After Preußen Münster, 1. FC Köln has now been hit with a record fine. The club has to pay almost 600,000 euros. How much can you stand above the club? A commentary.
After the coronavirus pandemic, the burning of pyrotechnics in stadiums in Germany has reached a new dimension.
One wonders: what is going on in the minds of people who want to outdo themselves again and again? Every weekend, fireworks go off and bangs can be heard in the stands across the country.
Quite apart from the fact that it is extremely dangerous and there have already been several injuries, it also has no benefit whatsoever for the club. On the contrary: there have been a hail of record fines.
In sports media, the word record fine could be the most used word in 2023. Most recently, it was the case of Preußen Münster, who were fined a six-figure sum for their “fireworks” in the DFB Cup against FC Bayern Munich. Just a percent or more of the annual budget squandered. Congratulations to the hooligans.
Schalke will soon be receiving more mail from the DFB court. On the one hand for the pyro crap in Rostock, which the S04 supporters then topped off with riots that resulted in an almost 30-minute interruption of the game. Here, too, the penalty is likely to be in the six figures. Respect.
The most recent case is that of 1. FC Köln. They celebrated a home victory in an almost embarrassing first half of the season. The victory was in the derby against Borussia Mönchengladbach. But people will no longer talk about the 3-1 victory, but about the art of the hooligans in turning a derby win into a record fine.
The club has to pay 595,000 euros. What a fine! It almost seems like a joke that 198,000 euros of it can be invested in safety or violence-prevention measures.
To put it in fan language, you might as well burn it, maybe set it alight with pyrotechnics. Because the spectators, who week after week are happy that they have taken something from the budget of the club they supposedly love so much, no longer seem to be reachable in these times. They put themselves above the club, they are megalomaniac, they have to be kept out of the stadiums.
The only way to stop them is to impose tough punishments. In the first instance, against the clubs, if you find the idiots who are responsible, then they must be dealt with severely.
Because for Münster, Schalke or Cologne it is already clear: these punishments will prevent at least one winter transfer, should FC be able to sign any players at all, but that is a completely different matter, the CAS ruling is expected here shortly.
Now there is no great need for Münster to do anything, but Schalke and Cologne urgently need new players. However, one of each has already been put on hold due to the embarrassing behavior, because the money went to the DFB.
One can only hope that these stadium visitors never again blather on about how they are the club or that the club means so much to them. Because with every flare they burn, they prove the opposite.