ETB SW Essen was the only Oberliga team to reach the final day of the Essen Indoor City Championships. What could have been a great success was overshadowed by a dispute.
On January 18, the final day of the Essen Indoor City Championships, two groups competed for the title. ETB SW Essen was the only Oberliga team still in the running and led the so-called “group of death” with three Landesliga teams – including last year’s winner DJK SF Katernberg.
In the direct duel with the defending champions, the score remained 0-0 for a long time, and this sporting score was not to change until the match was abandoned. After about 13 minutes, the encounter suddenly got out of control when a dispute broke out between players from Katernberg and Schwarz-Weiß. The trigger was apparently an elbow strike by the regional league player, which the referee had not seen. This was followed by loud protests from ETB players and, in particular, goalkeeper coach Kai Heutger, who was ultimately shown the red card. The situation escalated to such an extent that the referee was forced to abandon the game. While the tournament was still in progress, a heated discussion broke out between ETB officials and the referee at the tournament headquarters about the legality of this decision. The tournament organizers justified the abandonment and the subsequent 2-0 score in favor of Katernberg as follows: “The referee felt threatened and insulted by an ETB official during the game. He then abandoned the game. In order to ensure that the tournament could continue, it was decided that the perpetrator would not receive any points and the victim would be awarded the points. Whether the game had to be abandoned is ultimately at the discretion of the referee.” Sascha Hense, coach of DJK SF Katernberg, who was standing on the other side of the field with most of his team, did not see the hectic scenes as a mistake on the part of his team: “There was indeed a foul on our part, but everything else happened on the ETB side. We had nothing to do with it. The referee abandoned the game, and we have to accept that. We can’t judge what exactly happened or what words were said – you’ll have to ask ETB.”
The decisive factor in the turbulent course of the game was apparently the verbal outburst by ETB goalkeeping coach Kai Heutger. His coach Björn Matzel also admitted this: “Our goalkeeper coach had a minor dispute with the referee. That led to a red card. But I must also say that if we were to abandon every game just because a red card was shown, we wouldn’t be able to finish a single amateur game in the second half of the season. He didn’t threaten anyone, and we certainly didn’t.” Matzel went on to say: “The only annoying thing is that the officials from the opposing team went to the tournament management and demanded that the game be abandoned. In the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play, they could have said that the game should be played to the end. But okay – they probably took advantage of the situation to secure their place in the final.”
ETB lodged an appeal against the result of the match, but this was quickly rejected by the tournament organizers. This left the Oberliga team with only the match for third place against the Landesliga team SF Niederwenigern. They won 1-0 – a small consolation for the Oberliga team.