The Bremen Football Association (BFV) has canceled all league, cup and friendly games in its jurisdiction for the coming weekend due to a recent “high number” of violence, hate and discrimination incidents in its leagues. The association announced this on Friday. Accordingly, the BFV board made the decision to ban the game on Thursday evening at an extraordinary meeting.
Last weekend alone there were several incidents that were reported to the association. For example, after a men’s game there was a pack formation, “during which, among other things, there were kicks in the head and a knife being pulled,” the BFV wrote in a statement.
“Last weekend, a new, sad peak was reached in the quality of incidents on our sports fields. We are not prepared to accept this situation any further,” BFV President Patrick von Haacke is quoted as saying: “With this weekend without games, we hope it will be even stronger “To be able to raise awareness of the issue so that violence and discrimination are not tolerated by anyone in sport, but are clearly excluded.”
The association announced that national games would not be affected by the measure.