Third division game canceled after racist incident
Due to racist insults from the stands, the third division game between Duisburg and Osnabrück has been stopped. "This is a low point in our club's history," says a Duisburg club spokesman.
Sad novelty in German professional football: The third division game between MSV Duisburg and VfL Osnabrück was stopped on Sunday in the 33rd minute by referee Nicolas Winter when the score was 0-0 due to an incident of racism. Apparently there had been monkey noises from the ranks against Osnabrück's Aaron Opoku, who was about to take a corner. The alleged perpetrator was quickly identified by bystanders and taken out of the stadium by security personnel.
"There was a corner kick for VfL Osnabrück and then monkey noises from the stands," said referee Winter on TV station MagentaSport. The team of referees reacted immediately, "I saw how shocked the player was," said Winter. You are therefore directly in the cabin "to take care of the player, I told him we are there to protect him". A special report will be written by the referee side. Winter further commented on the incident: "It's very dramatic in difficult times."
The German Football Association (DFB), whose regulations provide for a three-stage plan "in the event of discriminatory incidents of any form", will decide how to proceed. A game abandonment is level three. The control committee announced in the evening that they wanted to start investigations after the demolition. The DFB sports court will have to decide on the rating of the game at a later date.
The visiting team was in no condition to continue the game as a result of the incident. "The boy is fixed and everyone, the whole team is ready. We only have the chance to apologize. We have more than understanding for it. This is a low point in our club's history," said MSV spokesman Martin Haltermann and added : "Right now we're all pretty much speechless."
"It can't be that we always just formulate slogans, that we stick slogans on T-shirts. We can't accept something like that. Aaron is exhausted and was no longer able to play," emphasized VfL- Managing Director Michael Welling. By not continuing to play, the club also wanted to document "that we do not accept that". There was also agreement with the Duisburg colleagues that they would prefer to play a replay in which they could send a signal against racism.
