Official | Union Berlin lose appeal in disputed Bochum match | OneFootball

In the second of two rulings handed down by a German Federal court today, an appeal by Union Berlin to overturn a verdict that awarded VfL Bochum three points in a disputed December Bundesliga match. Earlier today, Union’s co-plaintiffs Holstein Kiel and St. Pauli saw their motion to appeal denied. Now Union’s own case has been rejected.

The chairman of the federal court, Oskar Riedmeyer, publicly appeared before members of the assembled media to explain the decision. Riedmeyer’s words effectively conveyed that Union’s sporting arguments were overruled by the dangers of pyrotechnics being thrown onto the pitch by German spectators. The court essentially felt that a hard line must be drawn when it comes to matters of safety.

“Our deliberations took longer than expected and this certainly did not make matters easy for us,” Riedmeyer said. “We have the problematic case of objects being thrown onto the pitch again and here we have a case in which a player [VfL Bochum keeper Patrick Drewes] was hit on the head. Union’s appeal is rejected.”

GGFN | Peter Weis