German soccer club punished for walking away after racial slurs

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HAMBURG, Germany — A lower-level German soccer team have called their punishment for stopping a game in protest after racist abuse was allegedly directed at team captain Marcus Coffie with a slap in the face.

Hamburg-based Teutonia Ottensen was leading 2-1 at Bremer SV in Saturday’s Fourth Division game when Coffie, who is black, said he was racially abused by an opposing player. Coffies’ teammates reacted by walking off the pitch and the game was abandoned before halftime.

The North German Football Federation said on Monday it had no evidence that Coffie had been the victim of racist abuse. He awarded Bremer SV a 5-0 win. He also questioned whether such an accusation justified calling off a match or not continuing it.

Teutonia criticized the federations’ response on Tuesday.

This judgment and the way it was written demonstrates a tolerant attitude toward the problem of racism underlying this incident, Teutonia said in a statement.

Bremer SV said they believed their player, saying he had not racially abused Coffie, and the alleged incident had not been observed by match officials, but Teutonia said the federation had ignored the testimony of other witnesses.

This signals to any players faced with racial slurs on the football pitch that their options for resolving the issue are limited to what the officiating team can see, Teutonia said. The question of whether one such incident is enough to cause a game to be abandoned not only borders on ignorance, but also makes all the measures taken so far against racism look unwelcome. only if they correspond to the circumstances prevailing in the club or association.

The 5-0 result saves Bremer SV from relegation and sends the reserve team Werder Bremen instead. Teutonia only had pride at stake in the game.

The decision is not just an example of what is wrong with sport, what is still wrong with our society, Teutonia said, but it is the latest example of looking away, the latest example of a decision to tolerate racism in sport and therefore in society.

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