Ex-referee Graefe attacks DFB: "Referee 12 years driven to the wall"

Created: 04/26/2022, 11:10 am

By: Marius Epp

Manuel Gräfe blames the DFB for the referee's mistakes.

© Martin Hoffmann/imago

The German referees are again under criticism after the Bundesliga weekend.

For ex-referee Manuel Gräfe, this is a structural problem.

Munich – The starting signal for another referee discussion has fallen.

There has been a new dimension for five years now: the video assistant.

The Pavard-Bellingham scene in the top game between FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund became a big excitement at the weekend.

The pictures clearly show that when the score was 2-1 for the Munich Jew Bellingham, the Frenchman first fouled and only then (rather accidentally) hit the ball.

Referee Daniel Siebert and the DFB have already admitted the mistake.

It can happen that referee Siebert overlooks the foul in real time on the pitch.

But many football fans cannot understand that video assistant Marco Fritz did not intervene after viewing the pictures.

Ex-referee Gräfe: "DFB has structurally driven refereeing against the wall"

There was also a clear wrong decision in the RB Leipzig game against Union Berlin.

"Unfortunately, the necessary corrections were not made," stated video evidence project manager Jochen Drees.

Wrong decisions in the Bundesliga are all too common - why is that?

Ex-referee Manuel Gräfe blames the DFB for the problem.

He sees a structural problem.

“After the DFB drove the refereeing against the wall structurally and personally for twelve years, it is time to ask the question of responsibility,” he says in a guest article for the

.

FC Bayern in VAR luck against BVB - "Mistakes happen, but there are too many"

Graefe officiated almost 300 Bundesliga games in his career.

"Mistakes happen, but there are just too many," he says.

"If you make the wrong decision despite clear TV pictures, you often lack the necessary football skills.

It is actually inconceivable that even with pictures, so many wrong decisions - like on Saturday in Munich when the penalty was missed after a foul by Pavard - influence the games.

The performance principle has long been at the back of the DFB referee management.

“After the DFB drove the refereeing against the wall structurally and personally for twelve years, it is time to ask the question of responsibility,” demands Gräfe.

The ex-referee shoots at the association with heavy ammunition – only the DFB itself knows whether his allegations are justified End of career forced and even went to court.