THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY
Rejected by Manchester City, but now a Champions League and World Cup winner, Jerome Boateng reveals he suffered racist abuse at 11 and has ambitions to become Germany’s f irst black captain
JEROME BOATENG was 11 years old when he discovered what racism in football sounds like. Barely out of primary school, he travelled to a game in the east of his native Berlin, where a watching father decided to pick on the fact that he was black.
‘Another kid’s dad called me... you know (the word).’ What he means is the ‘N’ word’ and he has a natural reluctance to speak it out loud. ‘I didn’t know how to take it. The whole game he was speaking to me and I started crying because I was small, 11 or 12 years old.
‘My dad came round. He didn’t talk to this guy, he talked to me and said, “Look. Calm down. Play your game. Don’t listen. Just show what you can do with the ball and that’s it”. And other parents came around and told the guy: “What are you doing? Just be quiet and let the kids play. Look how young they are!”.’
Boateng is understandably reflective as he ponders such painful childhood memories. To English audiences he is the one who got away from Manchester City. He spent a season there under Roberto Mancini, being played out of position, before being offloaded to Bayern Munich. Since then he has become a vital part of Bayern and Germany — winning the World Cup, where for many he was man of the match in the final, the Champions League, two Bundesliga titles and the German Cup twice.
On Tuesday, Bayern resume their quest to win the Champions League under Pep Guardiola, taking on Shakhtar Donetsk. How City, who face Barcelona the following week, would love to have him as a regular partner to Vincent Kompany now. The pair were close friends, first at SV Hamburg and then during their time at City.
As the son of a black Ghanaian father and white German mother, Boateng grew up in the multicultural district of Charlottenburg, in west Berlin, so his German ex p e r i e n c e wa s far r e moved from the stereotype of the country. In such an environment, racism was rare.
He had only heard the ‘N’ word once before that junior football match and, even though the context was different, it still retained its power to shock and belittle.
Aged 10, he featured in a rap music video, playing the part of the black MC as a child. Afterwards, the rappers, in an attempt to be friendly, used the ‘N’ word to him, as young black Americans often do as a term of comradeship.
‘I was making a music video and there were German rappers and I played him as a small guy,’ says Boateng, ‘Afterwards they called me: “Hey, you little. . .”, you know. And I just ran away and started crying because I never heard this word used against me. And then they came and tried to (explain). I was 10 years old — and that’s what I experienced, when I cried two times.
‘Then I spoke with my mum about it and she explained a lot of stuff to me and that’s she jealous of my colour and stuff like this. She was super-understanding. She said they don’t know, they are just jealous and to be proud that I had a colour like this. It was really good to know — she gave me a good feeling.’
The incidents are footnotes in his bigger story but colour is a part of his story. He represents modern Germany, just as Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski also do with their respective Turkish and Polish roots. Boateng’s half-brother, the former Portsmouth and AC Milan player, Kevin-Prince, opted to play for Ghana. For Jerome, whose father was always involved in his upbringing and lived near him despite the fact that his parents split when he was young, there were no mixed loyalties.
‘It was always Germany for me, 100 per cent. I know these people are just dumb, stupid,’ he said. ‘Where I grew up it was multicultural from the first day, as I had a lot of friends who are half this and half this. I have a lot of German friends also. How I am now, it’s because I grew up in Berlin with so many different cultures.’
He appreciates the importance of his story domestically and globally. He is currently one of the vicecaptains of the German national team, with Bastian Schweinsteiger the main captain. Should he one day captain the team, it would send an important message — though he is clear he sees that as a future event rather than something imminent, as he feels a recent interview made it look as though he was lobbying for the job. ‘I just want to explain again because they took it as though I want to be captain now.
‘It’s not like I want to take something from Bastian. Joachim Low (the Germany national team manager) said in an interview that Toni Kroos or I can be captain also. I said that would be a big honour for me one day to be captain of Germany with my colour.’
He is aware of the roles Paul Ince,
Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand have played in establishing the leadership credentials of black players in western Europe by captaining England. ‘They are good role models,’ he said. ‘France also; (Patrick) Vieira was captain. So for me it would be a great honour to be captain.’
Because it would send a message? ‘To all Germany and the world. Maybe they look on Germany and say it’s mixed but it’s not possible they have a black captain.’
Boateng is an impressive figure both in terms of height — he’s 6ft 4in — and his manner. The failure of City to integrate him at the club remains a puzzle to outsiders. ‘I was young. My girlfriend was pregnant, we wanted her to stay in Germany and have the baby there. Then I started with a knee injury. The coach promised that I’d play central defence — but I played right, I played left.
‘Then I had another knee injury, I had an operation also, so I was not happy with the whole situation. And then Bayern came.
‘But I learned so much, even in training, from the players there. That’s why I made the move — Vieira, Kompany, (Carlos) Tevez, (Emmanuel) Adebayor at this time — they are all great players. So I learned a lot about myself also and they gave me good advice and that’s why I say I’m not sad that I went to Manchester.’
Having been at City, he appreciates the scale of the ambition at the club and their desire to win the Champions League but he also knows that process is never as quick as winning a domestic league title. ‘It takes time because the Champions League is difficult and it’s different to the league and cup. One small mistake or one detail, it’s finished. City have the opportunity, for sure, to win it. They have great players, there will be great players in the future.’
This group of players at Bayern had to learn their lessons painfully and slowly, losing finals in 2010 and 2012 before finally winning at Wembley in 2013. Boateng’s first season at the club included the bitter disappointment of losing the final to Chelsea on penalties in their own stadium. ‘Even though they didn’t deserve it!’ he says, laughing. ‘No,’ he adds, correcting himself. ‘That’s football. If we don’t take it, they deserve it. That was the worst feeling in my life, really. I couldn’t eat for two days.’
At that stage Philipp Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Boateng and teammates were caricatured in Germany as serial losers with club and country; always the nearly men.
‘I remember the day after the Chelsea final Thomas Muller sent a message, not only to me but to a couple of players, saying: “Look — this happened. But next year we take this cup. OK!”
‘When you come to a final you remember that message and that you have to take the chance. It’s not every day you go into a final.’
Though these days it feels as though Boateng has made cup final appearances a pretty regular feature of his life.
And, you suspect his teams, both Bayern Munich and Germany, will have plenty more ahead of them.
I learned so much at City, that’s why I’m not sad I went there