ABOUT US
Jovan Gruban & Nenad Gruban

If someone asked us which question in our lives, we ​​are the answer to, (and fortunately Dieter Lange asked us) we would answer: "Who inspires and supports children and teenagers from “socially disadvantaged areas” by founding and running a street football network?" We are Jovan and Nenad, founders of the street football network "Kings of Klessheim" in Salzburg, who in 2015 decided to breathe life back into the back then largely deserted street football pitches by hosting modest street football tournaments. From the primary motive of just wanting to play regularly, an unbelievable matter of the heart developed from year to year, which now goes far beyond the actual sport… How should we explain it? The ball is our world, the pitch our universe, the game our life…but anyways, keep on reading.

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Tournaments were no longer held exclusively on street football pitches, but also on the parking decks of shopping centers, warehouses and in underground garages, in order to raise the creative spirit to a new level and to get even more people excited about honest, raw and real street football. Our love for the game was reciprocated in a certain way, because it resulted in days like in the old days, namely football fields full of people who, instead of vegetating in front of their numerous screens at home, preferred to devote their precious time to the dynamic art of street football. However, we lacked harmony, because disputes, conflicts and unfairness were common, which is why you could say at that time that we were able to win the talented feet of Salzburg's youth, but not their hearts.

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From time to time we noticed that this project was no longer primarily about tournaments, but rather about the unique, colorful community that meets every day via our WhatsApp group with over 150 members and continuously develops sneaky football skills at the spontaneous afternoon kick. Although this community serves a wide range of ages - from lively high school students to experienced early retirees - the majority is made up of teenagers who have one thing in common: namely, that they call socially disadvantaged areas or areas with special development needs their home.

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This does not only concern residential areas in which residents are confronted with above-average deficits such as income poverty, integration weaknesses, unemployment, and crime, but above all it’s about every family, regardless of the residential and financial situation, which (often unconsciously) does not take the emotional and psychological basic needs of their children seriously, or even worse, constantly ignores them. We weren't always aware of that, because when we started organizing our first tournament in 2015 and got in touch with the youngsters more and more, admittedly, we were often overwhelmed because we didn't know exactly how to deal in the best way with easily irritable teenagers, and so too, we simply did not understand why they got so upset about little things "for no reason" – but in the end, in the course of the project an important realization gave us more clarity: People who need love the most will always ask for it indirectly in the most unloving ways. People, and especially the teenagers, who represent the majority of our community, actually “only” want the following: Sincere attention and love. Being acknowledged truthfully is one of the deepest human needs.

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If these needs are not met over a longer period, young people feel increasingly misunderstood, unseen, and unheard, which is why they display behavior that is characterized more by aggression, anger, and fear than by empathy, understanding and love. Like the one and only Nicole LePera wrote: ”If your childhood thoughts or ideas are not heard, your mind feels dismissed and if your childhood Self-expression is not seen, your soul feels diminished.”

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The recurring altercations and arguments on the football pitch were ultimately projections of their inner restlessness, which was mainly deeply rooted in their familiar surroundings - an environment that held them in an artificial dynamic that did not support the expression of their authentic Selves, and thus, determined socialization conditions in a negative way. When we discovered the roots of the problem, we realized what our real mission is about in Salzburg's street football scene: To create an inviting atmosphere that inspires one to develop not only in terms of football but above all as a human being – or, as Bruce Lee said once: “The unfolding of the bare human soul – that is what interests me.” …us too man, us too! Now comes the big question: “How do you convert a rough football field atmosphere into a harmonious one?”

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The greatest gift one human being can give another human being is noticeable, perceptible as well as sincere attention and this is where we come into play, because every time our guys showed their remarkable skills on the pitch, performed beautiful actions and simply were in their flow, they got our captivated attention, often in the form of video recordings that were shared on social media via our Instagram account @kingsofklessheim, and thus, provoked a feeling of sincere appreciation inside the one getting the genuine attention. But this only symbolized a small step in the right direction, because the main reason for the current, unbelievable harmony on the pitch is characterized by an action that we started at the beginning of 2020. We started with “gifting” football jerseys, but not casual ones – more than that - passionate ballers, those who really put their heart and soul into the beautiful game, those who came regularly and felt nothing but pure  love  for  this  sport,  have  been  surprised with individually printed football jerseys from their favorite club or country of origin including their names and, of course, their shirt number. These surprises weren’t gifts in the conventional sense, which were given to somebody and then mostly gathered dust at home in the wardrobe or under the bed – no, these jerseys remained in our possession and instead of the classic Ronaldo, Messi or Zidane jerseys, from then on only the names of our youngsters were embellishing our backs  at  every  afternoon  kick.

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In addition, they adorn our legendary jersey wall, the “Wall of Passion”, which has occasionally given the Klessheim district its very own flair since then - in the end, this is our personal way of showing that we value and appreciate someone. And, of course, we don't want to exclude anyone - so everyone who kicks regularly in Klessheim and gives their best will get their jersey, because in the end it is the love for the game that unites us, and thus, brings people together that otherwise would not have been brought together. (Speaking of “not excluding anyone” - we definitely have to change the name of our street football network, because luckily more and more motivated girls are coming to the football field who want to prove their skills.)

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Since we have already printed more than 130 different football jerseys individually, we have already spent thousands of euros in this regard, but when you consider how many tears of joy flowed in front of our eyes – when you consider how many strong hugs we received that cracked the hard shells of our fellas – and when you consider how many of them just stood in front of us, speechless, flabbergasted and overwhelmed, especially those who always knew how to attract negative attention in the past, we can say with a pure heart, it was definitely worth it, it was worth every single penny! At their age, many have to realize painfully that they have to say goodbye to the dream of becoming a professional footballer, but the dream of reading your last name on the back of a fan became a reality.

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From then on, a noticeable change took place, because those who had often been the most problematic towards their fellow players and opponents for years, suddenly shed their hard shell - they became more accessible, more open and welcomed newcomers unconditionally, which was essential for making a harmonious dynamic possible within the community. When our tournaments were set up, there were no longer two of us on the field at six o'clock in the morning, but ten of us, and after the tournament most of us did not leave the field until everything was dismantled and all the rubbish was cleared away. In the summer of 2020, it became clear to us that, in addition to their talented feet, we had also won the hearts of our fellas.

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Since then, every day, when we step onto the football field in Klessheim and the squeaking of the soles of our shoes and these melodic hits on the posts become music in our ears, we have been overwhelmed by this unique, multicultural community full of talented teenagers and adults, who even manage to play nerve-wracking tournaments without any referee - a community that is now unconditionally based on the values ​​of fairness and respect - a community whose quality is so high that in 2018 it has represented Austria in the World Finals of the world's largest street football tournament, the Red Bull Neymar Jr's Five in Brazil. A community that enabled us to go through a smooth transition from being an event coordinator to internalizing and embodying the qualities of a social educator and pedagogue.