Cricket helps Afghan refugees feel at home in Hamburg DW 10/02/2024

Using a portable batting net and a set of sturdy plywood planks, a group of young Afghans in Hamburg turn the gravel road around a school football field into a usable place to play cricket. It's hardly Lords, but it'll do.

As residents of a local refugee shelter, these cricket enthusiasts have limited resources to pursue their passion. Even though their social workers did not know what cricket was, without their help Noor Ahmad Wahidi and his friends would not have had a chance.

Wahidi is captain of the Neuland Lions, Hamburg's newest cricket team. It consists of Afghan residents of the Neuland refugee center. He certainly looks the part in his maroon polo shirt, embroidered with the logo of the local cricket association.

On the day of DW's visit, Noor and his brother Nazir celebrate an anniversary. “It's been exactly a year since we arrived in Germany,” Noor beams, happy to be practicing the sport he loves.

The Taliban regime changed everything

In Afghanistan, cricket is king. It is the country's favorite sport and the sport in which it excels the most internationally, but since the Taliban took power in 2021, women have been banned from participating in sports.

For Noor and Nazir, who were forced to leave their country after the Taliban took power, the country's men's cricket team remains a source of pride. But the brothers have not given up hope for their female compatriots.

“I watch all my country's matches. I like to support them,” says Noor. “Afghanistan is the only country that is a full member of the International Cricket Council but does not have a women's team.”

“I would like it [for us] to take this big step,” he adds.

Cricket farming in Germany

Across Germany, cricket is a niche activity, but there has been some growth in recent years, largely driven by immigrants from countries such as Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

“They have the biggest role to play,” said Siegfried Franz, chairman of Cricket Hamburg. “It's fantastic that they are here and bring our sport, their sport, with them.”

'Siggi', as he is known to local players, is one of the few Germans of his generation for whom this sport means a lot. He first came into contact with it as a young man, after meeting some local students while staying at a youth hostel in Liverpool.

When social workers from the refugee reception center in Neuland contacted him earlier in 2024, Franz did not hesitate to help. Initially he borrowed some spare plastic stumps and bats, followed by a larger donation, funded by a collection among colleagues at Cricket Hamburg.

“I know what it feels like to be new in a foreign country, and that's how these guys feel too,” Franz says. “It's great that cricket is giving them a home.”

At Franz's suggestion, the Neuland Lions were incorporated into the Harburger Turnbund, a district sports club that allowed them to compete in domestic competitions and train alongside existing squads. They have already played their first matches and have attracted the attention of the local press.

“This is integration,” says Franz. “Indians train Afghans, all set up by Germans.”

Lessons from Germany

The sport has given the Neuland Lions an outlet in life beyond the confines of their accommodation center. It has also given them the opportunity to learn some lessons about the prevailing customs in their adopted country.

“Sometimes our ball-smacking sounds disturb the neighbors, and they shout at us and tell us to stop or they will call the police,” laughs Nazir.

“Germany is a strange country when it comes to sports,” Franz reflects. “Everyone always wants to watch TV, but gets angry when something is going on on their own doorstep.”

The sanctity of the Sunday silence is not the only feature of local life to which the cricketers have become accustomed. For those with ears to hear it, there is a linguistic indication, and that is all the proof Franz needs that Afghans are well on the way to integration.

Thanks to their enthusiastic embrace of the local North German dialect, the Neuland Lions already seem to be honorary citizens of Hamburg.

“You arrive at training in the evening and all the boys say: 'Moin!'” says Franz. “That's all I need for the work I do.”

Edited by: Jonathan Harding