Union Berlin is appealing against a court ruling in connection with hitting the Bochum goalkeeper with a lighter | American football news
Union Berlin appealed the decision to award the game to Bochum after their goalkeeper was hit with a lighter in December.
Union Berlin appealed against the decision of the German Football Federation’s sports court to award Bochum a 2-0 win after Bochum’s goalkeeper was hit with a lighter during a Bundesliga match in December.
“It’s bad enough that people repeatedly throw objects on stages, indoors or on the playing field at concerts or sporting events. Unfortunately, there is nothing that any event organizer can do to prevent this,” Union President Dirk Zingler said late Thursday.
Earlier, the sports court awarded Bochum a win over Union instead of the 1-1 draw the teams played on December 14.
That game was almost over when Bochum goalkeeper Patrick Drewes was hit by an object thrown from the crowd in added time. Referee Martin Petersen stopped play and took both teams off the field after Drewes sat down and received medical attention.
Bochum did not want to continue the game, but it resumed almost half an hour later, with striker Philipp Hofmann replacing Drewes with three minutes remaining. Both teams agreed not to try to score – which also presented a problem for the field.
“Such agreements contradict the basic principles of sports competition,” said court president Stephan Oberholz. Oberholz added that Union was responsible for “weakening the Bochum team” because the object was thrown by a Union fan.
Zingler thinks otherwise. “A real unsportsmanlike scandal happened today on the field and in the court,” Zingler said, suggesting Bochum made more of the incident than was warranted.
“Whether there is damage or weakness to one side, whether the match is stopped or continued, must always be the referee’s sole decision,” Zingler said.
“If the user side can be declared weakened, we no longer need impartial judges and the door is open to fraud or even dirty tricks. Disadvantaged parties will never be able to prove otherwise.”
