The case of Markus Anfang: What remains is bewilderment

Suddenly everything happened very quickly. Late on Friday afternoon it became public that the Bremen public prosecutor was investigating Markus Anfang, the coach of the local second division club SV Werder. The spectacular accusation: use of a forged vaccination certificate. The batch number and the date of the vaccination had aroused the suspicion of the health department.

Not even 24 hours later it was all over. Then the club announced the resignation of the coach and his assistant. And although the beginning managed to opt for the early departure “because of the now extremely stressful situation for the club, the team, my family and myself”, the resignation was an admission of guilt. If the allegations had no substance, it would be the beginning never resigned.

It is not an isolated case, but symptomatic

What remains is bewilderment! About a coach who, apparently out of comfort or unreflected fears, faked the vaccination against a serious illness, did not even bother to check the date of the second vaccination with his calendar – and risked his entire career in the event of discovery set.

Philipp Köster: Cabin Sermon

Philipp Köster, born in 1972, is the founder and editor-in-chief of the soccer magazine. He collects jerseys and stadium books, knows the Romanian champions from 1984 and can recite Borussia Dortmund’s starting eleven in the 1986 relegation game against Fortuna Köln by heart: Eike Immel, Frank Pagelsdorf, Bernd Storck, … He is also the author of numerous football books, including about the history of the Bundesliga, and was named “Sports Journalist of the Year” in 2010. And above all: supporters of the famous second division Arminia Bielefeld.

Now professional football will do everything to dismiss the Bremen coach’s attempt at deception as an unfortunate individual case. But every new incident makes it clear: It is a systemic failure, fed by hubris, ignorance and recklessness. Because before the Bremen coaching staff hit the headlines, they belonged to Bayern professional Joshua Kimmich. Instead of training and running up at the point game in Augsburg, he is again in quarantine at home – because of half-baked concerns about the imaginary “long-term consequences” of a vaccination that has now been tried and tested billions of times.

Of course, one has to differentiate. Markus Anfang made himself a criminal offense, Kimmich only proved that social solidarity does not mean as much to him as one would have expected based on previous engagements. However, both cases were only possible because large parts of professional football have shirked social responsibility since the beginning of the pandemic and instead claimed a special role with impressive penetrance.

Salihamidzic is very wrong

It began with the aggressive demands of numerous club bosses for an early start to professional football in the midst of a disused society in spring 2020 – we remember the embarrassing PR summit with Aki Watzke and Kalle Rummenigge at the tabloid “Bild”. This continued with the nonchalant ignorance of the Corona rules in everyday operation – where were the so-praised hygiene regulations of the DFL really followed? And found its temporary low point in the rabble-footed handling of vaccination refusals in the teams. You just had to listen to Bayern sports director Hassan Salihamidzic, who announced in all seriousness on Sunday that he himself was in favor of the vaccination, but: “This is not everyone’s opinion, you have to accept that.”

Salihamidzic is very wrong here. You don’t have to accept that highly paid gamblers shirk their responsibility and, through their behavior and their role models, help keep this pandemic under control. And as a functionary one could understand that the clubs should not always do what is prescribed for them by law. But that football itself has to be active. For example by enforcing a zero tolerance policy towards unvaccinated athletes. By ensuring the maximum safety of the spectators and not filling a stadium to the last seat in the middle of exploding incidences, 2G concept or not. And above all because he understands that social importance should not only be claimed when it comes to seizing privileges, but also when it comes to doing without something or taking uncomfortable paths. Then, and only then, will football come more or less unscathed by the pandemic.