Beer advertising is actually frowned upon among competitive athletes. The Bochum footballer Anthony Losilla only allowed himself to be filmed enjoying a drink in the empty standing room of the Ruhr Stadium because the commercial for the local beer from the club sponsor was intended to encourage the spectators to drink their cups properly – instead of throwing them half full onto the lawn . That’s what some of the fans in Bochum really like to do. Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with responsible alcohol consumption.
“Drink, don’t throw!” Commanded VfL captain Losilla in the beer commercial. The video was made shortly before the game against Borussia Mönchengladbach specially uploaded to Youtube. But even the PR campaign couldn’t prevent a half-full beer mug from hitting linesman Christian Gittelmann in the head with serious consequences 21 minutes before the end. “The fact stunned me,” said Gittelmann later, when the game was long overdue. He was diagnosed with a contused skull and whiplash.
However, the scandal was not entirely unexpected. Only three months ago, the footballer Max Kruse, who was still playing for Union Berlin at the time, complained that Bochum fans had thrown insults and beer at him. They hadn’t hit him with either. Gittelmann, on the other hand, was unlucky. He had his back to the fans and didn’t see the cup coming.
“Maybe there was alcohol involved,” speculated Bochum coach Thomas Reis about the cup throw and was definitely right. Traces of the local beer are likely to have been found in both the pitcher and the cup – on that evening of all days when the local brewery was the proud matchday sponsor.
Encouraging fans with very different levels of empathy and responsibility to enjoy beer on the one hand and demanding controlled sobriety on the sidelines of a turbulent event on the other hand is a tightrope walk. Intoxicated spirits are difficult to control.
Of course, that shouldn’t be an excuse for the attack. “In the event of a physical attack on a game official, there is no alternative to abandoning the game,” said referee Benjamin Cortus, rightly so. It would not even have required a skull contusion and whiplash. If a referee is attacked, the game must be over immediately. Unconditionally.
With this in mind, Gittelmann is now demanding a zero-tolerance policy and a clearly defined deterrent penalty as a consequence of the events in Bochum. At the same time, he considered this to be a useful way of preventing acts of violence against referees on amateur pitches, which unfortunately happen on an unseemly regular basis across the country. As a very young referee in the district league, Gittelmann had to be taken off the pitch under police protection. Despite this – or perhaps because of it – he continued. So the night in Bochum could be helpful not only for him, but for football as a whole.