Figure 1.--This snapshot shows part of a German youth team. The boys wear differebnt styles of red shirts, white shorts, and colored kneesocks. The photograph was taken in 1964. Notice the typical German houses in the background.

We do not know a great deal about German youth sports. We notice sports competions in the 1920s and 30s, but these seem to be more athletics than team sports competitioins. We do not see any indication of a major youth sports program until after World War II (1939-45). This seemds to hve been sports clubs rather than school sports. German soccer teams were real power houses in the 1950s and 60s. This helpedv to create great enthudiam for the sport among boys. There is even a movie addressing this topic. The images we note accross Europe are very similsar. For the most part we do not note any desctinctive German features. This snapshot shows part of a German youth team (figure 1). The boys wear different styles of red shirts, white shorts, and colored kneesocks. The photograph was taken in 1964. There are also some differences associated with climate such as German boys wearing tights to play soccer during the winter.

German Youth Sports

We do not know a great deal about German youth sports. We notice sports competions in the 1920s and 30s, but these seem to be more athletics than team sports competitioins. We do not see any indication of a major youth sports program until after World War II (1939-45). After the War soccer soon came to dominate German sports. We do not know of any other sport that compares to soiccer in importance.

Sports Clubs

Schools do not appear to play an important role in German youth sports. The major factor seems to be sports clubs rather than school sports. We do not yet have much information on German sports clubs. Before World War II sports clubs appear to have been mostly for youths rather than boys. Also after the NAZIs seized power (1933), the Hitler Youth program increasingly dominated the free time of both boys and youths. I'm not sure how this affected sports clubs. Also sports clubs seem to have focused more on athletics than team sports. After the War, sports clubs developed programs for boys and soccer was an important part of that program. A German reader writes, "I noticed the new HBC pages on soccer. I read them with interest. As HBC reports, soccer is the No. 1 sport in Germany. Over 7 million people are members of soccer clubs. I played soccer in a club since I was 5 years old in the late 1989s. Like me, many of my classmates played soccer, too. Now and then we played soccer atschool, but most I played it at my soccer club. They are different groups for the youth. The first organized group is for boys from 5 to 7. It`s called the F-Jugend. (Jugend means youth) The next groups follow in intervals of two years. F-Jugend 5-7 E-Jugend 8-9 D-Jugend 10-11 C-Jugend 12-13 B-Jugend 14-15 A-Jugend 16-17. During a season you can become older. You have to look to the age at the beginning of the year. I continued playing soccer on a club team until I was 15."

Chronology

German soccer teams were real power houses in the 1950s and 60s. This helped to create great enthudiam for the sport among boys. There is even a movie addressing this topic. Wehave noted German boys participating in soccer leagues with uniformed teams in the 1960s. I assume this probavly began in the 1950s, but we do not yet have any images from the 1950s confirming this. We do have images from the 1950s. We also notice other sports clubs from the 1960s. A British reader who traveled to Germany as a boy remembers the Germans boys swim club having quite elaborate uniforms. Soccer uniforms varied. We note some jerseys were done in the rugby style, bit not in stripes. Many boys had kneesocks with stripes at the top. This can be seen in the socks the boys here are wearing in 1964 (figure 1). Uniforms were still generally plain in the 1960s, but generally got flashier.

Uniforms

The images we note accross Europe are very similsar. For the most part we do not note any desctinctive German features. This snapshot shows part of a German youth team (figure 1). The boys wear differebnt styles of red shirts, white shorts, and colored kneesocks. The photograph was taken in 1964. There are also some differences associated with climate such as German boys wearing tights to play soccer during the winter.

Movies

There is a wonderful film about the impact that soccer had on Germany in the post-World war II period. Das Wunder von Bern (Germany 2003) shows that impact through one boy's eyes.

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Created: 5:34 PM 7/21/20041
Last updated: 9:13 PM 7/28/2004