There are no gross fouls, but there are some other controversial situations. For example, in the 33rd minute, when “Cordi” defender Dallas Aminzadeh volleyed a cross from HEBC midfielder Hendrik Diekmann back to his keeper Anton Lattke. There is no whistle. “Dude, if that’s not a return,” moans a fan standing behind the goal.
Praise from all sides for Ukrainian referee
After halftime, the duels increased. Things are getting hectic. For Shurman, the task is correspondingly more demanding. “It got a bit tricky from the 60th minute onwards. But he got that under control quickly,” praises Andreas Bandt from the Hamburg Football Association’s (HFV) refereeing committee: “Everything was good.”
Shurman only dealt three yellow cards in the hard-fought game. “He was very calm, almost relaxed. I don’t think you see a referee that good, even in the regional league. He was really good,” said striker Sinisa Veselinovic, who scored Concordia’s 2-1 winner.
His coach Pieper-von Valtier is also pleased with Shurman’s performance. “With some decisions I thought: ‘Oh, he lets a lot go.’ He showed international toughness there, but you could see that he had already officiated one or two games.”
Bundesliga referee Ittrich takes care of Shurman
After the final whistle, Shurman quickly disappears into the dressing room. It’s bitterly cold this evening. Wearing the official training suit of the German Football Association (DFB), he enters the clubhouse a few minutes later.
He received it as a gift from Hamburg Bundesliga referee Patrick Ittrich. The 43-year-old has been taking good care of Shurman and his family ever since they arrived in the Hanseatic city. He also arranged for the Ukrainian to officiate HFV games. It is irrelevant for the FIFA referee that he can now only referee amateur games.
“You have to do something so you don’t have to think about the war all the time. That gives me the opportunity to switch off for two hours,” says the referee, who comes from the town of Vyshneve, which has a population of 40,000.
Mother and brother still live in Ukraine
He and his brother have built a professional existence in the town, which is only a few kilometers away from Kyiv. Both run a pizza delivery service. Shurman was doing well economically before the start of the Russian invasion, partly because of his extra income from refereeing. Now he has to worry about losing everything he has built up.