Ultimatum for the ice hockey federation: The conflict over Franz Reindl goes into the next round

Actually, they had imagined the winter of 2021/2022 to be very different in German ice hockey.

Good mood in the leagues, successful national teams at the U-20 World Cup and the Olympics.

But thanks to Corona there is little left of it.

The halls are mostly empty again, several teams are in quarantine, the U-20 World Cup has been canceled, and nothing will come of the best Olympic squad in history around Leon Draisaitl either.

The elite league NHL does not release its staff.

This is not the only reason why the worry lines are deepening at the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB). Shortly before Christmas, the Hessian regional association presented the DEB with an ultimatum and threatened to involve "state authorities". The background to this is the debate about Franz Reindl's long-term double role as honorary DEB president and paid managing director of a subsidiary of the association. Critics from several regional associations accuse Reindl of a "conflict of interest" because both DEB and its subsidiary had business ties with the Infront marketing agency.

In autumn, the ethics committee of the German Olympic Sports Confederation advised through its chairman Thomas de Maizière "urgently" to "examine the facts in the DEB comprehensively and independently" in order to determine "whether there is hidden funding for the honorary function of the president".

Now the Cologne law firm Verte is preparing an expert opinion on the interaction between the association, subsidiary and Infront on behalf of the DEB.

It should be available in the coming weeks.

"Constructed accusation"

But that is not enough for the opposition, which in the past few months has put questions to the Presidium that have been inadequately answered. So on December 23, the Hessian association sent two documents to the DEB Presidium, which the FAZ had at its disposal. The first is a “notification of regulatory proceedings” against Franz Reindl and two other employees “due to violations of the DEB's association law”. The second pleading is addressed to the control committee and calls for the "release of data and documents".

One does not want to rely on the investigation of the Cologne law firm. The internal instances in the DEB also inspire little trust in the opposition. The letters are provided with an ultimatum: "If the control committee does not indicate by January 11, 2022 that it has consulted the responsible government agencies and is working with them, we will systematically initiate additional procedures through the government agencies," wrote Hendrik Ansink, chairman of the Hessian association, in his email to the DEB and the other regional associations.

The DEB confirms the receipt of the documents, but evaluates them as a "constructed charge", the "procedure of the applicant only serves to unfairly discredit individual persons". In any case, the opposition's questions were "answered in full and in a timely manner". There were also several offers to talk about "extensive information" that the critics did not take advantage of - which they in turn see differently. Nobody in the DEB Presidium was interested in clarification, instead, after the allegations became known in June 2021 by the magazine “Der Spiegel”, the attack went on.

First there was pressure on employees and the other regional associations to show solidarity with Reindl. Then the DEB took the critics to court and tried unsuccessfully to “silence” “volunteers”, according to the letter of 23 December. Overall, according to the opposition, a pattern “of humiliation, spreading false statements of fact and inhuman and inconsiderate treatment” can be seen.

The DEB rejects this.

When asked, he said that he “always made it clear that he takes factual criticism seriously and that submissions are processed within the framework permitted by association law”.

Rather, he considers "the manner of the approach of the critics and the corresponding public statements of the same to be dishonest".

But they seem determined to use public courts.

"It is time that those responsible in the DEB take responsibility for the consequences of their actions and decisions and think about the necessary personal consequences," wrote Hendrik Ansink and threatened: "When going to the state courts, everything has to be on the table - then a lot is irreversible in the further development, is no longer in one hand. "