During Wolfsburg’s guest game, the Frankfurt Ultras interrupted the game – using methods that were recently seen across Germany as part of the protests against a DFL investor. But this time it was about something different.
Sign of protest: Frankfurt fans rolled out a banner against investor associations. IMAGO/HMB Media
Shortly after the restart, tons of tennis balls and bouncy balls flew onto the lawn of Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt. Referee Daniel Schlager had no choice but to interrupt the game for a few minutes. After the 2-2 draw, neither sports director Markus Krösche (“Today I’m just talking about football”) nor captain Kevin Trapp (“They haven’t done anything the whole time, now they’ve done it once, then it’s okay”) wanted to talk in detail express protest.
Eintracht board member Philipp Reschke took over – and in great detail.
“It was a political game day,” said the 52-year-old, also referring to some banners that had been rolled out by the fan scene. One read: “Axel, we’ll still get our money – right?” written. “You have to see the irony to some extent,” said Reschke, explaining that this was an allusion to the fact that things remained quiet in Frankfurt during the nationwide fan protests against the DFL’s investor plans.
There were rumors all over the country that we had bought our fans.
“It was rumored all over the place that we had bought our fans,” revealed Reschke and made it clear: “That’s of course nonsense.” This is also why “this appropriately ironic reaction” followed from the SGE appendage, which, in addition to the banners, also caused the game to be interrupted. The way the interruption came about was very reminiscent of the past fan protests in German professional football, but the investor deal has now been called off. So what was the reason?
Reschke had an answer. “The interruption of the game was not related to the investor deal, but to 50+1 and Financial Fair Play,” explained the 52-year-old. The fans are interested in “external capital inflow into football.” Reschke knew that clubs like RB Leipzig, TSG Hoffenheim, Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg and their donors are viewed critically in Frankfurt. “This is indeed a relevant issue here.” In the game against Lower Saxony, they took the opportunity to express their dissatisfaction with such developments in football.
This also explained the second banner, which was prominently displayed. This called for the end of investor associations in the DFL – and at the same time insulted VfL Wolfsburg. Reschke didn’t go into that, but he revealed that they were quite surprised by the action, but also pointed out that “everything took place in an orderly manner” and that it was “over after five, six or seven minutes.” . Therefore, “you don’t have to hang it higher than it is.”
2024-02-25 19:22:38
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