The Freiburg special investigators must still have the horrific picture in their minds that they saw at the crime scene: the victim covered in blood with the laceration next to his left eye, first lying knocked out on the lawn, then so upset that he had to be tamed by several helpers . The fact that Oliver Kahn nevertheless continued to play in his Bayern Munich game at SC Freiburg on April 12, 2001 did not dampen the zeal for the manhunt: a 16-year-old schoolboy was identified as the perpetrator on the spot. The only reason the goalkeeper was not seriously injured by the golf ball he threw was that his temples are made of titanium.
Basically, not much else happened in small Freiburg at the foot of the Black Forest, apart from the sawed maypole in Schliengen, a drunk student on a Dutch bike and one or the other doping doctor at the local university clinic. Now, however, the “toss of a coin from Freiburg” is included in the crime statistics. The evil returns, albeit fortunately only after 22 years.
First of all, it is of course to be strongly condemned that a currently unknown coin thrower struck down the guest striker André Silva with the murder weapon “small change” in the semifinals of the SC Freiburg cup against RB Leipzig. Secondly, it is also incomprehensible, since there is now an interest rate of up to three percent on the call money account: Who on earth is still throwing money there?
It was possible to avert a game being abandoned: games are only abandoned when referees are hit with beer, as was recently the case in the third division in Zwickau. However, this should not be interpreted to mean that the integrity of referees is higher than that of footballers. No sports court could find so many green tables if the outcome of the game had to be negotiated after every cup or lighter throw at the same. So society has to learn to live with the throwers. However, it should affect what is thrown.
Not recommended, for example, are the self-filled urine bags that used to rain down on the visiting fans in the Rio Maracanã – effective, but borderline odorous. On the other hand, observers fondly recall a day at the National Stadium in Santiago de Chile – the Universidad Católica vs. Universidad de Chile treat was being performed – when spectators first sprayed peach juice and then sent clouds of flour: the sweet version of tarring and feathering. Only with the restriction that food was wasted here. Whereas the pig’s head, which once fell just beside Portugal’s Luis Figo (Real Madrid) at Barcelona’s Camp Nou, would otherwise probably have been sent for carcass disposal. It was later exhibited in the museum.
The object that Inter Milan supporters threw from the upper tier at the 2001 game against Atalanta Bergamo – an entire Vespa they had previously set on fire – is eliminated simply because of its carbon footprint. On the other hand, the way that inflatable rubber animals were thrown onto the lawn, which was recently practiced during the European Cup game between Feyenoord Rotterdam and AS Roma, is to be welcomed. Rubber animals don’t hurt anyone, they look good and depending on the species – crocodile, coati, pond turtle – can be interpreted as an ironic commentary on the course of the game. After the final whistle, they can be returned to the material cycle via disposal in the yellow bag.
How much excitement would the Black Forest have been spared if footballer André Silva had been hit with an inflatable marmot instead of a coin on Tuesday evening?
