Westfalia Bochum is also not competing against WSV Bochum because of right-wing extremist posts on social media. The player continues to post.

The game between Werner SV and Westfalia Bochum would have been the top game of the 15th matchday in the Kreisliga C.

But like SK Bochum 11 and Eintracht Grumme II before them, the fifth-placed team does not want to play against WSV (2nd). The reason: a player from the club posted right-wing extremist content on social media.

“We will stand by the other clubs. Anything else would be uncooperative,” emphasized Westfalia player-coach Haci Arpe in an interview with the ‘WAZ’. ‘The game would be very important for us, but we want to set an additional example.’ This adds another chapter to the story of the WSV player.

It began with the renunciation of SK Bochum 11, which had publicly pointed out the player’s activities on the internet. Among other things, he had posed with the Reich flag in the colors (black, white and red) and posted a photo of the scientifically annotated edition of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” – accompanied by the words “Happy Birthday” – as well as a photo with the addition “I hate ticks”. Screenshots of this are available to the “WAZ”, the name is also known.

With the last post, he had turned against the Antifa, as the content of the picture suggests. The “Antifascist Action” Bochum had publicly declared its solidarity with the SK Bochum 11, and the player attacked the loose association of autonomous leftists again in the past few days, letting it be known via an Instagram story: “The tears of the Antifa are my lubricant.” The player concerned has not yet responded to multiple requests from the “WAZ”.

SK Bochum had contacted WSV before the game scheduled for November 3, asking that the player not play against SK Bochum. When WSV did not comply with this request, SK Bochum canceled the game. Grumme did exactly that, and that is what WSV’s next opponent – Westfalia Bochum – now wants to do.

After the first refusal, WSV sent a statement to this editorial team, but did not distance itself from the player’s activities. Among other things, the letter states: “We believe that the individual circumstances of members’ lives should not influence their abilities and commitment in the club. As long as everyone observes the values of respect, teamwork and fair play, we see no reason to let private life influence the athletic evaluation.”

The player in question is known to Westfalia Bochum

Haci Arpe of Westfalia Bochum, together with the team and his club, made the decision not to compete against WSV – which he finds difficult. “I know that the Werner players would also like to compete. They don’t want to get three points every week without doing anything for it either. But now they have to suffer the consequences of what one player did.”

He knows the player in question. “It surprised me that he would do something like that,” says Arpe. “I don’t know what he was thinking.” According to another source at Westfalia Bochum, the player has been known to make comments in the past that suggest a right-wing conservative attitude.

Either way, the personnel issue remains a topic of conversation, and the first clubs have shown solidarity with SK Bochum. Westfalia player-coach Arpe is now demanding: “It’s time for our football association to say something too.”