St Pauli faces fine over trouble

The incident comes just eight months after St Pauli's match against Schalke in the Bundesliga was abandoned after a beer can struck one of the assistant referees.

The German football association said on Tuesday that it had opened a case against St Pauli after Frankfurt player Pirmin Schwegler was struck by the roll of paper.

The club's sporting director Helmut Schulte apologised to Schwegler in the name of the club. "It is terrible, but mad people seem to be around all the time."

The club, meanwhile, called on the spectator to go to the police and admit to throwing the object. "That could act as a mitigating factor," it said, adding that there was a chance that it could identify the person with footage obtained from the police and television.

Frankfurt coach Armin Veh said that it was an ugly incident, but admitted that it had not been a decisive factor, while Schwegler said that nothing serious had happened to him. "Even if I should possibly say something else, I am well," he said.

Frankfurt and Schwegler's reaction might be a mitigating factor for St Pauli, but it will be dealt with severely by the DFB, as the incident is the fourth in just 13 months.

In December 2010 a 16-year-old hit Kaiserslautern player Christian Tiffert with a snowball during a TV interview and had his season ticket taken away as a result.

In April the assistant referee was struck by a full beer can and the match against Schalke was abandoned. St Pauli was forced to play its first second division match of the season in a neutral venue.

A few months later an empty beer can was thrown onto the field during another match and the club was fined 8,000 euros ($10,395).

"Such things are totally unnecessary and stupid," coach Andre Schubert said, adding that he was angry that his side's good performance against Frankfurt was pushed into the background as a result.