.
Hats off to Hamburger SV for their commitment to progressing simple values of enjoyment and inclusiveness in football.
