There were discriminatory chants in the stands, a team bus stoned, a game canceled due to crowd disturbances and some valuable goals on the field. (More news)
The French soccer league is making headlines for all the wrong reasons this season. And now even the French government is calling for something to be done about it.
After thirteen matchdays this season, the number of incidents has worried officials who have faced an increase in violence in stadiums over the past two seasons.
According to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, more than a hundred police officers were injured in football-related incidents last season and another 870 people were arrested. And there are no signs that they will slow down.
“There is no game with this point of violence,” Darmanin said recently.
In October in Montpellier, an attack was halted in stoppage time after fans set off fireworks from the stands that landed next to Clermont goalkeeper Mory Diaw. The Senegalese player had to be evacuated on a stretcher but was not seriously injured.
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A new nadir was reached a few weeks later in Marseille when the bus carrying Lyon players was stoned by fans outside the Velodrome stadium. The windows were smashed and Lyon coach Fabio Grosso was left with his face bloodied, an injury that required stitching.
Supporters were also targeted, five police officers were injured, and nine people were placed in custody, according to Darmanin.
Another episode of violence broke out in Montpellier last weekend when a bus transporting Brest fans back home was attacked as they left the southern city following a 3-1 win for the away team. Their bus was hit by stones reportedly thrown from a motorway bridge.
“What happened is very serious. When you look at the damage to the vehicle, you temporarily sense the violence,” said Pascal Robert, the club’s general manager.
“If the paving stone that was thrown at the front of the bus had fallen two meters lower, the driver would have been hit… I can’t imagine the tragedy that would have ensued with our sixty supporters on board.”
Meanwhile, the league doesn’t offer much in the way of entertainment or suspense.
Paris Saint-Germain once again tops the standings ahead of Sunday’s match at Le Havre, having won nine of the last 11 league titles. With its star-studded team led by Kylian Mbappe — the league’s top scorer with 14 goals — PSG has no rival on the domestic stage.
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Nice, however, have posed a credible challenge in this crusade and are just one point behind the leaders heading into Saturday’s fixture in Nantes. But the other 16 groups don’t give much to their enthusiasts. According to league statistics, the average number of goals per game after 12 rounds was lower than in the last 3 seasons (less than 2. 5) and the number of goalless draws is increasing.
Some supporter groups are finding other ways to stay entertained.
Before the final cancellation of the match between Marseille and Lyon, fans of both teams remained in the stadium and exchanged insults while waiting for the match to resume.
Taunting their Marseille rivals, some Lyon fans were filmed making Nazi gestures and mimicking monkeys.
Vicent Labrune, president of the French League, believes violence has reached a new peak after stadiums welcomed fans following the COVID-19 pandemic in which amateur matches were being played.
With the reopening of venues, violent individuals who had served stadium bans during the interruption were allowed back, he said.
“The guys had served their sentences. We ended up with a higher-than-average number of lunatics,” Labrune said at a hearing with French lawmakers this month.
Labrune estimates that about 50 violent fans at a French league club cause problems.
“If we can get them out of the stadiums, the scenario will improve,” he said.
Labrune added that the league’s “zero tolerance” policy — with point deductions and closure of sections of the stadium — is mandatory in the face of the situation, but he doesn’t seem to have any illusions that the violence can be eliminated without a deeper change in attitudes.
“Football is a reflection of society. We alone are going to prevent everything,” said Labrune.
Faced with the proliferation of homophobic chants in stadiums, Labrune also called for matches to be systematically suspended as soon as the first offensive chant is heard.
“We are in a position to go as far as we can,” he told lawmakers.
“I find the problems of discrimination in general intolerable and the problems of homophobia drive me crazy. We have to stop the game, it’s the right thing to do. “