It was an unusual scene that took place at the Monday night game in the US professional league NFL. In the California duel between the San Francisco 49ers and the reigning Super Bowl champion, the Los Angeles Rams, a speedster ran onto the field just before the break. The young man waved a torch and escaped security, but not Bobby Wagner. The 32-year-old plays as a middle linebacker on the Rams' defense, knows his way around hard tackles and made short work of the speedster. When he hit a hook, Wagner, listed in the NFL statistics with a weight of 110 kilograms, rammed him down - to the jeers of the spectators in San Francisco.

"It was about protecting us all," said the 32-year-old after the game. You never know what's going on in a fan's head and what they might be carrying in their pockets. "It looked to me like a person on the other side of the field got hurt and security looked like they were having trouble catching the guy. I was so frustrated I took it out on him." , Wagner told sports broadcaster ESPN.

The two former NFL stars and current TV hosts Peyton and Eli Manning took the incident with humor. "Bobby Wagner is a veteran in the league and this is a routine move: bring him down, back off and let others take over the situation," the two brothers moderated the replay. The action was initially not shown on US television, the television stations initially showed individual players with irritated looks instead of the action.

After Wagner's tackle, the speedster was taken away by the security service. The animal welfare organization Direct Action Everywhere later claimed responsibility for the campaign, which wanted to draw attention to another animal welfare organization. This supports whistleblowers who face imprisonment if they publicize the abuse of animals on farms. Even before the interruption shortly before the half-time break, a woman had also gotten into the interior, but was quickly caught by security. Direct Action Everywhere published a photo of the two activists after the game, with the speedster provided by Wagner wearing a bandage on his arm. The two are doing well, the organization assured. The evening was less successful for Wagner and the Rams, who lost 9:24 in San Francisco.

Sources: ESPN, CNN