Referee Florian Exner and assistant Jonah Besong were attacked by SVS club president Jürgen Machmeier after the game between SV Sandhausen and SSV Ulm (1:2).
The German Football Association (DFB) announced this and at the same time condemned the incident
in the strongest terms. “It’s bad enough that referees are repeatedly insulted, defamed, threatened and attacked by spectators. But when even a club president physically attacks the referee and his assistant, a new dimension has been reached,” said referee boss Lutz-Michael Fröhlich.
Machmeier is said to have pushed the referee
After the final whistle of the game on Friday evening Machmeier pushed the referee “back with his chest” on the way to the dressing room, the DFB wrote on its homepage. Assistant Besong then also received “a push in the upper body” from the club president. Sandhausen’s sports director Matthias Imhof also “verbally attacked” the referee after the end of the game.
Sports director Imhof also lacked respect
The incident was “completely unacceptable,” said Fröhlich: “A president has a clear role model function, for football as a whole and in particular for fair and respectful treatment of referees in this sport.” SVS sports director Imhof also showed a lack of respect for the referee with his behavior after the end of the game. “Such excesses cause massive damage to football’s image,” said Fröhlich.
Machmeier and Imhof criticize Referee performance
Second division relegated Sandhausen played the game with one less man for a long time after a yellow-red card against Felix Göttlicher in the 9th minute (repeated foul play). Machmeier subsequently blamed the referee team for the fourth defeat of the season. “But what the referee did here today was a line that was crossed. The game was already decided beforehand, I’ll go that far. There was no sensitivity when Felix Göttlicher was sent off. The referee clearly decided the game for me today.” , Machmeier had said.
Imhof also clearly criticized the referee. “Today the game is entirely down to the referee, he decided the game. We got into the game really well, but the referee’s performance was simply bad.”
