DORTMUND, Germany — Borussia Dortmund followers protested their membership’s controversial sponsorship cope with an arms producer in the course of the staff’s Bundesliga opener on Saturday.
The second half of Dortmund’s 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt began towards a backdrop of banners criticizing Dortmund’s three-year sponsorship cope with Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall — the world’s largest maker of artillery ammunition.
“Not for [expletive] armaments trade,” learn one signal beneath an enormous banner that merely cursed Rheinmetall with an expletive. “Cash first, values second,” learn extra banners, whereas one other mentioned, “Our values rolled over by a tank.”
“Borussia connects, Rheinmetall kills,” mentioned one other couple of banners.
The followers had been additionally noticeably quieter than normal when the second half started, withholding their help for a number of minutes earlier than ultimately resuming. Greater than 81,000 supporters attended the match at Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion.
Campaigners arrange a dummy tank outdoors the stadium earlier than the sport, when an activist wore a masks with the face of Rheinmetall’s CEO, Armin Papperger, whereas holding a purple card.
On Wednesday, supporter affiliation Südtribüne Dortmund had signaled the intent of greater than 90 fan teams to make their opposition to the deal clear firstly of the second half of Saturday’s recreation. The affiliation inspired followers to deliver placards and banners criticizing the deal.
The affiliation additionally criticized the timing of Dortmund’s announcement of the deal — in Could, three days earlier than the staff misplaced to Actual Madrid within the Champions League ultimate — saying the information got here as a “bombshell.”
Rheinmetall expects to make file group gross sales of round €10 billion ($11.1 billion) this yr.
In February, it introduced the development of a brand new manufacturing unit at its current website in Unterluess in northern Germany, with annual manufacturing capability for 200,000 artillery shells, 1,900 tons of explosives, and presumably rocket engines and warheads.
Based in 1889 as “Rheinische Metallwaaren- und Maschinenfabrik Actiengesellschaft,” the corporate was considered one of Germany’s greatest armaments producers throughout each World Wars. It made use of pressured labor throughout World Battle II.