German player given seven month ban for spitting in linesman’s face

Originally posted on BenchWarmers | By Neville O'Donoghue | Last updated 11/6/21

There can’t be anything more disgusting in a football match than spitting in the face of another player.

Everyone still remembers the Rudi Voller and Frank Rijkaard incident, and that’s over 30 years ago.

The latest incident involving something similar also had a German player as the protagonist, only this time, Clemens Fandrich aimed his spit in the eye of one of the linesman.

Though there doesn’t appear to be any precedent for such action in terms of punishment, The Sun report that the German footballing authorities have banned him for seven months and told him he’s lucky it wasn’t two years.

Frankly, that type of disgusting act doesn’t belong in any scenario, let alone on a football pitch, and it’s a shame that the player isn’t looking at the end of his career at this point.

Perhaps the fall-out from the episode, which happened during the match between Fandrich’s Bundesliga II side, Erzgebirge Aue, and Ingolstadt, and was the result of a disputed throw-in, will see to it that the club will relieve him of his position.

That would be a more appropriate outcome for what is, for all intents and purposes, a vile assault.

This article first appeared on BenchWarmers and was syndicated with permission.

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