Despite serious allegations, coach in Essen at short notice: André Fuhr (picture alliance / dpa / Hendrik Schmidt)
“We apologize to all the people we have hurt with our actions,” says a statement from MTG Horst. The Essen mass sports club describes it as a mistake to have hired André Fuhr as a trainer before a review committee of the German Handball Association has submitted its report.
Since the end of March, the commission has been investigating allegations by numerous handball players that Fuhr had inflicted psychological violence on them, among other things. As a result of the allegations, André Fuhr was ten months without a job. At the end of July, MTG Horst hired him as coach of the men’s handball team in the association league.
Look at your own mistakes
Criticism of this step came from the Krupp Foundation in Essen, among others. MTG Horst had funded this as part of the prevention project “Essen Initiative Against Sexualized Violence”. At the end of August, the Krupp Foundation wrote to Deutschlandfunk about André Fuhr’s commitment by MTG Horst: “We very much regret the decision that has been made and distance ourselves from it.”
A few days ago, MTG Horst announced André Fuhr’s release. The club regretted this step and justified it with the fact that “public pressure had built up in the club environment”. The current message now reads differently. The club is now also looking for mistakes in itself, admits that it is overwhelmed and, with the apology, looks at those who were hit hard by the commitment of the controversial coach André Fuhr.
