Second division soccer club Darmstadt 98 will no longer give away jerseys to fans after their games who ask for them with signs.
The Lilien pros announced this decision in an open letter and addressed their message in particular to the numerous children who came to the stadium with posters.
"Don't use these signs!
Experience football as a team sport, support us as a team and prefer to make blue and white flags," the team said.
The pros emphasized that they "honoured" the numerous wishes, but the inquiries had meanwhile got the upper hand.
The team would love to "hand over a jersey to every fan", but the idea of fairness is decisive: "We simply can't meet the mass of requests, which is why it's difficult for us to even give a jersey to a special person so as not to be unfair to others appear."
In addition, the Darmstadt players who meet 1. FC Nürnberg in the league on Saturday (1 p.m./in the FAZ live ticker for the second Bundesliga and on Sky) are disturbed by the fact that many jerseys immediately end up on auction platforms and are turned into money, "which is really not in our interest when it comes to giving away".
Jerseys would continue to be handed out if possible, "but we will no longer give away jerseys to fans with appropriate signs," said the team's letter.
Instead, a complete set of jerseys with “worn jerseys” is to be raffled off among all children “who are members of the BölleBande” over the course of the season.
Such measures are also an issue at other clubs in Europe.
For example, Ajax Amsterdam no longer wants to allow posters in the stadium on which fans ask for the players' jerseys.
That got completely out of hand.