Soccer-Bundesliga talking points
March 2 (Reuters) - Talking points from the Bundesliga weekend:
'WHY DID TORUNARIGHA NOT GET THE SAME TREATMENT?', ASK FANS
The decision to interrupt Bayern Munich's match at Hoffenheim on Saturday after visiting fans displayed banners insulting the home club's investor, Dietmar Hopp, has led some supporters' groups to ask why similar measures have not been taken in cases of racism.
The match was interrupted for 20 minutes with Bayern leading 6-0 before the teams returned and played the remaining 13 minutes at walkabout pace.
In contrast, Hertha Berlin players said that the referee had refused to stop their game at Schalke 04 on Feb. 4 when they complained about monkey noises aimed at their defender Jordan Torunarigha, the German son of a former Nigerian international. Hertha captain Niklas Stark said officials merely took note of the incident.
Torunarigha was sent off after picking up a case of drinks and slamming it down, a reaction his team mates blamed on his emotional state after the insults. The German federation later confirmed that monkey noises had come from the crowd and fined Schalke 50,000 euros ($56,000).
'NOT EVEN AN ANNOUNCEMENT'
The Bayern fan group known as Club Nr 12 said there was "not even an announcement" in the Schalke incident.
"Especially in the last few weeks there have been enough racist and sexist incidents in German football stadiums where an example could have been set," it said.
"One thinks, for example, of the insults to Torunarigha at the Schalke match against Hertha or to Kwadwo in Muenster. In both cases, however, there were no interruptions to the game, and Schalke did not even have a stadium announcement."
Wuerzburger Kickers Leroy Kwadwo was insulted by a single member of the crowd during a third-tier match at Preussen Muenster. The spectator was identified and ejected.
The group urged authorities to "act with equal consistency against any discriminatory, insulting, racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic and sexist remarks".
BAD LANGUAGE PART OF FOOTBALL, SAYS SUEDKURVE
The Suedkurve (South Stand) fans' group, which was behind the protest, said other figures such as RB Leipzig forward Timo Werner and former Bayern club president Uli Hoeness were routinely the target of similar insults
"During a football match, words like that are pretty common," it said, also criticising the response to racist incidents.
"If you want to stop or interrupt football matches whenever that kind of insult is uttered in the spectator stands, you won't be able to play a match for 90 minutes. The interruption was simply excessive and absurd." ($1 = 0.8994 euros) (Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
