It seemed like an ordinary Saturday afternoon on the 24th day of the Bundesliga. FC Bayern had quickly nailed their heads at 1899 Hoffenheim, and the pursuers Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Mönchengladbach were also on course for victory.
When Leon Goretzka hit Bayern 6-0 in the 62nd minute, only the amount of success seemed open. But five minutes later, nothing should be the same as before. Disgraceful banners in the Bayern fan block against Hoffenheim’s financier and majority owner Dietmar Hopp, game interruption, impending termination, excited players and Bayern officials in front of their own supporters – and finally an unprecedented non-aggression pact of both teams as a sign of solidarity.
This 24th matchday should go down in the history of the Bundesliga. Across clubs, German professional football has been strangled by fan chaots – and now has to show whether and how it can evade it.
Rummenigge gives direction
Immediately after the events in Hoffenheim, Bavaria’s chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge laid down the route in dealing with the Ultras – at least for the record champions.
“We will take legal action against all of the people we can catch, with all our determination and with all the possibilities,” said Rummenigge, adding: is no longer wanted at Bayern and will no longer see a game from us. “
Rummenigge promised: “I won’t duck away anymore. Also at the risk that I’ll run around with bodyguards at some point.” At the same time, he asked the other clubs to “fly the flag. It has to be over. We have to be brave about it and not just duck away.”
At Bavaria, a working group will deal with the events on Monday. The exclusion of a complete grouping such as the Ultra group Schickeria is considered to be excluded. Especially since the Schickeria is not an official fan club of Bavaria. The group also attracted positive attention, for example through positive actions against anti-Semitism and racism.
Bavaria as a pioneer
The SPORT1Experts Stefan Effenberg and Mario Basler see Bayern as a “pioneer” in the crackdown on ultras. At the same time, Basler called for CHECK24 double pass stricter admission controls so that disparaging banners can no longer get into the stadiums so easily in the future. It is surprising that the fans – even on Sunday when Union Berlin played against VfL Wolfsburg – were able to pass their banners past the folders, even though there was prior knowledge of a planned overarching campaign.
Meanwhile, those in charge of the clubs are likely to agree to act more sharply against fans in the event of events similar to this weekend. There is also consensus on the point that criminal law resources are consistently exhausted.
Bruchhagen warns of abandonments
The tricky question is: How will the teams and referees react in future in appropriate situations?
Schalke 04 has had a clear opinion on this since Sunday. In a written notice from the board on the club website, it said that the team will leave the field in the domestic arena “regardless of the length of the game, the result or any consequences” in the case of abusive posters, defamatory statements and personal insults. Spicy: After the cup quarter-finals on Tuesday against Bayern, Schalke will meet Hoffenheim in the league on Saturday.
Christian Streich sees it similarly to Schalke. “If it goes on like this, I am 100 percent committed to simply ending a game and going home,” said Freiburg’s coach.
Former top manager Heribert Bruchhagen, however, strongly warned against these steps. “That can not be a solution,” said Bruchhagen in CHECK24 double pass, Bruchhagen is not the only one who sees the potential for distortion of competition and game manipulation being opened. For example, that fans of a team that is lagging behind will provoke a game abandonment by abusive posters.
Ultra-Expert: “Two trains racing towards each other”
The freelance journalist Christoph Ruf, who as a book author deals in depth with the ultra scene, currently sees no quick way out of the misery. “The way I have seen the bandages over the past few years, they can’t really backtrack. Of course, it’s not possible without losing face. That means they’ll interrupt the game every time there is abuse,” he said Call in conversation with SPORT1,
Ruf, on the other hand, believes that the Ultras, who protested their actions against collective punishments over the weekend – specifically against banishing BVB fans from two away games in Hoffenheim – “will not stop now.”
Ruf is more of a horror scenario: “We now have two moves that are racing towards each other. It will be really unpleasant on the next few days of the game.”
–
