In a third division game, referee Fabienne Michel is insulted with sexist chants. Criminologist Thaya Vester arranges the incident and provides solutions.
Trigger warning: In this article we quote statements that degree and contain sexual violence.
The referee Fabienne Michel is sexistically insulted in a game in the 3rd league, At a youth football game in Bad Ems, an referee is hit in the face.
Professionals like Lena Oberdorf or Lea Schüller find clear words: “An insolence: I do not understand – in general – how to contradict other people just because a wrong decision was made. I find that incomprehensible,” said Schüller. Last week, national player Lena Oberdorf reacted to this incident with clear words: “I really wonder who shit people into the brain,” said the 23-year-old in the podcast “Popcorn and Panenka”.
What exactly happened? In the game between Rot-Weiss Essen and SC Verl in the 3rd football league a good two weeks ago, referee Fabienne Michel bounced unhappily with an Essen player who cannot prevent a goal. Afterwards, the Essen fans tuned sexist chants, insulting the referee, among other things, as “whore”.
“Referees Do not only get sayings, but devaluation because of their gender “
Thaya Vester has been dealing with violence in football and the question of what can be done about it for many years. However, it is not easy to scientifically determine how often impartial is offended. “However, we have noticed for years that it is a permanent topic,” said the criminologist at the University of Tübingen.
She classifies the insults against Fabienne Michel as follows: “Referee generally have a bad stand, and are often hostile. Unfortunately, Fabienne Michel and all other referees have a gender -specific component that not only get to hear the typical sayings, but also devaluations because they are women.”
Problematic statements are often not recognized
The incident around Fabienne Michel only became known by a journalist. According to Vester, this shows that much is seen as not problematic, even though it is. “It even goes so far that this narrative ‘is part of football’ is even internalized by the referees or women in football.”
This is more than problematic for the criminologies: “That you can already assume that you will be insulted and have to pay this price in order to be able to participate in the system is not particularly progressive.”
According to Vester, it needs low -threshold Solutions
With the Captain rule (only the captain can turn to the referee on the field), Thaya Vester already sees a good approach to containing insults, as this can prevent possible pack formation. However, the practical implementation can be expanded: “It still worked well for the European Championship because a yellow card really hurt. But this is not the case in amateur football, and then the rule does not have the educational effect.”
But what solutions are there? “Basically, we have to become more sensitive, but also deliver low -threshold offers to report violence.” According to Vester, QR codes that can be reported via violence could be a possible solution: “That would also have an educational effect. If I see a sticker in front of me, I will hold back with one or the other statement.”
Prize on Sun., 1.4.2025 10:05 p.m., SWR Sport, SWR
