“It is with great regret that the board of FC Affoltern am Albis has to announce that a large part of the women’s fan team have given their immediate resignation from the 1st league team and the club”: This is how FC Affoltern a. A. the sudden dissolution of his strongest team.
The actual reason for the departure of the women is not clear from the message, there is talk of “irreconcilable differences”. According to Blick information, the players should have felt pressured by their coach.
Whatsapp chats are available
One of the women is Melani Herzog (33) from Zurich. With a look she talks about the events. “He has attracted attention several times with inappropriate comments and has also written to various players privately,” she says. And adds: “He once wrote to me that he often thinks of me and dreams of me.”
When asked about other examples, Herzog says: “I have a lot of them.” The collection of screenshots that the players would have created together provide a good insight. view these are available. The coach offered one player to massage out her bruises, he wrote to another that he missed her, and another should “not hide her beautiful eyes”.
To her knowledge, there had never been any explicit sexual acts or touching. His missteps were purely verbal.
“At some point it was too much”
For Herzog and the other women aged 17 to 33 it was clear: enough is enough. “We told him umpteen times that he should only communicate with us via the team chat. He skillfully ignored this. At some point it was just too much.”
The players informed the board of the events. “The board just smiled at us,” says Herzog. In addition, they only spoke to one player who was affected, and not at all to all the others to this day. “There was just no reaction from them.”
“Irreconcilable differences with the coach”
This prompted the women to announce their collective resignation. And that despite the fact that the coach in question had already resigned at that point. The club’s official media release will follow shortly thereafter.
Melani Herzog is extremely disappointed with how everything came about. She was with the club for 17 years. Nevertheless, she says: “The collective resignation was correct. We had to set an example.” The players informed the football association. It is important to them that he can never be a coach again.
“The allegations are unfounded”
The coach himself is also saddened by the outcome of the situation. “I would have given my last shirt for this team,” says Reto F.* (65) to Blick. Why he should now be to blame for the dissolution of the team is beyond him.
F. speaks openly and honestly about the allegations that are being made. “I have nothing to hide! The allegations are unfounded,” he defends himself. The former coach doesn’t deny complimenting the players from time to time.
«I’m just an open, communicative type. I’ll just say what I think.” Also, you have to be honest. F. cannot understand that saying something nice to someone is considered sexual harassment. “I wear my heart on my sleeve.”
Coach invited player to Las Vegas
He never hoped for anything from the news or comments. “I never had the slightest ulterior motive. I would never have even touched one of the girls,” assures F..
He admits that his comments sometimes went too far: “In retrospect, I shouldn’t have written certain things.” For example, when he casually asked a player if she wanted to come to Las Vegas with him. But this is only because the price for two people was cheaper.
The President of the Board declined to comment
At Blick’s request, the board of FC Affoltern a. A. refrained from commenting on the incidents.
Board President Ferruccio Gusmini strictly refers to the media releases published by the association. In it, the board of directors announced that they reacted immediately to the most recent incident. It also says: “Any previous incidents were not reported to the board, which is why the board could not react to them.” The board of directors did not provide any further information on the ongoing process.