Mannheim (dpa / lsw) - As a result of the scandal surrounding the stadium announcement in the DFB Cup, third division soccer team SV Waldhof Mannheim has set up new rules for appreciation and banned dedications to non-club members. The council of honor and elders, for example, stipulated that "greetings of any kind are reserved exclusively for members of SV Waldhof Mannheim," the club said on Wednesday. Wishes for mourning ribbons and minutes of silence should therefore be coordinated with the honorary and elder council in the future. The rules are to be included in the association's statutes at the next general meeting, the Mannheimers announced.
The background is the incident in the second round of the DFB Cup last week. Stadium spokesman Stephan Christen dedicated the line-up for the game against 1. FC Nürnberg to two people who died, according to a report in the "Rheinpfalz" newspaper, one of them was said to have been heavily involved in the NPD for a long time. As a result, the stadium announcer resigned. The association and Christians had explicitly distanced themselves from right-wing extremist ideas.
