New videos show assistant coaches and players making homophobic comments after Rapid’s derby win against Austria Vienna on Sunday. Rapid condemns the new derailments, the league is taking action against the club, managing director Hofmann, assistant coach Kulovits and five players.
SK Rapid is threatened with consequences after the derailments following the 3-0 win in the Vienna derby against Austria. After videos of assistant coach Stefan Kulovits and several players appeared on the Internet on Monday evening in which they, among other things, chanted homophobic chants as part of the derby celebrations, the Bundesliga filed a complaint against the players and the club on Tuesday. He condemned the events “in the strongest possible terms”.
Before that, moving images of managing director Steffen Hofmann made the rounds on Monday, in which he dealt heartily against the city rivals Vienna Austria. Now Green-White felt compelled to go public once again. “The presidium of SK Rapid strongly condemns the recent homophobic statements (…),” said a statement from the Vienna club.
Player or function bans are conceivable
On Tuesday, the Bundesliga also became active and filed a complaint with the league’s Senate 1 (penalty and certification committee) against the club, Hofmann, Kulovits and the players Guido Burgstaller, Marco Grüll, Thorsten Schick, Maximilian Hofmann and Niklas Hedl. “The content of the videos is in no way consistent with the values that football as a whole and the Austrian Football Bundesliga in particular stand for. The role model effect of footballers, coaches and officials goes beyond what happens on the green pitch,” the league said in its statement.
The comment period for Rapid is one week. According to the league, player or functional bans are conceivable; in the worst case, the club could face a points deduction. In a similar incident in France’s Ligue 1 in October 2023, conditional bans were imposed on Ousmane Dembele, Randal Kolo Muani, Achraf Hakimi and Layvin Kurzawa.
The club and players apologized to the public. “As players, we have a certain role model function, and we by no means lived up to that in this situation. “I can only sincerely apologize for this and assure you that we will bear the full consequences,” wrote Grüll on Instagram. The offensive player has also made it into the German media, as he is moving to Werder Bremen in the summer.
WHAT / WHAT / Georg Hochmuth
“Big mistake” admitted in broadcast
Like Grüll, Kulovits and Goalgetter Burgstaller also apologized via rapid broadcast. “The fan chant we play is in complete contradiction to our values as a club and to my personal values, which I have exemplified in more than two decades in professional football and would like to continue to exemplify,” explained Kulovits. In the emotion after the success over Wiener Austria, “a big mistake” happened.
“In this way, we would also like to clearly distance ourselves from any discrimination and homophobia and apologize to everyone who we have directly or indirectly offended through our behavior,” emphasized Burgstaller. “We are aware that we have a role model effect, and unfortunately we absolutely did not live up to this role with our actions after the game.”
Club President Alexander Wrabetz and Vice President Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger also made clear statements. “The denigration of people based on different characteristics or lifestyles should have no place at Rapid.” Rather, as a “green-white community” we want to “make a contribution to more diversity and inclusion. Respect and appreciation for diversity are cornerstones of our club and we expect that everyone who works at Rapid and feels connected to our club also commits to our values. As the Executive Board, we would also like to apologize for the misconduct documented on videos and will continue to work through this issue internally.” (APA)
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2024-02-28 04:07:40
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