The Bayern basketball players will soon be raising awareness for the topic of inclusion with individual sign language gestures: each FCBB player will present their unique gesture on the video boards during team introductions at BMW Park and SAP Garden. Additionally, corresponding clips will be featured on player profiles on the website and available as QR codes on autograph cards. In visual sign language for deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals, communication occurs through gestures, facial expressions, mouth movements, and body posture.
Sign language already enables barrier-free participation for FC Bayern men's and women's football teams. This new project from the double champions was also developed in collaboration with the FC Bayern fan club "Red Deaf" and the cross-club initiative "Red Against Racism," which promotes diversity and opposes discrimination.
"Sport Connects All People"
Herbert Hainer, President of FC Bayern: “We are very pleased that with our men's and women's football teams as well as our FC Bayern basketball players, we can once again draw attention to the important topic of inclusion through sign language gestures for the players. With all three professional teams, FC Bayern is once again making a clear statement: No one should feel excluded from our club; everyone should find a home with us. Many thanks once again to our fan club ‘Red Deaf’ for implementing the gestures. It is important to us that the gestures are developed by our fans, so we can shape our society and future together.”
FCBB Managing Director Marko Pesic is also excited about the initiative: “It’s a wonderful story that our team now has its own sign language gestures. Sport connects people in a unique way, as the world has just witnessed at the Paralympics in Paris. It’s a great signal that Bayern fans have come up with gestures for people with hearing impairments because we want to encourage a spirit of togetherness in sport where no one is left out.”
Members of the “Red Deaf” fan club, made up of people with hearing impairments, spent several weeks gathering information and observations to develop distinctive gestures for each player and the new FCBB coach Gordon Herbert. The clips were created during a joint filming day with the fan club and its chairperson, Martina Bechtold, at BMW Park.