Referee Bastian Dankert gives instructions
Unfortunately, we fans all too often have to deal with the ugly sides of modern football. Of course, it’s important to address tiresome things like commercialization, Monday games or corrupt associations, and that again and again. However, we must not lose sight of the beautiful things, the things that make us love football.
I had a moment like that on the last match day of the third division. It was the game between two promotion candidates and traditional teams, the encounter between Waldhof Mannheim and Eintracht Braunschweig, which were only two points apart. An old football adage says that every goal against a direct competitor counts twice. A hard-fought game: Eintracht took the lead in the 39th minute, shortly afterwards the referee pointed to the spot in favor of the blue and yellow – penalty kick. What happened? After a cross from Braunschweig into the Mannheim penalty area, Mannheim’s Gerrit Gohlke saved the ball for a corner in the 40th minute. However, the referee saw a handball and gave Braunschweig a penalty. After watching the TV images, it became clear that the ball had been cleared with the chest, not the arm. To be on the safe side, the referee asked Braunschweig player Bryan Henning, who had put in the cross. Had he said yes, it was the arm, the penalty would have been pretty safe – 2-0 for Eintracht. Five minutes before the end of the first half. A preliminary decision. What did Henning do? Was honest, said he saw the ball on his chest, not his hand. Corner instead of penalty. The game went on with 1:0. That’s called fair play.
Junior coaches try very hard to bring the idea of fair play closer to the youngest. Not everyone gets the message. Your own advantage, which should lead to victory, is usually more important. It’s been like that in real life for a long time. Unfortunately. It would be better if we focused more on fair play here too. A very nice tradition.
»Sport free!« from the fan advocate.