Top referee Felix Brych has condemned the hostilities against Sascha Stegemann after the much discussed Bundesliga game by Borussia Dortmund in Bochum.
“This is the point where the limit is exceeded,” said the 47-year-old on the br program “Blickpunkt Sport”. He can empathize with the situation, “after the 2018 World Cup I felt the same way, I also had the problem with hostilities”.
Brych had directed the game between Switzerland and Serbia in Russia at the time, after which he was attacked by the Serbian side because a penalty was not given. Stegemann had not called a penalty in Borussia’s 1-1 draw at VfL when Danilo Soares fouled BVB international Karim Adeyemi in the penalty area. Due to the Dortmund draw, FC Bayern was able to move past BVB to the top of the table again with their win against Hertha BSC.
Stegemann reported in the Sport1 “double pass” of concrete threats against him and his family, he had filed a criminal complaint. BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke said: “Answers of any kind, slander or threats, whether personal or anonymous via social media channels, we can – despite all the disappointment – not even tolerate the beginning.”
Brych took Watzke’s statements positively. “I thought it was pretty good of Aki Watzke that he said it’s over now,” said Brych. The referee’s decision on Friday in Bochum was “wrong”. Stegemann himself had acknowledged this several times.