The beer attack on a referee in Zwickau overshadowed the weekend in the 3rd division. The Saxons and the perpetrator face consequences.
The disgusting attack on his counterpart left Patrick Ittrich stunned. “It’s unbelievable how we referees are treated. Don’t you think about what that does to a person?!” Wrote the Bundesliga referee on Twitter after referee Nicolas Winter was poured beer in the middle of the face in the third division game in Zwickau .
The referee called off FSV’s game against Rot-Weiss Essen at half-time when the score was 1-1, for Ittrich “there was no alternative”. Embarrassing for the people of Zwickau: the perpetrator is said to have been one of the club’s own sponsors – the police identified the man on Sunday evening and are investigating because of bodily harm. In addition, he probably did a disservice to his club, which was in acute danger of relegation. Because there are many indications that the game will be evaluated by the DFB sports court for the guests afterwards.
“I’m speechless. Hopefully this fan will be punished with full force,” wrote Ittrich, whose reaction was described as exaggerated by many respondents on the Internet. But Florian Meyer, head of the DFB referee for the 3rd division, also condemned the attack “strongly”. Meyer spoke of a “highly disrespectful attack” with which a “boundary was very clearly exceeded”. It was an “attack against a person, against the referee and against basic values, not just in football,” emphasized the long-time Bundesliga referee.
Zwickau CEO Frank Fischer announced that the beer thrower would be banned from the stadium, “possibly even for life”. It is also conceivable that the FSV will pass on the expected fine to the man through the German Football Association (DFB).
“We hope for a mild course, we can neither use a game rating against us nor a high financial sanction, that hurts Zwickau football,” said Fischer at MagentaSport. Should Zwickau lose the game at the green table, relegation from the 3rd division becomes more and more likely for the Saxons. With five games left, the table penultimate is seven points behind the saving bank.
Winter was first verbally abused when going into the dressing room on Sunday and then a man in the main grandstand threw the beer in the middle of his face, as was clearly visible on video images. Winter had previously imposed a red card and a penalty against the Saxons.