Football: Hate on the Internet increases referee concerns about young talent

Bundesliga referee Felix Zwayer sees hatred on social media as a serious problem for the already difficult recruitment of young talent.

“But how are we supposed to win young people over when social media is full of refereeing weekend after weekend without objectivity? That’s not very sexy. Young people don’t feel like it,” said the 41-year-old of the German Press Agency . “When I started in 1994, there were about 80,000 referees in Germany. Today we are about half that. You can continue to count and ask yourself how long amateur football with referees will continue. The development is devastating.” The inhibition threshold to even say that one becomes a referee “has become enormously high as a result of the discussions on the Internet”.

The so-called hate speech on the Internet is only part of the problem of recruiting young people. However, it is likely to become increasingly important, since young people are significantly more active there than previous generations. Most recently, the withdrawal of referee analysts Collina’s heirs on the Twitter network caused discussions. Zwayer’s colleague Patrick Ittrich, who is active on Twitter, also said: “Collina’s heirs have been doing valuable work for a long time. Every fan should be grateful. Shitstorm instead! On what basis do you take the right to treat people like this? Stadium or Internet, how can you be a little reflective?”

Zwayer is not active on social media, he made a conscious decision not to. The Berliner had received numerous hate mails after refereeing the game between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich last season, and a death threat was circulating online. Two penalty scenes had caused discussions, and the Dortmund professional Jude Bellingham had indirectly accused Zwayer of bribery with an allusion to the Hoyzer scandal.