What will become of Jörg Dahlmann now ?: The TV polarizer, who is always hostile

Hardly any TV commentator has recently received more criticism. Now Jörg Dahlmann's career at Sky will be over in a few days. But as much as he polarized recently – one should never forget that the Gelsenkirchen native has a great talent.

Maybe in the end it just wasn't the right format, the right job for Jörg Dahlmann. TV commentator. 90 minutes in a row, without a finished script and yet always with the firm desire and will to create something special – that may simply not have been his thing. Now, in a few days, the man from Gelsenkirchen, who started his career at ZDF in Mainz in the mid-eighties, should be over at Sky

Since Jörg Dahlmann moved to the TV broadcaster based in Unterföhring near Munich for the 2017/18 Bundesliga season, he has often been the focus of criticism from football fans who expressed their displeasure in regular shitstorms on social media. Dahlmann knew about his external impact – and despite all the bad words of his critics and "haters" has never really bent his way: "I know that I polarize. But every now and then you have to dare something in life. I try to be that way talk as one speaks in everyday life. A kind of street German. "

And indeed: Dahlmann loves to look people on the mouth. His great strengths have always been the small reports, in which he put people and their stories at the center of his reports. Just commenting on results was never enough for him. He liked to draw his game reports on a story away from the green lawn. Legendary to this day: The Schalke fan Lennart, whom Dahlmann not only gave a microphone during a game of his club against HSV, but also had a camera accompany him for over ninety minutes.

"We still have a few places available on Sat1"

And Lennart turned out to be a real stroke of luck. No report can be more emotional or closer to the action. The extroverted S04 supporter rewarded Dahlmann's unusual idea with sayings, thousands of which are uttered every week in the curves of the republic – but unfortunately far too seldom recorded for posterity: "Yes, do I believe it? Is no one able to go higher to jump like a pig shits. Nen Westermann gets his head, Nen Westermann! "

In addition to his unforgettable comment on the still fabulously beautiful goal of the exceptional Nigerian artist Jay-Jay Okocha on August 31, 1993 in the Frankfurt Waldstadion against the KSC keeper Oliver Kahn, Dahlmann gave football Germany another legendary moment. His report on September 26, 1998 from the Fritz Walter Stadium in Kaiserslautern, when FCK coach Otto Rehhagel made a spectacular mistake in the game of his red devils against VfL Bochum, was rightly awarded a prize.

In just under eight minutes Jörg Dahlmann retold the historical story of this tragic afternoon in an almost literary way. And in addition to the actors on and off the field, a man played the main role, who sat asleep in the stands during the game. Dahlmann: "This man should become a commentator. We still have a few places free on Sat1. Besides the own goal, the game on Betze went as he felt it."

Rehhagel's mistake

But then the drama took its course. The Dane Michael Schjönberg was seriously injured in a collision with the Bochum keeper Thomas Ernst. Dahlmann imitated the words of the visibly shocked Dane: "Something is broken, something is broken!"

The camera then caught Otto Rehhagel trotting nervously up and down the line. Dahlmann also let him speak directly: "You have to talk to me, you have to tell me what Michael Schjönberg has and what is wrong with him." The camera stayed on Rehhagel, who had meanwhile called the Nigerian Pascal Ojigwe over. Dahlmann commented vividly: "Nobody in the stadium recognizes the danger, a disastrous calm, a deceptive calm. He may not change Ojigwe, otherwise the points will be gone for the German champions."

Then a deep sigh. A counter cut to the fan who was just asleep and now awake from the beginning of the report. Dahlmann: "Let's take a quick look at our friend. Woke up from the noise, from the applause for Schjönberg – and realized the situation immediately." The fan looked, still a bit tired and dazed, in the stadium notebook. Dahlmann commented: "Who is he bringing now? Pascal Ojigwe, the Nigerian? And then the time has come, Pascal Ojigwe is in the game and so it was official – four non-Europeans on the field." Rehhagel's mistake was made – but now the story and the report really took off.

Shot over target

As soon as Rehhagel realized his faux pas, he thought of something. Together with his Egyptian Hany Ramzy, he staged his injury. Dahlmann was beside himself: "And there he limps. Komödienstadl on the Betzenberg. Messrs. Rehhagel and Ramzy try to mislead the entire football crowd, to make fun of them. Anyone can make mistakes, but then trying to deceive people is not the best way . " This report is rightly unforgotten to this day.

It is possible that Jörg Dahlmann has overshot the mark one or the other time with his comments. But what you could never blame the native of Gelsenkirchen: that he did not admit to his mistakes. As a rule, Jörg Dahlmann always apologized immediately for any less elegant formulation.

Perhaps we will see and hear the TV reporter, who has been polarizing so much recently, again. Then possibly in a different role and in a different format. Because despite all the criticism, one should never forget that Jörg Dahlmann is endowed with a great talent for the human and human stories of football. It would be a shame if this talent would soon retire for good.