It was autumn when I was sitting in the cinema with a friend. I had the football book at home. We watched the film ‘Wochenendrebellen’ (weekend rebels) and I was really impressed! The story is true, real and is about an autistic boy who goes with his father in search of his favourite football club. ‘Bam!’ it went in my brain. I would like to have this boy in our project team. And yes: It worked! Read my interview with him below and let yourself be as positively impressed as I was inspired. Have fun on your mental journeys!
‘Servus’ and welcome, dear football fans!
I’m sitting here with Jason von Juterczenka in Munich, and he’s part of our football book project team. Thank you for joining us, Jason. Please feel free to start with your story.
I’m Jason, and since 2012, so for 13 years now, I’ve been travelling with my dad to stadiums in Germany and Europe to find my favourite club. I think many people don’t really need to find their favourite club, but when I saw a football match for the first time, I wondered, what’s the deal with these fans? How does it work? Why are people cheering for something they’re not actually playing in? What does that have to do with it?
‘I also want to know what it’s like to be a fan of a club.’
Then my dad and my granddad explained to me what fans actually are. That most people don’t make this decision consciously, but that they become fans of the club in the city where they were born or fans of their parents‘ favourite club. And at the same time, they also said that it’s really important and that it lasts a lifetime. ‘Does that fit together?’ I asked myself. On the one hand, it’s an important decision for life, but on the other hand, you leave it to chance. That didn’t seem logical to me. Okay, I want that too. I also want to know what it’s like to be a fan of a club. But this decision has to be based on facts. That’s why we started looking for it.
How did you approach the whole thing? Did you have a structure, did you draw lots?
The drawing of lots from the film was taken from reality, from our podcast, because that’s where we draw the topics. In reality – actually – we went through the stadiums of the first leagues. At some point, whenever my dad was working somewhere near a stadium, we would check: What are the next matches? That’s why it was often the games of the fourth, fifth or lower leagues. Not just the first three.
At least once a year we go abroad, because at some point the top three leagues in Germany are full and then you just have to look elsewhere.
When Herthino comes to hug
You mentioned criteria earlier. What were your criteria, what is important to you?
There are six criteria, I would say. You could summarize it like this. It’s important that there is no mascot. This rule came about later at Hertha BSC when Herthino had to hug me and I had to run away. Then the club is not allowed to make a circle of players touching each other. Mainly because of the physical contact. The club must be ecologically and socially committed. A common exclusion criterion, for example, is disposable plastic cups, because they are lying around everywhere. That’s one criterion. The stadium must have some kind of interesting quirkiness. There has to be something that makes the stadium stand out.
Do you have an example?
One cool quirkiness is in Babelsberg, where the floodlight masts can be bent down. I really liked that. Or the scoreboard at Union Berlin, where the signs hang on it. I was actually allowed to operate it recently. Those were definitely quirky things that would have counted, like that. And then there’s another circle.
The whole thing has to be accessible by train, and the fan scene has to be politically stable. Those are – I would say – the criteria.
What has impressed you most on your travels so far? Can you pick out a few things from there? Hm, what I find most exciting… Or what do you enjoy most? Spending time with your dad, too?
All the fan stands I’ve been to and seen. Yes, I would definitely say that this is a point. Outside of the weekends, we don’t have that much time together. I’m at school or involved in a project at the research centre. My dad usually has to work. Therefore, weekends were practically the only time available, but those times were very intense over the whole two days, where so much happens.
So many events occur that put my dad in a situation in which he has to deal with it or find a solution with me. That made those times particularly intense. In football, I would say that the whole thing more or less started because I didn’t understand what it was all about with the fans when I visited the stadium for the first time. Even today, I wouldn’t say that I can relate to it 100%. I haven’t found a club yet. But I would definitely say that through all the fan stands I’ve been to and seen, I’ve been able to understand better what the fascination is.
I can then better appreciate what this club means to people. Because I’ve seen people – you could really see it in their faces. If they lose now, the month is ruined. The significance of their whole life practically revolve around it. That’s quite impressive. Even if I don’t know if I want that. But it’s impressive.All the fan stands I’ve been to and seen. Yes, I would definitely say that this is a point. Outside of the weekends, we don’t have that much time together. I’m at school or involved in a project at the research centre. My dad usually has to work. Therefore, weekends were practically the only time available, but those times were very intense over the whole two days, where so much happens. So many events occur that put my dad in a situation in which he has to deal with it or find a solution with me. That made those times particularly intense. In football, I would say that the whole thing more or less started because I didn’t understand what it was all about with the fans when I visited the stadium for the first time. Even today, I wouldn’t say that I can relate to it 100%. I haven’t found a club yet. But I would definitely say that through all the fan stands I’ve been to and seen, I’ve been able to understand better what the fascination is.
I can then better appreciate what this club means to people. Because I’ve seen people – you could really see it in their faces. If they lose now, the month is ruined. The significance of their whole life practically revolve around it. That’s quite impressive. Even if I don’t know if I want that. But it’s impressive.
If you find your favourite club, what happens then? Yes. Why do you have so many rules? What sets you apart?
‘Rules are very important.’
Rules are very helpful for coping with everyday life, because without rules everything becomes complicated. Rules simplify a lot. Rules are practical catalogues where you can clarify everything according to a predefined pattern. If there are no rules, it’s like learning a language where there are no rules. Where you have to learn every word individually. How is that formed now? That would be terrible. No one could speak that language. I think it’s the same in everyday life. If there are no rules for the person. If there are no rules in a group of people, how are you supposed to find your way around there? How are you supposed to interact? What do you follow in your actions? It’s not like everything is ok then. There are still things that are not okay. That is not fixed. You have to know that for yourself. That seems very illogical to me, and that is why rules are necessary, even when looking for a favourite club. So that you get the best result. Without rules, that wouldn’t work. And one of the rules, for example, is that projects must not end. That’s just the way it is. From this rule, it was deduced that when I have found my favourite club, then the journey must not be over. That means it has to continue. That means, for example, a 34-game season. That my dad promised me we would go to all the games in a season.
Which is obviously very exciting when you find your favourite club abroad…
Yes. By train, too. Or going to a training camp with the club, for example. There are various other projects that can follow on from that. My dad got himself into a bit of a mess when he tried to convince me to support his favourite club, Fortuna Düsseldorf. I figured if he promised me that, then I would be more likely to find a club. If I was afraid that the project would end, then I would never make a decision. But now my dad has made the promise and I still haven’t decided. That probably went a bit wrong.
Would you mind telling a little bit about your background? So that readers can understand – you are autistic. What makes it a bit difficult for you, from your perspective, on these trips?
Autism is ultimately a neurodivergence. This is a different wiring of the brain that goes hand in hand with a different perception of the world, and this perception is often more intense in terms of stimuli. This means, for example, that stadiums are a very stimulus-intensive environment in terms of noise, in terms of the crowds who might touch you, the volume. So it’s actually, well, counterintuitive thinking that I could feel particularly good in stadiums. When it started, we said it was a terrible idea.
But you grew into it in the end, didn’t you?
You’re right. These stimulus-intensive environments are difficult. They don’t get any easier with time. It’s not like you can get used to them. That’s not it.
It’s easier to deal with, right?
It’s a balancing act, exactly. It’s just a balancing act because, yes, it was difficult. It was also very difficult the first time, but it was also very cool. At the same time, I really enjoyed it. What outweighs the other now? The positive or the negative aspect?
If the positive aspects outweigh the negative, and yes, if I had this trip. Yes, it was difficult, but I enjoyed it and I enjoyed it more than it was a challenge or a burden, then the balance of use is positive and then you repeat it.
Yes, very cool. Let’s maybe build a bridge back to the football book. What made you want to get involved? You made your decision pretty quickly.
Basically, I’m a fan of projects and ideas like this. I thought to myself, that’s almost an idea I could have had myself. And it was pretty clear to me that the story was a good fit. You told me what it was for, what the idea behind it was, and that fit in very well. I thought the idea was kind of cool, where does the book go after that? I don’t know how it is for other people, but when I got the book, I read everything beforehand. Maybe others who get the book will also read my story. That’s why I wanted to be a part of it.
You also stand for internationality by travelling a lot, just like the book. Where do you want to go next? If you could choose a country, what would you want to do next? Maybe a destination that’s a bit far away?
A promise that is already very, very old, from my dad – I think it’s the very first promise he ever made to me – is that we will ride the Shinkansen one day, because I’m absolutely enthusiastic about trains. I could imagine somewhere in East Asia, because the stadiums there are also very, very bizarre, because you could experience many clubs. In Singapore, for example, there is a stadium that is practically on the water. This bizarreness had something that would fully meet this criterion again. Also, if you do some research there, there are certainly many smaller clubs that you could check out there as well. So, we have to go there again anyway, that’s a promise. And on the way there, there are certainly many other things to see. Otherwise, in other European countries, there is certainly Slovakia, Tatran Čierny Balog, where a railway line runs between the pitch and the stands. That’s definitely still on the list.
What about Luton Town?
We are still missing England as a country. That’s definitely on the agenda soon. What will happen in England – well, we could combine things. Everyone tells me about the Forest Green Rovers because they’re very eco-friendly, so that would tick that box at least. There’s Luton, which we’ve been talking about. The fact that you have to walk through a residential building to get to the stadium is perfect. That fulfils this bizarreness criterion perfectly. Of course, there are so many other clubs in England that you absolutely must visit. So, yes, that is also definitely firmly planned.
Are there any anecdotes or special trips – of course, you always experience so much, there are so many influences? You probably meet a lot of people on your travels, on the trains, get into conversations, but is there anything that particularly struck you, that you remember especially, or is that difficult because there are already so many? How many kilometres have you covered approximately? Or how many do you travel on average?
We had 150 matches, it must have been about that. There were matches in Sarajevo, which was 1,500 or 2,000 kilometres away. Others were perhaps only 100 kilometres away. I don’t know what average distance to use. But these are all statistics that we want to compile when we have the time. I would say that so far, which is always a bit ironic – where my dad and I have very different views on this – that was an attempt at VfR Aalen. If my dad were sitting here, he would talk about it very differently. He would disagree with me. For him, that was the low point. It was the middle of winter and I had a free choice of where to go on match day. I then decided we would go to VfR Aalen against SV Sandhausen. That’s all we needed. It was the second division back then. That’s why we went there. It’s a seven-hour regional train journey. Of course, I like that too. With snow. Normally, the over-commercialisation of football is a deal-breaker, but at VfR Aalen it was taken to such an extreme that it was bizarre again. The corner kicks were presented by Jimbo Car Wash. The car wash advertises with an elephant that sprays cars clean with its trunk.
Which, of course, doesn’t happen in reality…Which, of course, doesn’t happen in reality…
Every corner kick was accompanied by an extremely loud elephant noise. Really old, scratchy speakers. There were a lot of corner kicks.
Of course, that’s difficult with the volume.
I found it incredibly funny. That was really the more bizarre marketing campaign. Even more bizarre: the pharmacy sponsors the announcement of the injured players or, as we once had in Karlsruhe, the line-up of the visiting team was sponsored by a funeral service. That’s extremely macabre, but also as bizarre as possible. Of course, something like that sticks in your memory. The whole trip was just a fever dream. I can see for myself that over-commercialisation is problematic. But if I don’t look at the club, but just that day, then I enjoyed it incredibly because it was just funny. For my dad, it was hell. That will be remembered very well.
Is there anything you would like to say in conclusion – about the project, perhaps?
I think it will continue like this for a while. And take a little longer. Yes, I don’t know yet whether I’ll ever find my club, and that would even be okay. Normally, I would be very nervous if, after twelve years, I still hadn’t achieved the goal I set myself at the start of a project. But somehow it’s different here, because I’ve perhaps become a bit of a fan of simply looking for a club.
The journey is the destination.
Yes, you could say that. That’s why I wouldn’t be sad if we didn’t find a club at all, and if we did find one, it would be funny. And I wouldn’t be surprised if, in 30 or 40 years, I push my dad in a wheelchair into the stadium, in the fourth Latvian league. That would also be a prospect I could live with very well. Therefore, there will be many, many more experiences to report on in the podcast and blog, and perhaps in other books. I think it’s a never-ending story.
That’s a wonderful closing remark. I wish you continued good travels and thank you again for being part of our international football book project team!
…Fun fact in extra time
After our interview, we headed towards Munich Central Station and saw the BVB team bus. Of course, this was the perfect opportunity to take a photo. Borussia Dortmund probably wanted to contribute to the international football book project…?! 😉
Photo: Jason von Juterczenka
Quergedacht by Lisa Schatz 