Wife of footballer outraged after fan ‘confronted’ her for breastfeeding child whilst watching husband’s game
The wife of Moritz Jenz recently had an awful experience while watching her husband play football.
The former Celtic centre-back now plays for VfL Wolfsburg and had a game against FC Union Berlin last Saturday (10 February).
Jenz's wife Steffani and their 11-month-old son attended the football match to support him, but it wasn't the experience that she'd hoped for.
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Steffani was at Union Berlin's Stadion An der Alten Försterei in what she described as 'the family area' when she decided to breastfeed her child.
But a football fan 'harassed' her while she was feeding her young son, leaving her feeling 'humiliated'.
Following the ordeal, Steffani took to TikTok to detail the incident and said that she 'couldn't sleep all night after what happened'.
"Yesterday I went to Berlin to watch my husband playing against Union," she began the post.
"During the first half I went inside to the family area, which was full of tables, almost all empty and I sat at one with my friend and started breastfeeding my 11-month-old son.
"Suddenly a man over 70 approached me with a quite angry / disturbed face and started speaking in German and making a very rude sign that we have to leave."
After getting 'too close' to them, Steffani decided to move tables with her friend and baby son.
The old man then took one of her son's toys and began 'smacking his lips in a very vulgar way' and eventually threw the toy back.
Steffani proceeded to go into the restaurant and asked staff for their assistance, but 'they don't seem to really understand the gravity of what just happened'.
Eventually she speaks to security who goes over to the man in question. But rather than chastising him for his behaviour, they start to laugh.
Steffani continued to say that the man didn't even sit at the table she was initially at and accused him of 'just wanting to harass me and stop me from peacefully breastfeeding'.
"In 2024, a woman still cannot feel safe to breastfeed in a 'familiar environment' like a stadium family area," she went on.
"Not one of the people I asked for help did anything or saved a kind word for me."
Steffani proceeded to call out Union Berlin and urged them to be 'careful who you hire and make sure you educate your staff about respect towards [a] woman'.
In the caption of the TikTok post, she described the ordeal as 'utterly humiliating and distressing'.
The Daily Mail report that FC Union Berlin commented on Steffani's now-deleted Instagram post: "Dear Steffani, we are very sorry to hear about this matter and have forwarded your complaint to our head of security.
"Women should be able to breastfeed their babies everywhere without harassment. Especially in a family area. We are trying to clear things up, thank you for sharing and speaking out."
Christian Arbeit, Head of Communications for Union Berlin, told Tyla in a comment: "We saw Ms. Jenz's post and apologised to her immediately via social media, but also made clear our gratitude to her for making the issue public. We have since been able to contact her so she could personally describe the incident to us, as well as to further express our deepest regrets.
"It should go without saying that mothers should be able to breastfeed their babies undisturbed. We also expect this to be understood by the guests and staff at our stadium. We will go through this incident with our employees and make them even more aware of how to react appropriately if someone feels harassed at one of our events."
Topics: Football, Parenting, Social media, TikTok, Sport
Niamh Shackleton