Posters with Bayern Munich boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge as Pippi Longstocking were seen in Munich.

The story behind them shows how critical fan culture & solidarity go together.

Thread on Bayern's organized fans & the fight for a fairer wealth distribution in the Bundesliga 1/18

Background: On December 7, the DFL will announce its plans as to the distribution of the Bundesliga’s TV income, as decided by the DFL’s board. The 36 member clubs will be informed about the decision and discuss it. 2/18

Fans from across Germany presented their concept for German football, which includes more social responsibility, more democracy and more sporting competition.

More on the @Unser_Fussball initiative, by @matt_4d 3/18 https://www.dw.com/en/the-future-of-professional-football-german-fans-present-concepts-for-reform/a-55214308

One of the elements of the Zukunft Profifußball (translation: professional football’s future) concept talks about a fairer distribution of the income generated by TV money, both nationally (through the DFL) and internationally (DFL) and through European competitions (UEFA). 4/18

These two graphs, by Zukunft Profifußball, show how the relative difference between the weakest and the strongest in TV money income contributes to the growing sporting separation between Bundesliga clubs (left) and how the initiative suggests distributing the money (right). 5/18

The fans’ call for change also made an impact at some clubs. VfB Stuttgart, Arminia Bielefeld, Augsburg and Mainz all answered their fan and ultra groups’ calls and joined the call for the DFL and its member clubs to rethink the way TV money is being distributed. 6/18

At the same time, Bayern Munich boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge called a meeting to discuss how clubs handle the next TV contract's income distribution (reports).

Invited: 14 Bundesliga clubs & HSV (2. BuLi)

Not invited: You guessed it, Stuttgart, Bielefeld, Augsburg, Mainz 7/18

Many active fans criticized the meeting. Rummenigge's strongest critics: Bayern Munich's own fans.

Club Nr. 12, the biggest collective of Bayern fan groups, released a statement criticizing the club’s approach to the calls for reforms.

Translated parts of their statement. 8/18

Bayern Munich’s most well-known ultra group, Schickera, called for Bayern Munich to act in more solidarity and support the call for reforms, while criticizing their club’s bosses for taking the opposite approach so far.

Parts of their statement, which I also translated. 9/18

In addition to statements criticizing Bayern Munich’s stance, posters were seen across Munich depicting Karl-Heinz Rummenigge as Pippi Longstockings, referencing to the German version of the show’s theme song:

“I distribute the TV money the way I want to!” 10/18

Another posted seen in Munich portrays Rummenigge and #BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke, saying: The same distribution of money as every year!

(Reference: Dinner For One, a comedy sketch watched across Germany on New Year's Eve). 11/18

Prior to the decision to resume play, Bundesliga bosses spoke about solidarity, about understanding the criticism directed at them, about change.

Whether they’ll act in accordance with those words remains to be seen. 12/18

But it does go to show that when fans come together, it can result in resonance for their ideas.

Match-going fans and their representatives did what's expected of them, acted with responsibility & solidarity in #COVID19 times. Time for football's execs to do the same. 13/18

For more on how Germany’s organized fans want to reform the German game, my @dw_sports colleague @TG94__ spoke with @JH_Gruszecki, one of the supporters behind the Zukunft Profifußball initiative, as well as with former DFL boss Andreas Rettig. 14/18

This isn't the first time Bayern Munich's ultras act in solidarity with other fans.

More on the club's most well-known ultra group, Schickeria München, what they stand for & why they're one of the most positive forces German football has to offer. 15/18 https://twitter.com/ftamsut/status/1234828520385368064

More on what fan and ultra groups in Germany have been up to since the #COVID19 outbreak. 16/18 https://twitter.com/ftamsut/status/1240686233069580291

Despite the pandemic preventing them from attending games, many fan and ultra groups still went ahead with the tradition of providing help to those in need in their communities ahead of Christmas. 17/18 https://twitter.com/ftamsut/status/1332693368091123712

Sources and photos: http://zukunft-profifussball.de , @clubnr12, Südkurve München, @UnserFussball, @UnsereKurve, @FansEurope, @FasziFankurve, @dw_sports, @SZ_Sport, http://footballislife.blogsport.de 

Many thanks to @alex_muc86 for his help working on this thread. 18/18