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A Bundesliga match between Union Berlin and Wolfsburg was stopped twice due to fan protests against Hoffenheim owner Dietmar Hopp on Sunday.
The match official halted the game after 33 minutes and once more just before half time when Union supporters unfurled banners and sang chants about Hopp.
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It is the second time in as many days that referees have delayed play in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund fans also involved in protests in their two respective games on Saturday.
After Bayern’s 6-0 win over Hoffenheim, CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told reporters: ”I am deeply ashamed for the behaviour of these people. That is inexcusable. It is the ugly face of football.
Union held a 1-0 lead but the referee Bastian Dankert led both sets of players into the dressing room amid the continued protests. The club’s stadium announcer Christian Arbeit told the fans the game was close to being called off. The match finished in a 2-2 draw.
The first interruption led to an announcement from the PA as the official acted in line with the three-step protocol against racism, which late last week was expanded by the German Football Association to act against protests and hate banners.
During the break, Union sporting director Oliver Ruhnert said: “How should we prevent this from happening? The first banner shown by the fans addressed legit questions and you have to be prepared to accept criticism.
“I would have wished for no intervention. The only critical thing was that it was against the DFB. But you’d have to interrupt every match in the future. I regard that as very critical.”
“I have apologised to Dietmar Hopp. We have filmed everything and these people will be held accountable.”
There were several matches in the German third tier on Sunday which were also stopped due to anti-Hopp protests.
Hopp has been a lightning rod, especially in recent weeks, for some German fans who oppose the way he used his wealth to help Hoffenheim climb through the lower leagues to the Bundesliga with consecutive promotions more than a decade ago.
Dortmund supporters were recently handed a two-year ban from travelling to Hoffenheim following anti-Hopp protests.
On that occasion, the protests happened on the same day that games paid tribute to 11 people killed in a racially-motivated shooting in Hanau, and the German FA announced they had launched an investigation into the incident.
ESPN’s Stephan Uersfeld also contributed to this report.