Former Bundesliga referee Lutz Wagner complains about a decline in morals on the football fields and is disturbed by the many discussions on the pitch.
Former Bundesliga referee Lutz Wagner has complained of a decline in morals on the fields in the course of the discussions about emotions in soccer.
Emotion as an excuse
“Pretty much anything can be justified as an emotion right now. People take emotion as an excuse for unsportsmanlike conduct. It can’t be that,” the member of the Referees Commission Amateurs of the German Football Association (DFB) told the Passauer Neue Presse (Tuesday edition).
Wagner is annoyed not least by the many discussions on the pitch. “If we dismiss anything unsportsmanlike as an emotion, we are making it too easy for ourselves. And: Even the fans don’t want to see this eternal lamentation,” said Wagner, who directed 197 Bundesliga games until 2010. The discussions were triggered by the yellow-red cards against Borussia Mönchengladbach striker Alassane Plea in the away game against RB Leipzig (2-2) on 1 February.
Wagner: “protest society” has come into being
In Wagner’s opinion, a “protest society” has meanwhile emerged. “Then someone who has nothing to do with the situation comes running from 50 meters and adds his mustard. You simply have to say: Not like that,” he said.
Although he did not see professional football as directly responsible for riots on amateur pitches, he also said: “What happens at the top has a model function at the bottom. Amateur and youth players imitate the professional and the referees at the base imitate their colleagues in the Bundesliga. The conditions in the school and youth sector also cost the DFB many refereeing talents.