Hamburg (dpa) – For Borussia Dortmund’s sports director Michael Zorc, the insults against referee Felix Zwayer “unfortunately correspond to the zeitgeist at the moment”.
It has recently been seen “also among politicians and even among virologists” who “just gave their scientific opinion, which may not suit some people,” said Zorc on the pay-TV broadcaster Sky when asked about Zwayer’s reports about hostilities after his controversial role in BVB’s top game against FC Bayern (2: 3) last December.
The Internet is “an anonymous forum that gives space for such expressions of opinion and idiotic abuse,” said Zorc. He also said that death threats “are in no way to be tolerated or justified”. Zwayer had reported that he had received numerous hate messages and that the Berlin police had written to him “that there was a death threat against me on the Internet”.
The referee is not active at the moment, he was heavily criticized by Dortmund after the top game. BVB young star Jude Bellingham verbally attacked the 40-year-old. The Englishman had indirectly accused Zwayer of bribery, alluding to the 17-year-old Robert Hoyzer scandal.
“We expressed our disappointment with Felix Zwayer’s performance at the time,” said Zorc, who sees no point in a conversation between Zwayer and Bellingham. “What should the 18-year-old Jew Bellingham say in such a conversation,” Zorc asked. “But we as Borussia Dortmund would always be available for a conversation, that’s clear.”
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