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Legendary TV presenter Ueli Heiniger is still impressed. “These two women had never appeared on television before, but they were so authentic, courageous and honest in front of the cameras. That impressed me.” These two women are Franziska Steinemann (then Wagner) and Claudia Hirt. On April 12, 1994 they were guests of Heiniger in the “Club”. The topic: “Lesbians in women’s football. Fear of homosexual contamination?
Looking back, what the audience saw there 30 years ago for 85 minutes and 38 seconds is grotesque and can hardly be beaten in terms of absurdity. But the TV audience seemed very interested. 369,000 people watched this program and the market share was a whopping 46 percent – record figures to date.
But why did this ‘Club’ program exist with what, from today’s perspective, is such an absurd title? The reason for this was the discrimination case at FC Wettswil-Bonstetten, a club from the Säuliamt in Zurich.
What happened in the Mooshüsli Clubhouse?
The women of the FCWB played in the 2nd division at the time, the third highest division. The fact that more and more women started playing football at that time was obviously not well received by everyone within the club. The disaster started at the end of March 1994. “We were celebrating a player’s 30th birthday in our Mooshüsli clubhouse. Some of them also had their girlfriends with them,” recalls then-footballer Claudia Hirt, “which clearly angered the board. They then wrongly called it a lesbian festival. A few days later, our team was banned from participating without warning.”
Franziska Steinemann also played for the FCWB at the time. “The board suggested that lesbian players had abused girls in the shower, which was absolutely untrue. This was an outrageous accusation and total slander. It quickly became clear to all of us that we would not tolerate that.”
When Blick got wind of it, things really started. On April 2, 1994, Blick headlined: “Sex scandal in the football club. Too many lesbians – top team was disbanded. In the article, the club board refers to its official statement, and it’s all there: “The club is being exploited because it adheres to an abnormal institution. The women’s team has damaged the reputation and importance of the club. As a board, we are obliged to intervene as soon as there is a risk that minors are in danger.
The Blick report was topped with a tasteless statement from the legendary Kever: “I prefer to play in Lesbenmoos.” Also shocking: the whole thing was not a sex scandal, but a case of discrimination.
“The reporting was a milestone”
Barbara Brosi was at the time chairman of the Swiss lesbian organization LOS, also a guest at the “Club” and was then considered the best-known lesbian in Switzerland. Today she says: “I am eternally grateful to Blick for bringing the story to the public, even though the way it was done was clumsy and also discriminatory. But the reporting was very important and a milestone for the lesbian movement in Switzerland.”
In the days that followed, more and more media jumped on the case. And it wasn’t just reported locally, it was also reported in Germany and England. Thirty years ago, presenter Heiniger was initially unsure whether the events were a problem for the “club”. “We talked about it for a long time because it was actually too tabloid-like. But when we realized that this topic was also socially relevant, we decided to go for it.”
“I actually came out on TV”
A decision that turned out to be completely right. This is how this memorable program was born, in which different world views collided. In which a former board member of the FCWB tried to justify what was not justifiable at all. What do the guests at the time think of this program and the Blick report?
Barbara Brosi: “Before this show, lesbians were not visible in public and had no political or social weight. That suddenly changed with the Blick articles and the ‘Club’. For me personally, the performance had almost exclusively positive consequences. People knew me after that, I was constantly approached on the street and suddenly there were flowers in front of my door. I even received letters with just the address ‘Barbara Brosi, Lesbian Switzerland’ on them.”
Franziska Steinemann: “At the time I had no idea what kind of reaction this program would provoke. But we were right to stand there and defend ourselves. Also against Blick reporting. The ‘sex scandal’ accusation was bad because it implied sexual assault.”
Claudia Hirt: “I risked a lot because no one except my parents and my brother knew I was a lesbian. I actually got on TV. Afterwards I received numerous letters, most of which were positive. But unfortunately I also lost my job because of the performance. But a few months later I found a new job, partly because they had seen me on TV and were impressed by my courage.”
“Lesbians are nymphomaniacs!”
The Blick report at the time also showed what kind of time we lived in then. After the broadcast of “Club,” Blick confronted Barbara Brosi with seven prejudices about lesbians: “Lesbians are contagious!”, “Lesbians abuse girls!” or “Lesbians are nymphomaniacs!”. Brosi laughs about it today: “Many people really thought that way at the time. They believed that lesbians were ugly and ‘weird’ men who had never had a husband before.”
Franziska Steinemann also remembers it with mixed feelings. In 1994, in one of numerous interviews, she told the “Aargauer Tagblatt”: “It seems to me that these men cannot cope with the fact that there are women who are not available to them. We were always good enough to exhibit. They had fun when we worked the bar at club events or were needed for dance performances. As soon as it became about sports, we were no longer interesting to them.”
Thirty years later she says: “That’s really how it was. I have been experiencing that in women’s football for years. At another club, everyone was allowed to train on the field, except us. We had to make do with a clay court.”
But how did the case surrounding FC Wettswil-Bonstetten ultimately end? The Zurich Football Association’s request to withdraw the women’s team from the match was rejected. The club board then fired their coach, who had always supported the women. Out of solidarity, the 19 players subsequently refused to continue playing for the FCWB and moved as a whole to FC Birmensdorf.
Franziska Steinemann summarizes: “What we did then had a huge impact. Stand there and defend yourself – I would do everything the same again today.”
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
