NFL fans and commentators alike were flummoxed today to hear a referee call out a penalty in perfect German.
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During today’s match-up between the New York Giants and the Carolina Panthers at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, referee Shawn Hochuli unexpectedly called out a penalty in German, saying “Fehlstart angriff, fünf yards strafe.”
That translates to “False start offense, five-yard penalty.” Interestingly, Hochuli then switched back to English, continuing “It’s by the center, it’s third down.” It is unclear why the ref called the penalty in half-and-half languages, but it had a pretty immediate effect on commentators.
As one can hear in the official NFL clip above, sportscaster Rich Eisen is audibly surprised and lets out an “OH!” while another voice says “Look at Shawn Hochuli, hooked on phonics.”
It appears that multilingual calls are something of a family tradition for the Hochuli dynasty of referees, however. Multiple social media users pointed out that the first NFL game played in Mexico in 2005 involved the ref’s father, Ed Hochuli, calling out a play in Spanish.
While fans, broadcasters, and social media users alike seem pretty astounded that an NFL official would speak German on the field, it has to be reiterated that the actual game is being played in the third-largest city in Germany, so it actually makes quite a bit of sense.
American viewers might actually be underestimating how popular the NFL is becoming in Europe right now and in Germany specifically.
This year’s game between the Giants and the Panthers — with the Panthers listed as the home team — reportedly sold out in just over 90 minutes when tickets went on sale in June. According to data from Sportfive, a marketing agency partnered with the league, an estimated 3.6 million Germans closely follow the NFL this year.
University of Europe for Applied Sciences Professor of Sports Marketing Stefan Chatrath said (via Fox News), “It’s to be expected that the full potential isn’t close to being realized yet. At the moment, the NFL brand is to the fore and that means it’s something special to be at an NFL game.”
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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is certainly pushing that idea, recently commenting on his hopes to expand further into Europe and saying, “There is no question London could support, not just one franchise, [but] I think two franchises. We’re trying to sort of see, could you have multiple locations in Europe where you could have an NFL franchise. Because it would be easier as a division.”
If Europe is a big part of the future of the NFL, it might not just be the Hochuli family that needs to brush up on linguistics.
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