DIn history, the spectacle of two teams who refuse to play by performing a “ten pass” inevitably refers to the FRG-Austria of the World Cup 1982. The score of 1-0 qualified the two teams at the expense of Algeria, and this non-match went into the annals like that of "shame".
The circumstances that led, on Saturday, February 29, the players of the meeting between TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich to spin the ball during its last quarter of an hour are quite different. Bavarian supporters, in a visiting gallery, had displayed a banner against the local president, Dietmar Hopp, qualified as "Son of p …".
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Historical precedent?
After two interruptions used by the players and the leaders to try to negotiate with the supporters, in vain, the third would have led to a final stop. On their own initiative, it is said, the players then decided not to fight over the ball anymore – helped in this by the score of 0-6 in favor of Bayern.
The day that German football changed forever? #TSGFCB #Bundesliga https://t.co/ggoxj12AaZ
The move was applauded by the public and supported by the leaders of the Reds, who promised sanctions. Some observers wanted to see a potentially historic precedent, footballers rarely taking on such responsibilities.
This approval refers to the problems of racist insults which plague certain European championships. Porto striker Moussa Marega had left Guimaraes' lawn two weeks ago after his teammates tried to stop him – which earned them general disapproval.
Racist outbursts are endemic and poorly punished in Italy, where black players have received little support. In April 2019, Leonardo Bonucci held his partner of Juventus Moise Kean responsible "At 50%" monkey cries that had aimed him at Cagliari, the latter having celebrated a goal in front of the opposing supporters …
Hopp, emblem of financial doping
Indignation is easier than solutions, on the matter. Leaving the referees in charge of monitoring the stands and the responsibility for interrupting matches means putting an exorbitant burden on them. Leaving the field, players expose themselves and their club to sanctions.
It would also be necessary to control the perverse effects, in particular by avoiding that supporters only provoke in order to obtain the stopping of a meeting with unfavorable progress. The Hoffenheim incident has a virtue: it shows that only general mobilization and coordinated responses are effective.
It must also be remembered that the cause of supporters of Bayern is not that of racism. With the investments that propelled the tiny TSG Hoffenheim into the elite, the billionaire Dietmar Hopp embodies a financial doping very badly perceived by a large part of the German supporters.
The patron has been the target of their hostility for years, sometimes with the same words – again this weekend in the stands of Union Berlin. In 2018, ultras from Borussia Dortmund summarized what the TSG represents to them: "Uniform football, aligned with the needs of the market, deprived of its roots".
Ambiguous "jurisprudence"
The club however avoids excesses and offers an enticing sports project. But the patron also crystallizes the resentments because the German federation adopted in 2014 a clause exempting him from the rule of "50 + 1", prohibiting anyone from holding the majority of the shares of a club.
The words used are unbearable and they prejudice the cause. The fact remains that it is political and by condemning the form, we risk censoring the substance. If Dietmar Hopp was targeted in Dortmund again this weekend, it is also due to a travel ban in Hoffenheim … following previous critical banners.
These are the contradictions of freedom of expression in stadiums. We gladly make supporters the scapegoats of ills present in society as a whole – we have seen this in France about homophobia. But we are quicker to censor their militant expressions than really intolerable excesses.
Would the front formed to defend a billionaire and an institution have been as united to defend a black footballer, would the consensus in favor of this response have been as broad? These questions do not arise in these terms in Germany, where racist expressions in the stands are rare. Elsewhere, one can draw inspiration from the "Hoffenheim jurisprudence". Without the wrong target.
