Völler immersed in the situation! - Violent altercation at the promotional party
Promotion play-offs are taking place in the second German Basketball League (ProA) for gaining entry into the BBL. Only two teams can climb up to the top division, but out of four remaining clubs, only two have acquired licenses. These two teams are Römerstrom Gladiators Trier, who stood first in the normal season, and Fraport Skyliners, Frankfurt, who secured the fourth position.
On Friday, Frankfurt took away the first game impressively with a score of 72:70.
Immediately after the match got over, there were chaotic scenes among 5,126 spectators.
Frankfurt's coach Denis Wucherer (51) attempted to walk towards the Trier bench for a friendly handshake when Gladiators player Marcus Graves (27) pushed him, a disturbing act in basketball.
Outrage quickly erupted, leading to the formation of groups, fights, and offensive chants from the audience.
Marco Völler, a professional for Frankfurt, was smack in the middle of it. He attempted to calm down his agitated teammates.
His attempts at cooli g down worked for some but not everyone. Ife Ajay (27), one of the centres, clapped sarcastically at the fans. Cameron Henry and David Muenkat were seen arguing with a few spectators. The two men even wanted to attack the pair of Frankfurt men, but this was prevented by the security of the arena.
ProA management took action against the controversy. Marcus Graves was barred from the second game on Sunday (4 p.m.) for what was described as a 'minor assault' against Wucherer. Muenkat was suspended for a longer period, both games in total. The reason for Muenkat's penalty was 'he behaved in a disrespectful manner on multiple occasions and committed an assault in an argument with Trier's supporters after leaving the venue'.
The Skyliners sports club is not accepting this decision. They have appealed against these punishments because Muenkat is said to have been racially insulted.
Yannik Binas, the Director of the Fraport Skyliners was of the view that the verdict was unfair. Muenkat didn't commit the assault that was alleged. They will be appealing the verdict with the goal of overruling the ruling and having Muenkat play for them in the second game if possible, or on Wednesday at the earliest.
Binas and his team have spoken with the players about the offensive gestures made towards Trier fans, but they also claimed that their players were subjected to racial taunts with monkey noises.
A whopping 4,000 spectators are expected to reach the venue for the next game, including roughly 500 people from Trier.
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Source: symclub.org
