Freiburg head coach Julian Schuster has criticised the club’s fans following a tennis ball protest during their 2-1 away defeat at Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga last Sunday.
Schuster was already annoyed, having lost the game in the manner in which they did, by conceding two preventable goals: “We shouldn’t have lost the game.”
Right at the start of the match, the game was interrupted when tennis balls rained down onto the pitch from the away block. Shortly after, a banner emerged reading: “Restricted fan culture = Match interrupted – against material bans.”
The restriction of fan culture in question was Bayer Leverkusen’s recent announcement that all visiting fans are banned from bringing materials such as flags when attending matches at the BayArena – the protest from Freiburg fans was also supported by those in the Leverkusen home sections.
In a joint statement, two Freiburg ultras explained: “In football, there are some things you can count on: your own team is guaranteed to lose against the struggling side, video replay still doesn’t bring justice, and restrictions on fan culture are always met with a response from us fans. Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH has a wealth of experience with the latter. Yet, they don’t seem to be getting any wiser.”
Schuster, however, didn’t see the point of the tennis ball protest and even went over to the away block to try to get them to stop so that the game could get going.
“Generally speaking, I’m very open to protests, and I’m happy to listen and understand,” the Freiburg man explained during the post-match press conference.
He continued: “What I can’t understand, however, is trying to influence the game. That goes too far for me. I’ve already said that. Our fans, our amazing fans, if there’s something they’re not happy about. I’m always happy to talk to them about it. But not when they try to influence the game. That definitely goes too far for me, and it wasn’t okay.”
Whether similar protests occur during other Leverkusen fan matches remains to be seen. Bayer Leverkusen currently has no plans on reversing their decision on away fans.
