Money

Schalke boss Toennies temporarily steps down over controversial comments



BERLIN (Reuters) – Schalke 04 president Clemens Toennies has stepped down as club boss for a period of three months following a board hearing into controversial comments he made last week triggering a racism row.

Toennies, a billionaire owner of a meat processing company, had told a conference last week that instead of increasing taxes to protect the environment there should be more power stations built in Africa.

“Then the Africans would stop cutting down trees and produce babies when it is dark,” Toennies said in his speech in Paderborn.

His comments instantly triggered a wave of angry reactions including from several former Schalke players, and calls for his immediate resignation from his post at the Bundesliga club that has one of the largest and most loyal fan base in Germany.

“I am a bit speechless,” said Ghanaian-born former Germany and Schalke player Gerald Asamoah. “His comments surprised me, shocked me and injured me. He is insulting me and everyone else involved.”

Toennies quickly issued a public apology saying his comments were wrong and inappropriate but said he stood fully behind the club’s fight against racism, discrimination and exclusion.

Schalke’s honorary board met late on Tuesday with Toennies and following a four-hour discussion that ran into the night rejected the claims of racism but said he had violated the club’s anti-discrimination rules.

“He accepted this violation and again expressed his regret. This is why Clemens Toennies has announced that he will step down from chair of the board for a period of three months,” the club said in a statement.

Schalke kick off their Bundesliga season next week against Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.





READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.