The young referee Robin Braun wrote a small piece of Bundesliga history in his first first division.
The 28-year-old explained the fans in Leverkusen a video evidence decisions by stadium announcement and thus ensured the premiere of the new method in German football.
The game between Bayer Leverkusen and TSG Hoffenheim was the fifth and last game of a test run this weekend, in the previous four matches in 1st and 2nd league, the referees had no reason for announcements about the loudspeakers.
In the 23rd minute, Braun initially whistled the penalty for Leverkusen because of a foul on Nathan Tella. However, he had previously stood out, so after consultation with video assistant Robert Schröder, browned through, activated the stadium microphone and announced: “The scene was checked, in the opinion of the pictures it was offside, therefore the decision: no penalty , Offside. “
This was followed by a few whistles and abdominal chants in the direction of the German Football Association, but the new method had survived its premiere without an accident.
“I am honestly relieved that everything worked out, there were no promises and hopefully it brought the added value that is desired,” said Braun later at “DAZN”.
Inspiration from the NFL
Previously, the games on Saturday between Bayern Munich and Holstein Kiel (4: 3), FC St. Pauli and FC Augsburg (1-1) as well as between Fortuna Düsseldorf and SSV Ulm (3: 2) in the 2nd. League was part of the test run. Also on Sunday at the draw between Eintracht Frankfurt and VfL Wolfsburg (1-1) there was no opportunity to say.
Previously, the referees had already spoken about the challenges that the plan has. “I would lie if I said that it was not an additional burden,” said Florian Exner before working in Munich at “Sky”: “We tested it in Frankfurt on the DFB campus and now again in January in Portugal But we don’t have a full stadium there.
The pilot project based on the model of the US football league NFL is initially limited to the nine stadiums of the member associations of the initiating DFL Commission Football and is intended to include 67 games by the end of the season.
In two cases, the referee should speak out about the loudspeakers: If he was on the monitor to check a decision or if he changes a decision after VAR intervention. At the push of a button, the referee can release his headset and can then be heard via the stadium speakers as well as in the live television picture.
First and foremost, it is about more transparency for the spectators in the stadiums, for which the interventions of the video assistant (VAR) have so far been often not very understandable.