#un94

The language of the stands is rough. That’s a good thing. Because it’s our language, our codes. They don’t have to appeal to everybody. Even if we sometimes go too far. Ever since last weekend, the country has been talking about this very subject. About the boundaries of what can be said in German stadiums - and who should be the judge on that. Those who often have little else besides football - or those to whom football is nothing but an investment. By now this debate has taken on a shape that we can no longer condone. Time to once again answer a few questions.

Why is everybody against Mr. Hopp now? Maybe the most important question, because it’s often only partially answered. Because for these current protests Dietmar Hopp is only of secondary relevance, maybe even less. Because the main target of the protests is DFB. DFB recently imposed on Dortmund’s fanbase an away ban at Hoffenheim. It concerns all fans. Such collective punishments had been abolished by DFB after long years of protests. The association’s officials have now broken their promise to the fan bases. There shouldn’t be any global sentences applied with a watering can anymore after incidents like the one in Hoffenheim. That is what the fans of Bayern Munich and many other clubs wanted to draw attention to last matchday.

Why is it also about Mr. Hopp? Of course there’s a history to all of this. Us as well, we have protested several times against TSG Hoffenheim and its patron. Dietmar Hopp, along with some others, represents what football has become. Mateschitz, Kind, Ismaik: In many places powerful men with money or influence are trying to hollow out the 50+1 rule. Dietmar Hopp is just one of many symptoms. When he uses his money to invade our living space while at the same time clubs like our Glubb (FCN) barely stand a chance to remain in 1. Liga, of course Mr. Hopp has to suffer some criticism. We and others have often expressed this criticism fairly. But nobody's listening to factual criticism from the stands [that’s a really bad translation. „Sachlich“ means "matter-of-fact“.]

Why is there such hysteria around the Hopp issue? Only a few days after the right-wing terrorist attack in Hanau, while the numbers of refugees at the EU border grow and grow, Germany would rather debate two banners against Dietmar Hopp. But exactly that is one of the reasons why it’s working so well. Because with just a few interviews DFB, Rummenigge and Co. managed to establish a ludicrous narrative, according to which these banners stand in line with hate and discrimination in all of society. How loathsome. It’s widely known how many fan bases throughout the years have fought against discrimination. Not with paid PR stunts but in the stands, where it takes ground- and sometimes manual work. Banners against Hopp may be insulting, but never discriminatory. Discrimination means ostracism of a disadvantaged minority because of personal traits. But Dietmar Hopp is a white, German billionaire. You don’t have to approve of the banners. But they’re not discriminatory. Quite the opposite: those who say they are mock the victims of actual discrimination. But this narrative by the powerful Bayern and DFB bosses was quickly established last weekend. Other football officials jumped on the bandwagon. Like a reflex many media outlets joined in this orchestrated outrage of the powerful. Many media outlets in the past few days have countered this, clarified and explained. But by then the maelstrom of general outrage has become much too strong. Christian Streich drew parallels to the end of the Weimar Republic. A rational discussion was impossible practically within hours of the banners being shown at Hoffenheim. The agitators in their ties and suits should be ashamed of themselves.

What are DFB and many football managers conveniently omitting? What DFB, many club bosses and also some players keep silent about in all of this are their own double standards. They are the benefitters of this football business that stops at nothing for even more money and success. Where’s the outrage about the 2022 world cup in Qatar where people are being tortured or die horribly doing forced labour on the building sites? Where was the outrage at previous tournaments, where dissidents where silenced and entire districts were flattened? Where was the outrage at the many corruption scandals  from Blatter to Infantino to Beckenbauer? Where was the outrage when a selected few started eroding the 50+1 rule? What have all these „honourable men“ of German football ever done against any of this? How can they, without a bad conscience even, feign such moral superiority? Where’s the outrage right now as Red Bull Leipzig is throwing Japanese visitors out of their stadium - out of fear of Corona? How can DFB president Fritz Keller act the shocked official on Sportstudio when he’s throwing out long-fought for agreements? This hypocrisy pisses us off so much. We in the stands are definitely not free of mistakes. But we don’t pretend to be a moral authority.

So what’s this all actually about then? There’s a simple reason for Fritz Keller, Dietmar Hopp, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and their like to act like they do: they’re sick of us. Critical stadium crowds in the best case don’t make any money. In the worst case they get in the way of their new history. They may make for nice tifos and a great atmosphere, but at the end of the day they’re the sand in the well-oiled gears of football. So when Fritz Keller says his criticism only concerns a small part of the fans that’s a bold lie. Because it concerns all of us. Because we sometimes disagree with the ref. Because sometimes in football we use insults that we wouldn’t in normal everyday life. Because we’re critical and don’t condone everything that happens in football for the sake of marketing. Because we have a place to show our emotions - the positive as well as the negative. Today it’s just about critical banners. Tomorrow it’ll be about personalised tickets, full-body scanners or getting rid of standings. That’s all not distant future. Other issues are proof enough: the 50+1 rule, the kickoff times, VAR.

What we’re going to do now? We’ll continue to take a clear stand on these issues. DFB and many DFL clubs are overstepping boundaries - so if we have to we’re ready to do that, too. But surely nobody wants this situation to escalate any further. We don’t want to and definitely won’t cause any damage to 1. FC Nürnberg. Everyone who knows us knows that crass insults aren’t the style of our group - if they’re not strictly necessary. So for now we’ll answer in our own way - with sarcasm and sharp criticism. But the extent to which DFB is willing to contribute to calm down the situation lies outside our power. In any case we definitely won’t be silenced.