On Sunday, the police and fire department were on site at the qualifying round of the indoor city championships in Essen. Both left again without doing anything.

There were two curious operations at the indoor city championships in Essen. Both the police and the fire department paid a visit to the Sportpark am Hallo on Sunday. But they were not needed.

But first things first: First of all, a dozen members of a hundred-strong fire brigade entered the hall in full kit and positioned themselves in the stands. Apparently there had been rumors around the test match between Rot-Weiss Essen and 1. FC Köln that a few Ultras wanted to support RWE’s second team in qualifying the following day.

However, there was no sign of them, which is why the police left after a while. RWE II made it through to the intermediate round even without the support. But that was not the last false alarm at the indoor city championships on Sunday.

At around 7 p.m., the janitor of the hall contacted the tournament management and said that there had been a fire alarm and that several emergency vehicles from the fire department were on their way to the Sportpark am Hallo. While the game between AL-ARZ Lebanon and SuS Haarzopf was in progress, the blue lights were already shining through the windows.

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Shortly afterwards, several firefighters entered the hall wearing breathing masks and other equipment to search for the cause. Spectators and players were unimpressed, however, and some didn’t even seem to notice.

This was followed by an announcement from the audibly angry co-organizer and hall announcer Günther Oberholz. Over ten fire engines had arrived because “some idiot” had smashed the emergency button in a men’s toilet, triggering a major alarm. This will result in considerable damage and witnesses are being sought. Oberholz: “How can you be so stupid and endanger an event like that?”

The fire department also left without doing anything. What would have been missing for the emergency hat trick? That’s right, an emergency call-out. A spectator present was able to prevent this. He quickly reset the dislocated finger of the Barisspor 84 Essen goalkeeper. He was able to continue – as was the entire tournament