BMG felt ‘not safe’
Linesman has to go to the hospital after throwing a cup
3/19/2022 6:36 am
The 27th match day of the Bundesliga begins with a huge scandal. Mönchengladbach’s Friday evening game in Bochum was canceled after a cup was thrown. The players are angry, the Bochum coach expects a score for the opponent.
The assistant referee had to go to the hospital, the players were angry: After the cup throwing scandal and the game being abandoned in the Bundesliga duel between VfL Bochum and Borussia Mönchengladbach, the police are now looking for the person responsible. The evaluation of the pictures is still ongoing, VfL will actively support the police in their investigations, the Bochum team announced at night. The Bundesliga club reserves the right, among other things, “to make claims for damages. Because we assume that VfL will be punished by the association,” says the statement.
Assistant referee Christian Gittelmann was hit by a beer mug on Friday evening in the 68th minute when the score was 2-0 for the guests. Referee Benjamin Cortus first interrupted the game in front of 25,000 spectators in the Ruhr Stadium and stopped it about fifteen minutes later. “In the event of a physical attack on a game official, in this case the assistant referee, there is simply no alternative to abandoning the game,” said Cortus on DAZN. The cup hit Gittelmann clearly in the head. “He was dazed, has been taken to the hospital and will be examined accordingly,” said the main referee. Florian Heft, Cortus’ second assistant, accompanied Gittelmann to the hospital.
“First and foremost, you have to apologize in all form for the incident. We wish the linesman concerned all the best and that he recovers quickly and that nothing is left behind,” said Sebastian Schindzielorz, sports director of VfL Bochum. “It is absolutely unfortunate and sad that something like this happened. This is unacceptable. We would like to apologize formally.” But he also warned against placing the entire fan scene under general suspicion. “It’s not like we can judge the whole group. We’ve had great support over the last few years. It’s an incident that shouldn’t happen like this, but it’s definitely not representative of the fans of VfL Bochum.”
“It’s sad that something like this is called a Bochum fan!”
The litter also caused incomprehension and anger among the players. “It’s very sad that something like this is called a VfL Bochum fan!” Manuel Riemann wrote on Instagram. The Bochum keeper ran out of his goal after the break in play and yelled at the fans in the section of the stands from which the cup flew. Riemann’s currently injured teammate Simon Zoller also became apparent. “We, VfL Bochum, have been writing an incredible story for almost 2 years. This action is just disrespectful to all those who work their ass off every day to experience this journey! Let alone the linesman! YOU have nothing in the stadium lost!” the 30-year-old wrote on Twitter.
“I hope that our supporters blacken the thrower. We will definitely find the one. We don’t want anything to do with fans like that,” said CEO Hans-Peter Villis of the “Bild” newspaper: “I’ll have something like that in 55 years VfL Bochum hasn’t experienced it. I’m pissed off. From close range, that’s purely on purpose. There are a few fans here who don’t have their hands and brains under control. But they’re individuals. That’s not VfL’s behavior. They are individual idiots dragging the club’s image down.” He can absolutely understand the decision to stop: “Maybe we needed something like that to change something.”
Mönchengladbach’s assistant coach Christian Peintinger, who represented Adi Hütter, who was suffering from Corona, confessed: “It has already been discussed that you no longer feel safe and that it is a bitter pill that the game has to end like this. I hope , that it doesn’t do too much harm, that the linesman will be fine soon and that something like this won’t happen again.”
“Of course it can be assumed that the game will be scored against us,” said Bochum’s assistant coach Markus Gellhaus, who represented head coach Thomas Reis, who was infected with the corona virus, on the sidelines. This is actually to be assumed. A similar case happened in Hamburg in 2011. During the game between FC St. Pauli and FC Schalke 04, assistant referee Thorsten Schiffner was also hit by a cup. The game was stopped when Schalke was 2-0 and later scored 2-0 for Gelsenkirchen.