Tuesday’s match between Germany and Netherlands was called off after a terror scare and the Vice President of the German Football Association stated his support of the decision made by the police.
The international match between the Netherlands and Germany, that was supposed to take place at the HDI Arena in Hannover on Tuesday, had been cancelled and the stadium evacuated after the police suspected a possible terror threat.
Rainer Koch, the interim president of the German Football Association, known as the Deutscher FuAYball-Bund (DFB), has come out in support of the decision.
“The first vice-president of the DFB has a lot of tasks but he is not the official spokesman for the police department,” Koch was quoted as saying, according to goal.com.
“That is why I do not want to give away any knowledge and only say from my point of view, that the decision to cancel the match was the right thing to do.
Safety First
Koch stated that it was the best possible decision to make, considering the lives at stake. “The security of the visitors, the teams and the staff is priority number one and the situation was as such, that I think the only possibility was to cancel the game”, he said.
He also offered his sympathies for the victims of the Paris terror attack and lauded the German security personnel for their services. “I am also very sad about the terror attacks and the many victims in Paris, in France. I’m also scared about the threat, the terror threat, which seems to have reached Germany as well.”
Obviously this morning I was relieved that we do not have victims in Germany and that all went well. At this point I have to mention the good work of our security staff which did an amazing job.”
Good Decision To Call It Off
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The German team had been directly affected by the Paris attacks, as they were playing in the Stade De France when the attacks were going on and were forced to stay in the stadium dressing rooms until 3 am, when finally their safety was assured.
The match between Germany and Netherlands would have been the latest addition to one of Europe’s oldest and most fierce rivalries, but the lives at stake were not worth risking and the security personnel and police made a sound decision to call it off, especially considering the situation in Paris.