What happened during the Bundesliga 2 match between Preussen Munster and Hertha BSC went beyond anything usually seen on a football pitch. Quite literally, Munster fans broke the game.
It was the 44th minute when Hertha’s Mikel Cuisance went down inside the Munster penalty area. Referee Felix Bickel soon received a call from the VAR room and headed to the pitchside monitor to review the incident.
He got there, but the screen was completely black.
The reason? Two Munster supporters had jumped the barrier, reached the cable setup and pulled the monitor’s power cords out of the socket.
Left with no replay and no way to review the footage, Bickel had to make the decision almost blindly. After a lengthy consultation with his assistants, he ultimately awarded a penalty to Hertha.
Meanwhile, as the referee was still discussing the call, a banner appeared in the Munster ultras’ section: “Turn off VAR.”
Just like that, an extraordinary scene unfolded, one that is likely to be talked about across Germany and beyond. Even Hertha coach Stefan Leitl felt compelled to comment.
“That’s simply unacceptable,” Leitl said. “Imagine if more decisions had to be made afterwards and you don’t have the VAR footage available. Technology is part of football now – you may like it or not, but situations like this cannot happen.”
Ironically, it later turned out that Bickel’s decision to award the penalty was correct.
The bigger question now is what kind of punishment awaits Munster after the bizarre episode. The club released a statement expressing regret over the incident and confirmed that urgent measures have been taken to ensure nothing similar happens again.
Initial findings suggest the act may have been planned – perhaps as a protest against everything modern football has become.