Opinion: The DFL forced into rethink

Thank the lord! Matchday 26 in the Bundesliga has been postponed - as it should have been.

For now Wednesday's Rheinderby between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Cologne will remain the only game to be played behind closed doors in Germany’s top flight. However, that is not the only reason that postponing the weekend’s action instead of playing in front of empty stands was the right one.

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The real question is why it took so long? Was it really so difficult to reach this conclusion when all the other major football leagues had set the precedent? When the first few professional players and their clubs had already been put in quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic? After numerous top-tier players had openly voiced their criticism in interviews or on social media?

The DFL’s reaction came about as a result of "the dynamics of the current day," according to its official statement. They’d have had to be going through life and world events with some impressively large blinkers on if they were unable to grasp the current state of affairs.

The ultimate decision is as right, as the DFL's crisis management leading up to it was bad. The announcement was left until the dying moments, given that Fortuna Düsseldorf and Paderborn were due to go head-to-head no less than four hours later. Friday night's second-division action would have kicked off two hours earlier. It was a case of maneuvering and procrasting instead of taking the necessary decision. And why?

Money over health?

Instead of prioritizing the health of countless people, including those particularly at risk of losing their lives as a result of coronavirus, it was the money aspect that appeared to be of primary concern in making the decision.

"At the end of the day, in professional football it's about finances. There's a big TV payment to the clubs that is still outstanding. If those fees aren't paid, it’s to be expected that lots of smaller club would fall foul of financial problems," explained Bayern Munich Executive Board Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, when the DFL initially announced their intention to go ahead with Matchday 26 behind closed doors.  

According to the 64-year-old, there’s a nine-figure fee still outstanding for the entire league.

"That has to be taken into account," in the eyes of Rummenigge, who would have liked the Bundesliga to continue operations as normal.

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The 'real monkeys'

The decisions made by other major European football leagues in France, Italy or Spain were almost masterful by comparison. The NBA swiftly suspended their season for two weeks when news broke of their first confirmed case of coronavirus, while countless major sporting events have since been postponed or canceled.

Almost all of them reacted in a much faster manner than their Bundesliga counterparts, who initially wanted to give themselves more time to reach a final decision on how to proceed. On Friday morning, the league announced that any decision on suspending the season would be taken after the weekend.

Understandably, there were several players upset by the decision, who made their feelings heard.

"This is crazy. Please stop fooling around and land on reality. Let's be honest, there are much more important priorities than any sport," tweeted Bayern Munich’s Thiago, who was clearly not singing from the same hymn sheet as his Executive Board Chairman.

Bayern were due to face Union Berlin this weekend and the capital city side's goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz chose not to mince his word either: "In situations like this, footballers gets treated like monkeys at the zoo." He has a point, but in this case the "real monkeys" were the ones at the top of the food chain.