“Something like that concerns us”
DHB captain finds whistles against Scholz “terrifying”
January 23, 2024, 10:42 p.m
The European Handball Championship in Germany comes at a time between farmers’ protests, rail strikes and large-scale demonstrations against the right. The mood in the country is tense – and is also erupting in catcalls against top politicians. The national team captain takes a stand.
The German national handball team is fighting in Cologne to reach the semi-finals of the European Championship – and to stay on the Rhine for as long as possible: next Sunday the medals will be played in the huge Lanxess Arena. It is questionable whether a top politician from the traffic light government will be a guest in the event of a final with German participation: several political celebrities were massively booed at the German team’s games – even at the preliminary round venue in Berlin. This caused trouble at the DHB.
Olaf Scholz was the first to get caught: The Chancellor attended the DHB team’s preliminary round game against North Macedonia in the Mercedes-Benz Arena. When the SPD politician was greeted by the hall speaker, a concert of whistling began, which was, however, replaced after a few seconds by cheers about a German goal.
“We found that frightening”
At the German team’s last preliminary round game, Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser felt the audience’s displeasure: During the duel against record world champions France, both top officials in the traffic light government had to endure a shrill concert of whistles from the 13,000 spectators. “I have to honestly say that we found that frightening,” captain Johannes Golla told “Spiegel” at a media event before the main round final against Croatia. “That’s the kind of thing that concerns us.”
The European Championship comes at a time of turmoil: Farmers protested angrily and in an attention-grabbing manner at the preliminary round venue in Berlin, the mobility partner Deutsche Bahn, with which teams, fans and other European Championship guests are supposed to travel across the country, is on massive strike with a short interruption during the tournament and ” “The last few weeks have shown that there is a general mood in Germany that unfortunately made these whistles unlikely,” commented DHB sports director Axel Kromer on the spectators’ reactions against the Chancellor.
“I got goosebumps”
Last weekend, more than a million people took to the streets across the country to demonstrate against right-wing extremism and in defense of democracy. One of the largest events with, according to police reports, around 70,000 participants took place in Cologne near the Lanxess Arena, where the German team is playing its remaining European Championship games.
“I’m happy to see that and that so many people are standing up,” Golla told “Spiegel”. “It feels like the country is going in a direction that is unpleasant and that shouldn’t be repeated. These pictures show that people want to stand up and do something about it. I got goosebumps when I looked at them.” In the team we “of course talk about what’s happening in the country and in politics.” However, the DHB team is not planning its own action in the coming days. The German team plays on Tuesday (8.30 p.m./ARD and in the live ticker on ntv.de) against Croatia for a place in the semi-finals.