While the smoke from pyro flares keeps blurring the view, the sun rises for one player. During the city duel in the second Bundesliga between Hamburger SV and St. Pauli, Sonny Kittel suddenly has to laugh, although he doesn’t feel like it at all. “Have you been to the tanning salon too?” asks Sven Jablonski suddenly. Kittel, who had just been kicked by an opponent, stopped – and said yes. “Me too,” says the referee. And already Kittel’s anger about the foul has evaporated.
Tobias Rabe
Responsible editor for Sport Online.
It’s a cheerful scene from the five-part documentary “UnTeilisch”, for which Tom Häussler was allowed to accompany German elite referees with the camera last season. The format is not new. The film “Referees at work”, which is well worth seeing and listening to, was made at the 2008 European Championships. Impartial also provides some of those funny in-game conversations that are hidden in the stadium or on screen. However, this documentation is not intended for entertainment purposes only.
One-sided attacking game
A large part of the 140 minutes is about dark clouds over football – and it’s not about the performance of the German national teams. There are few jobs where people are as much the target of a sometimes uninhibited public as soccer referees in the top leagues. The external claim is clear: mistakes must not happen, especially not when video images can help. If they happen, people scold, insult and condemn them. There is still personal criticism from players, coaches and managers, the distance to the media is already greater, others fire anonymous attacks from the depths of digital space.
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Trailer : “Impartial”
Video: The First, Image: ARD
Examples that are processed with emotional distance and professional depth show that referees are part of a mostly one-sided attacking game with almost no limits. The case of Sascha Stegemann is particularly impressive. Shortly before the end of the season he did not referee a penalty for Borussia Dortmund after a foul by a player from Bochum. Video assistant Robert Hartmann saw no reason to doubt his colleague’s decision on the field at the time. The game ended 1:1, the furious Dortmunders had missed a win in the close fight for the championship title with Bayern Munich.
The refusal to take the penalty was a mistake, everyone now agrees. But Stegemann’s words, which now tell of the immediate aftermath of the game, are depressing. After death threats, he was visited by police officers, the children were afraid for their father. Hartmann, who lives in the Allgäu, was attacked because of his origin and an old photo. That showed him when he shook hands with the referee department head – FC Bayern. For slobbering rage fans, that was sort of proof that Hartmann can’t be impartial.
A toxic mixture
Once such a narrative is in the world, it is almost impossible to counteract it. Robert Schröder also experienced this. He is said to have insulted a player whom he showed the red card, but who absolutely did not want to leave the field. With what words? said nobody. The public opinion? Was nevertheless formed quickly. When a prominent coach like Julian Nagelsmann then insults the referee team as a “softened bunch”, that also fits in perfectly with the rigid world view of football of some.
However, the consequences for those affected often go unnoticed. The statements in front of the camera make it clear how difficult this type of criticism can be for referees. A weakness of “Impartial” is that players, coaches, officials, journalists or fans do not also have their say in detail in order to present the big picture of this toxic mixture of wrong decisions, harsh criticism and emotional consequences, but also to draw possible remedies more clearly.
Michael Angele Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 10 Anna-Sophia Lang and Daniel Meuren Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 2 Bert Rebhandl Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 29
The documentation correlates with the communication strategy of the referees led by Lutz Michael Fröhlich, Managing Director of Schiri GmbH at the German Football Association, which is intended to create more understanding for the difficult task through explanations, transparency and admitting mistakes. The past weekend shows how far the road is.
After the second division game between Elversberg and Rostock, a full beer mug hit assistant referee Fabian Maibaum. The Bundesliga referee Patrick Ittrich wrote stunned: “Madness ey! Second match day… Again beer in the face. (…) What’s up? You can do 10 documentaries, be transparent and initiate dialogue. Some bang through even more.”
All five episodes are available from today in the ARD media library. On August 26 at 10:00 p.m. and on September 12 at 11:30 p.m. the documentary will be shown in the first.
