Jena: Appeal as an ironic protest against the soccer association

A legal dispute between FC Carl Zeiss Jena and the North-East German Football Association is turning into a farce full of mutual accusations: following the rejection of an appeal against a pyro fine, the traditional club has sharply criticized the regional association and described its actions as a deliberate provocation of the sports judiciary.

Jena's managing director Patrick Widera explained that the appeal, which was created using AI (artificial intelligence) and deliberately incorrect, was intended to "highlight the absurdity of the excessive sports court proceedings, which are increasingly burdening the clubs with time without any countable results".

73 pages of justification

The club, which was fined €18,400 by the NOFV association court for setting off pyrotechnics, had lodged an appeal in a 73-page letter - which is the usual length of an appeal. Jena is a key player in the protest against the collective penalties imposed on clubs for misconduct by fans.

The Jena application was rejected with references to massive errors in content. This was initially reported by the "Bild" newspaper. NOFV president Hermann Winkler reacted smugly, but also very concerned, to the club's statement.

"I'm happy to see so much humor in our regional league, it makes working together so much easier. However, the FCC management still don't seem to realize that they are responsible for ensuring match safety. It is questionable whether Jena's antics like this will help the clubs who have a real interest in solving the 'pyro' problem," Winkler told the German Press Agency.

"Smorgasbord" of AI hallucinations

Previously, the presiding judge Fred Kreitlow had clearly justified his verdict. "It was relatively easy to examine the legal sources. If it is then repeatedly established that these sources are not correct, then it stands to reason that one should not make the mistake of taking everything from Chat GPT at face value without checking it," he said. Kreitlow spoke of a "smorgasbord of unverifiable 'AI hallucinations'" contained in the appeal.

Widera reacted with sharp criticism on behalf of the soccer club. "It's great that the NOFV is learning more and more about AI," said the statement, which also criticized the association's match scheduling.

"In this respect, we cannot be surprised that 73 pages of irony could not be captured, which is probably why we should have handed over the nine pages that we had to delete in total because they were too outrageous even for us," reported Widera.

NOFV boss calls for "common sense"

For the sports jurisdiction, the case is formally closed, as no further appeals can be lodged, but the unusual procedure will continue to occupy the association.

Even before the Jena statement, Winkler regretted the effort for the volunteer sports judges and hoped that situations like this would not set a precedent: "For us as an association, these are issues to be taken seriously and we use common sense."