Hannover 96 fans held up a crosshair banner on Friday evening. Pictured on it: Harry Potter. That’s the background.
In the 2nd league, Hannover 96 and SpVgg Greuther Fürth (2:1) dueled on Friday evening. The focus was on a crosshair banner on which the fictional character Harry Potter – portrayed by the actor Daniel Radcliffe, who embodies him in the films – could be seen. Additionally, the host’s followers displayed a large poster that read: “Scared, Potter?” But what did that mean?
Harry Potter is a series of novels by Joanne K. Rowling. She has nothing to do with football. In the second part, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”, Harry Potter’s arch-rival Draco Malfoy says the words of the banner.
Allusion to CVC boss Matt Potter
The fans of the second division club probably chose Harry Potter in reference to Matt Potter. He is the boss at CVC, the possible DFL investor. Recently there have been repeated protests in the stadiums of the Bundesliga and 2nd league against DFL investor involvement. The football fans expressed this with banners. They also repeatedly threw objects such as coins onto the playing field, which meant games had to be interrupted.
Whether fans with the banner “Fear, Potter?” It is not clear that football fans recently banded together against a possible entry into the DFL and wanted to stimulate reflection through their protests, but it can be assumed.
DFL managing director speaks of discussion about new vote
Because: According to managing director Steffen Merkel, the DFL takes the protests seriously and respects them. He said that on Friday on the TV channel Sky. He also announced that they would like to meet with the clubs in the coming days to discuss a possible new vote, but at the moment the majority of clubs are not in favor of it.
The 36 clubs in the Bundesliga and the 2nd league voted in favor of bringing in an investor with an extremely narrow two-thirds majority. Since then, the voting behavior of Hanover’s majority shareholder Martin Kind, who was instructed by his club to vote against entry, has been under discussion. It is unclear whether his vote may have secured the necessary majority.
Not every club has made their voice public
As “Bild” reports, it is reasonable to assume that Kind has decided to get started. According to the newspaper, there are other clubs where it is not clear what they voted for, but a yes vote seems obvious. These also include Kiel, Elversberg and Wiesbaden.
20 clubs confirmed that they had spoken out in favor of it. These include FC Bayern, Dortmund, Eintracht and Schalke. Cologne, Freiburg, St. Pauli, Union, Hertha and Lautern, among others, have positioned themselves against this. Augsburg and Osnabrück abstained.
However, DFL managing director Merkel also emphasized on Friday that the current mandate “is valid until the fan talks and that we are therefore bound to this mandate – for the time being.” Referee Patrick Ittrich, who officiated the game between Hannover and Fürth, spoke on Sky that the game was “very close” to being canceled and that he was “sometimes tired” of the protests.
He emphasized on the TV station that all parties had to get together quickly and “then the cow has to get off the ice.”