Borussia Dortmund's famous Yellow Wall could look severely depleted during tonight's Bundesliga clash against Ausburg, with 15,000 home fans boycotting the match in protest against Monday night matches.
The German league's new TV contract has led to some new kick off times being experimented with, this season, leaving many fans unhappy, despite the extra revenue it's brought in for their clubs.
Last week, Eintracht Frankfurt fans protested the first of the Monday night games as their side took on RB Leipzig, causing disruptions to the beginning of the game by hurling tennis balls onto the pitch. As you do.
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While tennis balls may not enter the field of play at the Westfalenstadion, tonight, the usual noise that emanates from the home crowd will be significantly tamer, given the Yellow Wall will have a large number of empty spots and parts of it will be turned grey as part of the protest, which has been undertaken by 350 different supporters groups.
The DFL have claimed that the new schedule has been implemented to help Bundesliga clubs with Europa League commitments who have to play ties on a Thursday, but this explanation doesn't seem to have appeased fans of the clubs affected, many of whom have complained that they simply don't have time to get to games on a Monday night.
Fan group chairman Andreas Assmann, told local station Radio 91.2, via the Mirror: "We want to show what happens when fans lose their appetite or simply cannot attend the games due to time constraints.
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"[It's] how the Westfalenstadion or the away support would look like in the future.
"We are directing the message not only to the German FA and the German Football League but also to the clubs, who were very keen to have those Monday fixtures in order to raise TV revenue."
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Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke added, "I can sense a real resistance to this [Monday night games] from the fans.
"From a commercial point of view, we should not do everything just because it is possible. Without Monday games we will probably earn one or two million euros less from 2021. But a greater sense of unity with the fans is worth more to us.
"In that sense, too, Borussia Dortmund's objective is to return to our roots."
Despite the 15,000 supporters expected to stay away from tonight's clash at Westfalenstadion, there is still an attendance of 65,000 fans expected.
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(H/T The Mirror)
Topics:ย Football News, Football, Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga
