The Bundesliga match between Union Berlin and Bochum was stopped for almost half an hour after the latter’s goalkeeper was hit by an object thrown from the crowd.
Patrick Drews was struck by what appeared to be a lighter tackle as he prepared to take a goal kick in stoppage time in the second half of the 1-1 draw between the two sides at Union’s Stadion An der Alten Forsterei on Saturday.
The match was halted while Drews received medical attention before referee Martin Pietersen stopped play and ordered both sets of players to the dressing room.
The game is restarted but no one tries to score. I’ve never seen anything like this before.
— VfL Bochum 1848 (@VfLBochum1848EN) December 14, 2024
The two teams eventually returned to the pitch, but with Druss unable to continue, Bochum were forced to substitute striker Philipp Hofmann in goal as they had already used all their available substitutions.
After play resumed, neither team made any effort to try to win the game and instead opted to pass the ball between them to run down the clock.
Hoffman said after the game that both sets of players “agreed not to play,” and said the incident was “not OK at all.”
In our view, the referee should have stopped the game. That didn’t happen. We announced that we would end the game in protest. We will file 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 Held, added: “It would be wrong to blame the whole club or the fans for the action of one person”.
Ilja Kaenzig, Bochum’s chief executive, said the club would appeal against the decision not to abandon the game and claimed they should have taken all three points after being left at a “sporting disadvantage”.
