Fans have been protesting in stadiums against investors in the Bundesliga for weeks. They cause interruptions in the game, they are annoying – and yet they only act consistently.
Anyone who attended the Hertha BSC game against Hamburger SV on Saturday evening hopefully had warm clothes with them. Because of protest, which was expressed in the form of tennis balls being thrown onto the field, the second division game had to be interrupted for a whopping 32 minutes (read more about this here).
The protests in the league are now a regular occurrence. Whether with posters, collective silence, insults or gold coins: the fans want to be noticed and consciously disrupt the regular routine on the pitch. It is your right – and only consistent. The disruptive actions in the Berlin Olympic Stadium got out of hand and almost led to the game being abandoned. It was by no means a purely self-righteous action, but rather a legitimate protest action carried out to the point of pain.
Because only protests that really hurt get the attention they deserve. The Hertha fans in Berlin’s East Curve sent a clear message: They are afraid for the future of the league and the clubs. They care about balanced competition, about participation, in short: about YOUR football. For them, the wheel of commercialization has long since turned too far.
Now that’s the thing with the most popular sport in Germany. Who owns football? To everyone and also to no one. How much protest is too much? The Herthan supporters made it clear on Saturday that they would have accepted a potential game cancellation. At the expense of those fans who wanted to watch a football game in peace in the stadium. Those fans who sat at home in front of the screens. And those fans who like to see the troublemakers as people who disparagingly denounce them as “incorrigible slobs”. But their radical approach is as annoying as it is important, as it increases the chance of being noticed in the ever-spinning wheel of advancing commercialization.
You can, may and must argue. But you have to be heard. Many grassroots fans feel ignored – and have been for years. When Monday games were introduced in the Bundesliga, club supporters protested – with success. However, the new TV rights contract meant ten games late on Sunday evening, a similarly unfriendly time for away fans.
The upcoming contract, which will apply from the 2025/2026 season, now includes five more Sunday games at 7:30 p.m. Officially, to relieve the burden on the internationally represented clubs. For many stadium visitors, however, the contract means a further fragmentation of the match day. The fan-friendly kick-off time on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. is becoming increasingly irrelevant – and with it the interests of the fans. They are no longer relevant. The pay-TV payer on the screen is more important for the DFL than the fan creating atmosphere in the stadium. They are irreplaceable for the Bundesliga “product”. If the DFL doesn’t take the protest seriously, it will experience a rude awakening.
The investor entry into the DFL, decided in a secret, non-transparent vote in mid-December, overflowed the already full barrel of acceptance – and was the starting signal for the ongoing protests. He will move on. Rightly.