The hate posters by some Cologne supporters against RB Leipzig’s sports boss Max Eberl will probably have no consequences. Eberl refrained from reporting to the DFB.
The abusive posters against RB Leipzig’s sports director Max Eberl during the away game against 1. FC Cologne (0:0) will probably have no consequences. Referee Martin Petersen told the “Bild” that he had noted the events in the match report. However, when asked by SID, the DFB announced that Eberl had not lodged a complaint with the DFB control committee after the incidents – and therefore no proceedings were initiated.
Petersen noticed the banners during the game but was unable to read the content. Cologne fans had shown several insulting banners against Eberl and mocked his exhaustion illness, among other things.
If Petersen had read the texts, he said he “would have thought about measures and probably initiated them,” he told the “Bild” newspaper. However, it is disputed whether the three-stage plan of the DFB, which provides for measures ranging from a stadium announcement to the abandonment of the game, applies in this case.
Similar case in Gladbach
A similar case occurred in September when fans of Borussia Monchengladbach showed abusive posters against Eberl in the game against Leipzig. At that time, the stadium announcer warned the fans to put down a poster, otherwise referee Patrick Ittrich would interrupt the game.
However, this also led to contradiction, since the three-stage plan states that criticism in the form of banners or chants can be “very direct, impolite, unobjective or tasteless” without interrupting the game. This is only possible with “personified threats of violence”, such as a person in the crosshairs.
FC apologizes to Eberl
FC reacted dismayed immediately after the final whistle, distanced themselves from the hate messages and apologized to Eberl.
He was stunned: “I would be interested to know if these people know exactly what burnout means,” says Eberl. “Some drown it in alcohol, some take drugs, some kill themselves. That’s the hard truth,” said the 49-year-old, who is not very popular in Cologne because of his past with arch-rival Gladbach.
