On the pitch, we have just witnessed an extraordinary championship. Spectacle, playful teams, suspense at all levels… All the ingredients have been brought together to deliver an exceptional season. Unfortunately, this was not the case in the stands. With a multiplication of incidents related to supporters, the 2021-2022 financial year will be remembered.
To take stock of this year, france info: sports brought together several actors close to the world of the stands: Kilian Valentin, spokesperson for the National Association of Supporters (ANS), Maître Pierre Barthélémy, lawyer for the ANS, Jacques Cardoze, director of communication for OM, Sacha Houlié, MP for Vienne and Marie-George Buffet, MP for Seine-Saint-Denis and former Minister of Sports, authors of an information report on supporterism in France in 2020. If all agree to discuss their surprised by this turbulent season and the “bitter” taste it leaves, they each have their own analysis of the problem. Round table.
Analysis of multiple overflows
Marie-George Buffet (former Minister of Sports) : “I think that sport is simply crossed by the excesses of society: a resurgence of exasperation, violence, the rise of far-right theses in our country.
Pierre Barthelemy (lawyer for the National Association of Supporters) : “We talked about it a lot with sociologists who are experts in the subject, who came to the conclusion that the stands are not a representation of society. We find there the diversity of society yes, but not the symmetry of the social tensions which animate public debate.”
Kilian Valentin (spokesperson for the National Supporters’ Association): “The excitement of returning to the stands undoubtedly played a role. The other point is the whole organizational system around a football match, which requires readjustment. The minister mentioned the stewards, but today this problem is still not solved. There is always this problem of training and remuneration of stewards. It is a central point.
Jacques Cardoze (OM communications director): “It’s a non-issue. The stewards do their job well. There is no direct cause and effect relationship. On the other hand, they are paid too little, yes. Paying them better would make it possible to hire better and supervise better This profession is not valued enough when it is essential in the device of a match today.”
Management by institutions
Sacha Houlié (MP for Vienne): “We did not see enough anticipation in the management of matches, the DNLH [Direction nationale de lutte contre le hooliganisme] absent, the prefects did not organize meetings with the supporters. However, if we bring together the supporters before the match, with the referent supporters, the club, the public authorities, it works. But this year, the INS has been completely overshadowed. However, it is an ideal consultative body, since it brings together all the stakeholders.”
Kilian Valentin (ANS spokesperson) : “It is a problem of interest and knowledge at the Ministry of Sports.”
Marie-George Buffet (former Minister of Sports) : “There was no political will to take care of sport during all this time. Sport was completely absent from the presidential campaign. Today when you are Minister of Sports, you go for a walk in the presidential stands and the rest of the time, we don’t take care of it. It’s a mistake because sport is a very powerful vector in society: if we trivialize violence, racism, discrimination in sport, it leads to same facts in the rest of society.”
The promise to individualize sanctions
Pierre Barthelemy (ANS lawyer) : “When the government talks about this in December, it is sincere. At that time, he engaged in dialogue with the LFP and the people who follow these subjects. He then understood that collective measures have never improved anything. But then, as the incidents quickly ceased, the topic was shelved.
“Roxana Maracineanu considered this subject completely incidental. She totally improvised on the subject.”
Pierre Barthélémy, lawyer for the National Association of Supportersat franceinfo: sport
Kilian Valentin (ANS spokesperson) : “The sports law was a snub, apart from the framework for pyrotechnics. It shows the ignorance and the fact that there was no human and interested investment on the part of the Ministry of Sports in the work of the INS. They didn’t take anything from the 2020 parliamentary report!”
Sacha Houlié (MP for Vienne): “VSin particular, there are too many travel bans, which generates incomprehension among the supporters, and therefore tension. Abusive collective sanctions are a frustration machine. The public authorities are obliged to provide another response, the one today not being satisfactory, as the past season shows.
Pierre Barthelemy (ANS lawyer) : “When the work of dialogue recedes, it is replaced by liberticidal postures and an explosion of decrees. Everything safe becomes an automatic response.”
What are the consequences for fans?
Kilian Valentin (ANS spokesperson) : “The season has damaged the image of the supporters, we are once again the pariahs of football. We heard that the stands had to be “cleaned up”. It’s a strong term, which we hadn’t heard since 2010.”
Marie-George Buffet (former Minister of Sports) : “All these incidents, and the word is weak, show football and its supporters through these outbursts. The image of football can be damaged very quickly because of all this, and it is no coincidence that we notes a decline in football, in the attachment of the French to this sport.
Sacha Houlié (MP for Vienne): “The Sports law of February also introduced a new tool of repression: the fixed fine of 500 euros against the use of smoke bombs in a stadium. I am not in favor of it, because this fine adds a tool of repression, while we are making good progress in the experimentation with a view to the legalization of smoke bombs.
Marie-George Buffet (former Minister of Sports) : “It’s an additional sanction which I don’t really see the point of.”
Jacques Cardoze (OM communications director): “We know how to do it in France, I think, we saw it with Feyenoord for whom we had set up a fanzone. After this crazy post-lockdown season, I would be in favor of ranking more high-risk games. The authorities help us more in these cases, which was the case against Feyenoord. We need a greater seal between the opposing supporters and those at home.”
The involvement of ultras in clubs
Pierre Barthelemy (ANS lawyer) : “We have to put that into perspective. In truth, there is nothing more than a request for dialogue. And when it is established, via the supporter referent, we move forward. The problem is that some columnists got it into their heads that the fans wanted more power. But just because fans criticize doesn’t mean they want to be sporting director or president!”
Sacha Houlié (MP for Vienne): “The supporters are part of the capital of the club, we wrote it in our parliamentary report. They have legitimacy and represent something with their particularities. That said, not everyone is necessarily waiting to weigh in.”
“The ultra groups do not claim more power, they simply want their word to be heard, that their concerns not be forgotten. Denouncing the attitude of a leader is not asking for more power. C is to alert.”
Kilian Valentin, spokesperson for the National Association of Supportersat franceinfo: sport
Marie-George Buffet (former Minister of Sports) : “Like at Red Star right now, where, overnight, we completely change ownership. You don’t know the future project, the motivation of the buyers, their objectives. So the supporters are mobilizing, I understand.”
Jacques Cardoze (OM communications director): “The supporters are very present in Marseille, it is an essential component of the club. We almost have a duty to involve them in many decisions, especially those concerning the supervision of a match. We have a duty of transparency, vis-à-vis what risks the club, the team, sportingly. Having a 13th man with us can take us very high, and having the stadium against us can take us very low.”
The trend for the future
Kilian Valentin (ANS spokesperson) : “The new minister arrives in a context where everyone is waiting to discuss. Everything is available, the tools are in place.”
Sacha Houlié (MP for Vienne): “And on the civil society side, there are faces to embody this movement. On the political side, they now know who to find to work, it is important. The seeds have been sown.”
Marie-George Buffet (former Minister of Sports) : “What worries me more is the return of fascist signs in the stadiums. There, we should hear much more strongly club presidents and state authorities. The groups of supporters, who do not want to be involved in all this, should speak. The ANS too. Today, we have it all wrong because we are reacting urgently. We must go beyond legal sanctions to create working conditions with groups of supporters who want to play their role as supporters in football, give them responsibilities. To marginalize racist, discriminatory individuals, you have to work with others.”
Sacha Houlié (MP for Vienne): “The INS and the preparatory meetings must prevail match after match throughout the season, which we have not seen this season.