The football professionals at SV Darmstadt 98 no longer want to give away shirts after games.
“We simply cannot meet this mass of requests, which is why it is difficult for us to even issue a jersey to a special person so as not to appear unfair to others,” said the second division club in a statement.
The lilies want to raffle off a complete set of jerseys among children over the course of the season. “Recently, there were kids with signs sitting on large parts of the fence on the back straight – with the result that we were told that fans at the back could no longer see anything of the game,” the club continued and appealed to its supporters: “We ask you Therefore: do without these signs! Experience football as a team sport, support us as a team and rather make blue and white flags for your visit to the stadium!”
Such measures are also an issue at other clubs in Europe. For example, Ajax Amsterdam no longer wants to allow posters in the stadium on which fans ask for the players’ jerseys. That got completely out of hand.