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Bayern coach Hans-Dieter Flick
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NOUSHAD THEKKAYIL / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
Suddenly the debate about football and its special role in the pandemic is loud and omnipresent again.
The discussion as to whether arrogance supersedes humility in football, although it wanted to be more humble.
It was stimulated by the European Football Union (Uefa), which sends the teams in the European Cup across the continent in search of a gap in the network of risk areas.
But FC Bayern also played a large part in this.
First it was CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge with his push to vaccinate football professionals.
Coach Hans-Dieter Flick followed on Sunday - the otherwise calm coach who rarely speaks about things outside of the sporting world.
But this time Flick rumbled off suddenly, described SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach as one of the "so-called experts" and etched against politics, which did not produce positive headlines in the fight against Corona.
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Bavaria's CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge: Spokesman in a debate that football no longer had to lead
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Arne Dedert / dpa
Bayern are - whether they want to or not - spokesmen in a debate that football has not had to lead for a long time.
He was privileged because, unlike other industries, he was allowed to continue operations.
And the public got used to it.
But now there are again comments about the lost grip (also from SPIEGEL) and a questionable self-assessment of football ("It would be nice if professional football didn't lose its last spark of decency in the midst of this pandemic," it says on Deutschlandfunk).
But how does the rest of the football industry in Germany actually find it?
Helen Breit is spokeswoman for the “Our Curve” fan alliance.
She was one of 37 members of the “Future of Professional Football” task force, which, convened by the German Football League (DFL), worked out proposals on how sport could become more sustainable and down-to-earth.
Breit sees "a new dimension of absurdity" in the measures taken by Uefa and the statements by Rummenigge and Flick.
Breit told SPIEGEL: "You weren't humble before, but you tried to be more cautious in public." The fan organizations are generally not friends of professional football continuing to play in the Corona period.
Now, according to Breit, she was mainly surprised by Bayern's “demanding position”.
She expects "that clubs will position themselves in this case and take a stand".
Against FC Bayern.
Special role for Bavaria or football
But the league and other clubs have remained largely silent so far - at least officially.
There is certainly criticism within the Bundesliga of Bayern's approach.
But it is only uttered behind closed doors.
Nobody dares the open visor.
"Flick's remarks weren't very helpful," said the manager of a Bundesliga club to SPIEGEL, but he doesn't want to be quoted by name either.
The fact that Rummenigge's statements on the vaccination question were "off the mark" remains a background statement.
Freiburg's board member Oliver Leki moved away from Rummenigge's vaccination proposal on Sunday on SWR television with the sentence “I would assess it differently”, but that was also expressed very carefully.
Behind the scenes and across the street from SPIEGEL, a Bundesliga team said in the direction of Rummenigge: "Just keep your mouth shut." Arguing with Bayern publicly and then on the already delicate Corona issue, hardly anyone dares to do that in the Bundesliga .
For Helen Breit from “Our Curve” this has consequences: “As long as no one else stands up from the league and distances themselves from it, the impression is created that this should be considered the voice of football,” says the fan representative.
The special role of FC Bayern, which was discussed in the dispute over the night flight ban from Berlin Airport after the game at Hertha BSC, has become the special role of football.
The DFL also shies away from the controversy
The DFL also does not want to comment on the Rummenigge and Flick cases when asked.
It was league boss Christian Seifert who propagated a new humility in the industry in April 2020 ("We don't just want to somehow get through the crisis and then carry on as before").
The silence now has several reasons: FC Bayern is a powerful voice within the league association, traditionally extremely influential and with very good connections to the league boss.
Jan-Christian Dreesen also has a Bayern representative on the DFL Presidium.
Seifert has mostly sponsored the big clubs because he believed that the marketing of the league depends heavily on Bayern and Borussia Dortmund.
He has announced that he will not extend his contract, which will expire in June 2022.
Internally, it is assumed that a successor will be incorporated as early as January 2022.
In such a constellation, Seifert does not start a conflict with Rummenigge.
The DFL also wants to avoid making the topic even bigger with a statement.
Although the DFL does not make official statements, there are officials within the league association who are extremely critical of Rummenigge's statements.
"All of our work over the past few months is being damaged here," said a DFL official to SPIEGEL, referring to the work of persuading football to handle the privileges granted to it with care.
“The credibility of football, for which we are also fighting with the task force, is being trampled on here.
This is really a disaster. "
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