A German second division match descended into chaos on Sunday as a masked fan unplugged a VAR monitor as the referee was heading to the pitchside screen to check a penalty decision.
The incident occurred at the end of the first half of Preussen Munster’s 2–1 home defeat by Hertha Berlin in Bundesliga 2 in Cologne.
Referee Felix Bickel was asked to review an incident that had occurred in the penalty area on a pitchside monitor, but quickly found that the screen had turned blank.
Unable to make the call, the decision was left to a VAR official, who ruled that it was a foul and instructed Bickel to award the penalty – which Hertha converted.
TV footage showed a person in white overalls and a ski mask in Munster green climbing back into the home fans’ stand.
German media reported that a banner reading ‘Pull the plug on VAR’ had been displayed, indicating that the incident appeared to have been planned in advance.
‘A masked spectator from the active fan section illegally entered the pitch and unplugged the technical equipment,’ Preussen Munster said in a statement.
‘Preussen Munster regrets the incident and will do everything in its power to identify and bring the perpetrator(s) to justice.
‘Furthermore, immediate measures have been taken to prevent similar incidents in the future. Initial findings indicate that this was a planned action – a banner to that effect was displayed in the home section shortly after the technical malfunction.’
Munster captain Jorrit Hendrix revealed after the match that he was pleased that the incident had occurred.
‘It shows how the fans experience things and that they want to do everything to win the game,’ he said in comments broadcast by the TV show Sportschau. ‘If they can do something to influence it, they do that. I completely understand it and think it’s a good thing.’
VAR was introduced in the Premier League in 2019 and was initially welcomed by players and fans following concerns about refereeing standards in the league.
Since then, though, VAR has become a source of controversy, with the league’s chief football officer saying in 2024 that decisions were often too slow and that it was spoiling the enjoyment for match-going fans.
According to the Premier League’s website, VAR is only used for ‘clear and obvious errors’ or ‘serious missed incidents’, although IFAB has recently awarded it new powers ahead of this summer’s World Cup.
Using VAR to check corners will become an option for leagues, while the core VAR protocol has now been widened to cover second yellow cards and cards awarded to the wrong team.
