The DFB has decided: The one that was canceled because of the racism scandal Third division game between MSV Duisburg and VfL Osnabrück will be repeated. This decision is correct. The Osnabrück players were no longer able to continue the game that was 0-0 at the time of the cancellation.
Racist insults from the ranks are not to be tolerated and must be vigorously prosecuted and punished. Racism does not belong in football stadiums any more than in any other area of our social coexistence.
A provoked break-off must not become a stylistic device
The tolerated abandonment of the game also harbors a risk: that of potential imitation. It is conceivable (unfortunately): A team is hopelessly behind in the game and provokes a game to be abandoned. Or a fan of a team behind, sees a provoked break as an opportunity to avert a defeat for his team.
The DFB will have considered this when making its judgment. He therefore expressly points out that a possible abandonment of the game remains in the decision-making power of the referee alone. The referee must include in his decision: the intensity of the crime, the perpetrator profile, the time and the score.
It’s getting more and more difficult for the referees
That won’t make the referee’s job any easier in the future. Especially not in the lower divisions, where the role models from professional football are usually copied directly.
The biggest problem for the referees will be the question of the intensity of the crime. How far is an insult acceptable? Where does it get so unsavory that abandoning the game is justified?