The Bundesliga match between Union Berlin and Bochum was halted for nearly half an hour after the latter team’s goalkeeper was struck by an object thrown from the crowd.
Patrick Drewes was hit by what appeared to be a lighter as he prepared to take a goal-kick in second-half stoppage time of the 1-1 draw between the two sides at Union’s Stadion An der Alten Forsterei on Saturday.
The match was stopped while Drewes recieved medical attention before referee Martin Petersen suspended the game and ordered both sets of players to the dressing room.
The game has restarted, but no one is making an effort to score. I’ve never seen anything like this before.
— VfL Bochum 1848 (@VfLBochum1848EN) December 14, 2024
The two teams eventually returned to the field but with Drewes unfit to continue, Bochum were forced to put striker Philipp Hofmann in goal because they had already used all their allocated substitutions.
After play resumed, neither team made any attempt to try and win the game and instead opted to pass the ball between themselves to run down the clock.
Hofmann said after the game that both sets of players had “agreed not to play on”, and said the incident “isn’t OK at all”.
In our view, the referee should have called off the game. That did not happen. We announced that we would finish the game under protest. We will lodge an appeal on Monday. pic.twitter.com/uspodGQ0EI
— VfL Bochum 1848 (@VfLBochum1848EN) December 15, 2024
A Union spokesman said the person responsible for throwing the object “had been identified and handed over to the police”, while the club’s sporting director, Horst Heldt, added: “It would be a mistake to blame the whole club or the fans for the action of one individual.”
Ilja Kaenzig, Bochum’s managing director, said the club would be appealing the decision not to abandon the game, and claimed they should have been awarded all three points after being left at a “sporting disadvantage”.
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