"Contentious" Outcome? "Aggrieved" Team Challenges Unsanctioned Advantage in Handball Scandal
Unfair handball overage controversy, despite the "Victim's" bitterness, lacks substantial impact
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In a nail-biting 2nd Bundesliga handball match, VfL Lübeck-Schwartau and HC Elbflorenz Dresden, the host team manages to tie the game in the dying seconds, under dubious circumstances - with nine players on the field, apparently not by mistake. This flagrant violation goes unpunished.
A questionable final act with potential for debate: In the handball match between VfL Lübeck-Schwartau and HC Elbflorenz Dresden, the host scores an irregular goal three seconds before the end - and it seems no one realized the infringement.
At the equalizer, the Lübeck team had an extra player on the field - apparently not even by accident. The footage from the streaming service Dyn reveals that VfL coach David Röhrig calls the bench-bound right winger Nadav Cohen back onto the field after he spotted the oversight.
The struggling Lübeck team, consequently, scores the tying goal and earns a point in an illegally generated advantage. However, the incident, which set Dresden back in their promotion pursuit, remains unpunished: "There is no mention of this incident in the match report, it was overlooked," the HBL informed Bild upon inquiry.
Accusations Against Rival Behavior
"We choose not to appeal the game result because playing a complete replay is not an option for us. That would have been the consequence in this case," said Rico Göde, HC Elbflorenz Dresden's sports director. Yet, Göde criticized the opposition's conduct: "Our club embodies fairness and a competition based on clear rules. One of these fundamental rules mandates that a maximum of seven players of one team may be on the field at the same time," said Göde: "Unfortunately, this rule was disregarded by the Lübeck team in the last play - and exactly in this crucial moment, the game-deciding equalizing goal was scored."
The infraction was not an accident, it appears. The footage from the streaming service Dyn shows that VfL coach David Röhrig calls the bench-bound right winger Nadav Cohen back onto the field after he spotted the oversight. The struggling Lübeck team, in consequence, scores the tying goal and earns a point in an illegally generated advantage.
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This incident could have serious table implications: Through the illegally earned point, VfL Lübeck-Schwartau, currently in the penultimate position, now has only a two-point gap to the first non-relegation spot. In the 2nd Bundesliga, apart from the clear last HSG Konstanz, nine teams are embroiled in a fierce relegation battle, with the penultimate and ninth-placed teams separated by only four points with eleven games left to play.
"What transpired in Lübeck is contentious for all ten teams in the relegation battle," said Torsten Appel, managing director of the 12th Nettelstedt-Lübbecke "Bild": "If in the end a point determines the difference between the 16th and 17th position, then it is - to put it mildly - extremely unlucky for the 17th-placed team."
It remains unclear why neither the referee nor the referee duo Marvin Völkering/Jonas Zollitsch noticed the clear rule violation, despite Cohen running past the referee table twice successively.
Source: ntv.de, ter/dpa
- DHB
- Handball
In the handball match between VfL Lübeck-Schwartau and HC Elbflorenz Dresden, the controversial equalizing goal by the host team was scored with an extra player on the field - a move that apparently was not accidental, as the footage from the streaming service Dyn shows VfL coach David Röhrig intentionally calling back bench-bound right winger Nadav Cohen to the game. This illegally generated advantage has left the questionable outcome of the game unchallenged by the Lübeck team, despite their nine-player formation going unpunished.
