Escalation in the junior match: player kicked with cleats

There was a mass brawl during the A-Junior game between Team Fribourg Ville and FC Kerzers on September 15th. A spectator video shows how two players initially clash. Some players from the Freiburg team (black jerseys) then storm towards the two brawlers – not to separate them, but to let their fists fly themselves.

«There has been great tension since the game began. “At some point there was a collision between two players, one from each team,” explains Guillaume Berset, president of the disciplinary committee of the Freiburg Football Association (AFF) to “20minutes”. But while the Kerzers team tried to separate the defenders, the Freiburgers stormed into the fight.

“Without even knowing what had happened, she started lashing out indiscriminately,” says Berset. After the incident, the game was stopped and the winning points went to Kerzers.

The Freiburg Football Association strongly condemned such behavior: “These brutalities no longer have any place on a football pitch and we will take all necessary measures to ban them from Freiburg’s pitches forever.”

«The pictures are shocking. “We see Freiburg players kicking a boy lying on the ground with their cleats,” continued Berset. Cleated shoes have metal pegs to help them grip better on wet and deep ground. One of the team-mates of the man who was kicked tried to protect him with his own body, but he was also hit. “Such a wave of violence is unacceptable,” says Berset.

In view of the evidence, the association decided to punish the players involved with bans. Sanctions were imposed on a total of eight players. Most of them are no longer allowed on the pitch for three to eight games. One of the players received a two-year ban.

Compared to 20 Minutes, Team Fribourg Ville explains that part of the tension is related to discriminatory comments made on the pitch. That’s why they now want to get involved in a working group against racism in football. It is important to look after those affected and help them “so that they never behave like that again”.