On 7 October 1989, the referee blowing the final whistle just as a goal was scored in a game of football in Switzerland, and the following attack on him by the affected team's players, came to be known as the Klötzli incident.
He blew the full-time whistle, and the game ended with the equalising goal not counted.
[2] Even 30 years later, the then Sion team manager Yves Débonnaire states, "The anxious face of the poor referee Klötzli and the violence of the Wettinger players have burned into my brain.
"[3] On the basis of the video and the referee report, the SFV condemned the four players with extensive bans and fines.
Alex Germann, who was about complete a transfer to Borussia Dortmund, was hit the hardest, with a one-year suspension and a fine of CHF 20,000 Swiss francs.
[4] Just seven weeks after the game in Sion, Roger Kundert tore a cruciate ligament during training.
Because his right knee could no longer withstand the stress of professional sport, he retired from active football in the spring of 1990.
The 30-year-old Martin Frei vented his anger, wrote the association bosses a sharp letter and decided to end his career immediately.
Alex Germann trained for a year with FC Wettingen and then returned as a professional player, but the planned move to the Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund was not completed.
He continued his career with FC Basel, played for another four years in the Nationalliga B and he later became a professional beach soccer player.
The former referee now lives in seclusion in the canton of Jura, where he ran a restaurant with his wife.