Is Hamburg Football Verband Ripe for all Black Football Club?
Plans to deny NCG FC their Possible League promotion and Championship Perfected
The recent drama at the Hamburg Football Verband raises at least two basic questions; Can Hamburg football seriously say it is ready for an all-black football Club? And, is the whole preaching about integration through sports just another lip service? While searching for the true answer to the raised questions, let me say that the typical stereotype and prejudice against Africans in Germany was on classical display at the sports court proceedings over a supposed very simply issue of game stoppage between NCG FC and Juventude.
In the opinion of NCG FC Sport Director-Hon Kennech C Gbandi, all the drama unfolding as a result of the minor scuffles that led to the stoppage of the game, contradicts the Zweck und Aufgaben (aims and objectives) of the Hamburg Football Verband. According to Hon Gbandi,“Honestly we saw it coming, but we were powerless to do anything against it. It is however not over until it is over, the end of a game is just the beginning of another game, and Justice can still be done”. He went further to retort that; “Germany is a modern democatic soceity, I have no single doubt about this” both in optimisim and in resignation.
Paragraph 2 section 3 of HFV constitution, empowers the verband to settle misunderstandings without any iota of bias when it concerns teams under the verband. However, a close look would in this case (NCG FC VS Juventude) expose a grand design to undermine and deny the young club of NCG FC its hard earned oppurtunity to become league champions. Essentially, what other teams in the verband could not achieve in the field of play, is about to be made possible by the sports court in Hamburg! What an irony?
The Stage: Hamburger Football Verband (HVF)
According to confirmable information, the court case was schedule to start 21:00 hrs but started about 22:00 hrs, one hour behind scheduled. The reasons for the delay could not be for the perfection of mischief only that, I hardly can find what other reason that would make a German court start an hour later than schedule! Funny enough, the controversial referee, Mr. Gün Mazlum, who is also a player of FC Kurdistan Welat II, 5th on the table and who stopped the match at the 76th Minute, citing provocation from NCG FC Fan block as reasons, and claiming that he was given a push by a fan as he came to the fan block to request for calm. Note that the same character was involved in all the cases that were brought up in the court before and in the one directly concerning NCG FC. This ubiquitousness in my view, casts further doubt about Mr. Gün Mazlum’s ability and competence to officiate a game that would be trouble free.
Please carefully follow the turn of events as we relate it to you like movie scenes:
Act One – Scene One featuring the cast: HFV Jury, NCG FC and Juventude
When the case eventually resumed for the second time on 2nd May 2012, and the charges were read out once again, NCG FC paraded all the players that fit the descriptions of the alleged culprit. Unfortunately, Mr. Gün Mazlum claimed that the person who supposedly pushed him was not in the court room. When NCG FC eventually pointed out to the alleged culprit based on the statement of the referee and the representative of Juventude in the first court setting which collaborates with his report to the police on that day of the match, he retracted his statement saying that he could see a resemblance. On cross examinations from a member of the Jury, the representative of Juventuda stated categorically that the alleged culprit was indeed the man in sport court contradicting the referee’s earlier statement that the man was not in the court room. The grand plan was to paint an ugly picture of NCG FC as a club hiding something and one that is non-cooperative with the sport court.
Act Two: The baddies ?
The second drama involved the captain of NCG FC. The referee Mr. Gün Mazlum again claimed that a retaliatory kick by NCG FC captain against a Juventude player provoked the yellow card which eventually degenerated into a bench side squabble on the side of NCG FC, where the referee was allegedly given a push. The captain denied being involved in any such incident or receiving a yellow card rather that another player whom he also named was involved in the allegation. He further clarified that the incident was long before the alleged disturbance and clearly unconnected. This position was collaborated by the coach. Again, the referee could neither confirm the name nor the number of the captain in the spielbericht (Game report) to support his case just like the Court did not deem it necessary to cross check the game report to either support the referee claim or NCG FC.
Act Three (The Invisible Man)
The third drama involved this time the representative of Juventude who is the only witness that supported the referee’s claim that he was pushed by the NCG FC invisible Man. He assured the court that contrary to the statement of NCG FC member, with the claim that he was only trying to step in between NCG FC player and a Juventude player to avoid any physical struggle, outside the field of play, he saw the referee being giving a push. The accused from NCG FC, had earlier explained further that on the arrival of the referee, who queried why he was fighting with the players, in trying to explain to the referee with typical African demonstrative gesture that he was only trying to step in between the players to avoid any possible conflict by pulling them apart, but the referee who obviously was looking for a way to let out his plans out of his sack of mischief ordered him and others out of the arena. They obeyed but left protesting their innocence and insisting that the matter was simply a question of misunderstanding. The referee who already had too much of this African arguments, took the ball and walked straight to the dressing room leaving both the NCG FC and Juventude players wondering what had gone wrong.
When asked (Juventude spokesperson) by representative of NCG FC how he could be 100% percent sure that the referee was giving a push and how he could be certain that the individual he saw was an NCG FC fan; He claimed to have observed the incident from his cabin where he was selling drinks. When further asked how it could be possible to have observed the incident from over 250 meters in spite of his claim that the referee was surrounded by NCG players and fans, he could not provide any answer neither did the Jury persist to unravel the folly of this line of argument.
Meanwhile it should be noted that, the referee and the representative of Juventude had earlier stated that the man who pushed the referee is well known in football circles for unruly behavior and will not be a problem to be identified by him or other teams having similar problem with NCG FC, but when it was show time, both of them could not agree on the identity of the alleged “hooligan” or could offer any explanation with other so called teams, since this was the first time NCG FC was involved in a match stoppage or any form of alleged misconduct with the referee after 23 matches this season and with only two matches to end the season as possible Champion.
Act Four (The Man in a green Muffler)
The forth drama was “The man on green muffler” as described in the invitation from HVF. On request from HVF if the man on green muffler was in the court, the man presented himself in the court and identified himself by name and profession, IT Engineer. Both the Referee and the representative of Juventude on cross examination without contradiction agreed that he is likely the man in question. It is funny however, that he was never asked a single question nor was he asked to give his side of the story. All we saw is that a judgment was passed against him for aggressive behavior and for wanton use of threatening language against the referee.
It may be recalled that I reported in my last article that NCG FC is currently 4th on the league table with 54 points and 22 games. ASV Hamburg II is first on the table with 57 points and had played 23 games. Farmsener TV is 2nd on the table with 56 points and had played 25 games; Barsbüttel II is 3rd on the table with 56 points and 24 games. FC Kurdistan Welat II is 5th on the table with 49 points and 23 games and Juventude 6th on the table with 40 points and 23 games. Two or three teams are speculated to get direct promotion and the third or fourth as the case may be will play relegation. With the sport court judgment as you may soon see, NCG FC is completely ruled out of contention.
It is also worth mentioning that with 2 outstanding matches for NCG FC, which they are likely to win they will have a total of 63 points and top the league or second even if all the other team in the top 5 win their matches. This is history on the make because Hamburg will be welcoming the first all-black team in its football history to play for only the first year and not only tops the league but got promoted from Kreisklasse to Krise league.
Let it also be mentioned that in an earlier report on sport Nord the representative of Juventude misrepresented that facts by claiming that NCG coach allegedly pushed the referee, this he repeated during the first hearing, provoking a call from real and imagined Juventude fans and football, fans calling for a total ban of the so called “foreign football team” in Hamburg. Moreover, all the statement used by all the coalitions involved either Farmsener TV, Juventude and K.S.Polonia are all the same “The have never seen anything like this in Hamburg football Verband, over the last 20 years. Unfortunately for them, the coach turned out to be a German. This makes no different however for the Court. The case is between NCG FC and Juventude and not other teams. But how could such a man be trusted with his entire allegation.
Judgment: The fly and the Sledgehammer
In the court ruling, the court stated that NCG FC could not provide the fan that pushed the referee and have not showed any commitment to help their investigations. Further lacunas which could in normal circumstances, invoke the golden dictum of German Judiciary; “Im zweifel immer für die Angeklagte” are listed below;
-The court also stated further that even though NCG FC provided some players which the referee could not with 100 percent certainty identify as such, the court could not take the man who had only contact with the referee as the alleged culprit that pushed him thereby leaving a question mark (?)about the authenticity of the allegation and indeed the need to get a person that would match the allegation!.
-The court also ignored the plea that the captain was not in any way involved in any form or disturbance described by the referee and also never received a yellow card for the said offence.
-The sport court also ignored the plea to cross check the game report to verify if the jersey number won on that day by the captain was the same that received a yellow card.
-The court equally ignored the plea that could used as the “gutachten” in favour of NCG FC as made by the invited external organ of HFV “Cool Trainer” who visited their training and games and have attested that the team (NCG FC)and the club are not in any way prone to violent aggression as reported by the other clubs.
-The court equally ignored the plea from the sport director to take into account the statement made publicly online on SportNord by the goalkeeper of FC Kurdistan Welat II, from where the controversial referee came from. In the statement, the goalkeeper stated that “NCG FC played fair and professionally in the match” against them and concluded that there were no traces of aggression or unfair play from the team and wish NCG team luck in their promotion to the next league this season, which he considered a done deal.
The court finally handed down the Sledgehammer judgment as follows.
- The captain for involving in the incident, three matches ban, 500 euro fine and added a deduction of three points from the team.
- For the invisible man that allegedly pushed the referee, a fine of 500 Euro and another three points deducted from NCG FC.
- For the match between NCG FC vs. Juventude, the match was awarded 3-0 against NCG FC
This judgment if unchallenged would finally terminate any dream of NCC FC getting promoted this season and winning the championship. It may be further recalled that the coalition against NCG Football Club Hamburg promotion to the next higher league with malicious, frivolous, baseless and trumped-up charges in the sports court has been intensified since it has been clear NCG FC will likely win the Championship.
Just two matches to see NCG FC as possible Champion the the coalition got what it had wanted. NCG FC Sport Director while appealing to the players to concentrate on their two remaining matched has vowed to leave no stone unturned in seeking for justice and fighting prejudice and discrimination in Hamburg football. He stated that; in pursuit of Paragraph 1 section 3 of the constitution of HVF which up-holds political, religious and racial nuetrality.
Hon. Gbandi in his submission stated that the court erred in law by not cross-checking what could possibly be the the motive behind the allegations of Juventude which could not match with the available evidence. Furthermore, it smacks of tampering with Justice by Juventud when they rushed to cast NCG FC Trainner and NCG FC in bad light, by pronoucing slantful judgement on NCG FC online without waiting for the court judegement . Also considering Paragraph 28 “spielwertungen in besonderen Fallen, Section 7: Verschuldeter Spielabbruch”, the court did not only give out the maximum punishmmemt for an alledged defulting team in a match, they went far beyound it, deducting a toll of 6-9 points depending on how you looked at it. With just two matches to end the season in a table where just 1 point can flip the coin the other way and determine who wins the championship and move to the next league. A punishemt of such magnitude leaves much questions than answers, he concluded.
The rerefree has showed bais and contradicts with Paragraph 33, Section 5, which required him not to allow the action of a non player affect the outcome of a a crutial match as this. The Sports Director of NCG FC concluded that in his opinion, the Sport Court erred in interpriting the law and that he will certainly appeal the judgement.
Chris Ono, AH-Magazine Sports
