interview
For Alex Feuerherdt, spokesman for the DFB referee, the sexist chants against Fabienne Michel were a “low point”. How can this be prevented in the future?
Sportschau: Mr. Feuerherdt, on March 28th Fabienne Michel was sexistically insulted by RW Essen fans. How do you arrange the case?
Alex Feuerherdt: It is not a new knowledge that men’s football has always had a problem with sexism. In that case, it also directed the referee against a party involved in the game. That was a low of the season and a terrible incident.
Sportschau: You get the impression that these incidents also took you personally.
Alex Feuerherdt: The DFB represents clear values that discrimination, anti -Semitism, racism or sexism are combated. I find that as an obligation not only because I belong to the association, but also as a person. It has always been important to me to show clear edge where it is discriminated against: something like that must have no place in football. Something like that must not have a place in society.
Sportschau: Should you have acted faster?
Alex Feuerherdt: It was not ideal when it comes to processing. I expressly take myself on board, because it took almost three days until we have learned: there are recordings of an additional camera of the ARD, which clearly show what was called and sung. That could not be heard in the live broadcast of another station, and the referee team had not noticed it. Every day would have been able to pursue the matter earlier.
Sportschau: What did you do when you learned about it?
Alex Feuerherdt: I spoke and texted with the journalist of the sports show. What happened there? Can we get and evaluate the material officially? So we could finally hand it over to the DFB control committee so that it can determine. Then there was a sports court judgment that clearly stated: It was discriminatory, inhumane behavior of part of the Essen spectators towards the referee because of her gender.
Sportschau: There could be comments that say: She is the only woman in the first three leagues, so she must be able to endure something.
Alex Feuerherdt: Nobody has to endure sexism, racism, anti -Semitism. Not in society and not in football. These were not subtle calls either; Nothing where you would have to interpret anything. That was open, unvarnished, vulgar sexism, with which Fabienne was confronted. This is not just any form of the folklore, not something that belongs in football.
Sportschau: How can you Referees And better protect the referee?
Alex Feuerherdt: We have the three -stage plan for discriminatory incidents. If a case of discrimination occurs, the referee can interrupt the game and arrange a stadium announcement. If this continues or repeats, the game can be interrupted again, then the players can be ordered from the field. The game can ultimately be canceled. But what do we do if the referee herself is the victim of this discrimination? The mechanism that a referee affected can protect herself without any problems.
Sportschau: Fabienne Michel did not even notice the calls in the game.
Alex Feuerherdt: She was focused on play, just like her assistants. You don’t notice everything that is called by the ranks. If she had perceived it, the question arises: what should she have done? It is not so easy to activate the three -stage plan if you are the victim of discrimination yourself. There were also others in the stadium: what about the host club? What about the club that these fans belong to? It would have to be active if he noticed it. One would have to address this, make it clear: that does not belong to society anywhere, that doesn’t belong in football either.
Sports show: in season 2 “impartial – Germany Elite referee “ It is the first time that Fabienne Michel speaks publicly about the incidents. What did you advise her when the research reached her?
Alex Feuerherdt: First of all, I spoke to her: Is it a need to speak publicly about it? What do you wish In this case, it is the person concerned, the victim of sexist discrimination – and therefore not the one who would be challenged. Not especially if she didn’t notice it anyway. First and foremost, we are required in the association to take a position and do everything that is in our power. Protecting the referee to take her out of the line of fire is our job as a DFB.
Sportschau: How did it matter that some journalists and spectators said: ‘Fabienne Michel stood in the way when the Essen were decorated, so she was insulted’?
Alex Feuerherdt: In the event of discrimination, the victim is never to blame. That really excited me. If someone says: ‘If there was no reason, there would have been no insults’, I would like to ask the counter question: ‘Are sexists only if women make a mistake?’ Is that the logic? If I tip it: Isn’t that exactly the logic that you accuse a woman to have a short skirt and somehow to be to blame for it? Sure, that is now exhausted. On the other hand, these sexist calls were a clear rape fantasy. Fortunately, in this case, only verbally expressed, but it was part of it. How do I want to justify this? How do I want to make a ‘context’?
Sportschau: How do you deal with it as a DFB? Is Michel deliberately sent into a heated game, or is it first set for games with less attention?
Alex Feuerherdt: There are no plans that Fabienne should no longer whistle anymore. If clubs demand that a certain referee should no longer be used, we will not comply with it. We talk to her and ask how she processed it and how we want to deal with it in the future. Can we send Fabienne to certain games? I mean: of course, yes. However, this means that you bundle all strength, invest everything to produce a climate in which this is of course possible.
Sportschau: How can this succeed?
Alex Feuerherdt: Everyone in our association, in the fan scenes, in the clubs are asked to create a climate that such an incident does not repeat itself and the question does not arise: Can we send a referee somewhere or not? I want to give an example to make it clear that this is possible: We had neo -Nazi slotols in various stadiums in the early 1990s, at least in professional football we almost not at all. What led to this? On the one hand, it has been the active fan scene that has campaigned to outlaw such behaviors and from the stadium. There are very exemplary fan projects. The other is the association that has changed has a different awareness. The campaigns are no longer printed today “my friend is foreigner”, but unequivocally “show racism the red card”. If a sports court judgment is as clear as in Fabienne’s case, it is an eminent progress.
The interview led Tom Ockers for the 2nd season of the ARD documentary series “impartial – Germany’s elite referee”.