The phenomenon plagues certain football stadiums in France. In the stands of Ligue 1 as in those of the amateur world, the fervor sometimes gives way to xenophobia and the violence of hooligans. L’Oeil du 20 heures has infiltrated the stands, as close as possible to these excesses that the authorities are struggling to eradicate.
Last Sunday February 12, at the Pierre Mauroy stadium, Lille receives Strasbourg in front of 30,000 spectators. The L’Œil du 20 heures team watched the match from Lille’s kop, where the supporters were reputed to be the most passionate and fervent. But among these fans, a minority does not just comment on the sporting performances of the players. In the 73rd minute, when Lille’s Alan Virginius entered, a spectator shouted at his neighbor: “Look who’s coming in. He’s not black, he’s not white, he’s mixed, he hasn’t chosen yet, he doesn’t know where he’s going (sic). Then, a few minutes later: “JI’m not an Arab p….”
During the match, on several occasions, racist and anti-Semitic remarks will be made in the stands. “I can handle anything except the Jews“, launches a young man, without the few supporters around him reacting. Is the management of the Lille club aware that such remarks are made in its stadium? In a long statement sent to France Télévisions, it indicates that “the discourse of these individuals is at the extreme opposite of the values, commitments and actions of Losc and its supporters. The Pierre-Mauroy stadium (…) remains a stadium with a friendly, family and safe atmosphere.”
Racist and anti-Semitic remarks in the stands
For several years, a few dozen Lille supporters have been advocating hatred and violence inside and outside the stadiums: attack on a fan wearing a Paris St Germain jersey, summer 2022, Nazi-inspired tattoo on a man claiming to be a supporter Lille, or violent outbursts, as during Lens-Lille on September 18, 2021. That day, with these imposing tattoos, a man attracted the attention of press photographers. Known for his links with the ultra-right, he was sentenced for homophobic aggression in 2013. He has his habits in a café near the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in which we go in hidden camera. According to him, it is better to show your credentials to be welcomed there. “If they ask you where you come from, you say that you come from next door and that you come to see the match, because it is a bar of ultras and hooligans“, he warns.
The man claims to belong to a Lille hooligan group, the “LOSC Army”. Some of its members are in the sights of justice. He says: “M.oh, I’m from the ‘Losc Army’. We like to be quiet. There are several people who are under investigation because a guy ended up in a coma, here, there just in front.” The beating dates back to September 2021, after the Champions League match between Lille and Wolfsburg. The man attacked that evening is called Arnaud Lasserre. We meet this prison guard at the edge of a football field in the suburbs of Lille, the only one he now frequents.”I’ve been in a coma for 24 days, I’m traumatizedhe testifies, still very marked by his aggression. I will never set foot in a stadium again, ever again.“A year and a half after the events, the man, despite being a Lille supporter, claims to have been taken to task for no reason. He lists the stigmata of the attack suffered that evening: “I have more sense of smell, I’m deaf in my right ear, I have a piece of bone sticking out towards the arch. We got beat to death. And me, I almost died, I came close to death.“Six men close to the ultra-right will soon be tried for this attack.
“It’s a social problem”
Amateur football is not spared by this phenomenon. On February 11, in the fourth division, FC Rouen receives Poissy. In the stadium toilets, dozens of neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic graffiti are displayed. “Islam go home” (“Islam, outside”), is it written on one of the walls. Tags signed YSCR, a group of local hooligans, according to our information. In the stand of the Robert Diochon stadium, the subject seems to bother those we meet. “Here, there are no hooligans. YSCR, we don’t knowsweeps a man among the few hundred supporters present at the stadium that afternoon. Don’t ask questions like that, we don’t care.” The banner of the hooligan group, however, sits prominently in the stands.
Asked, the entourage of the management of FC Rouen defends himself: “Society is plagued by racism and xenophobia. It should not be considered that these acts are the prerogative of FC Rouen. It’s a social problem”. Faced with these excesses, the authorities are stepping up stadium bans: 140 last season in France and 312 already this year, counts the National Division for the Fight against Hooliganism (DNLH). At its head, Commissioner Thibaut Delaunay advocates zero tolerance. “The hooligan phenomenon is violence for violence’s sake. They are completely uninterested in the gamehe points out. We must be intransigent on these phenomena with systematic legalization.“For its part, the professional football league says it is initiating disciplinary proceedings or reporting to the courts each violent or xenophobic act recorded in the stadiums.
Among our sources (non-exhaustive list):
Lille Olympic Sporting Club
Professional Football League
National Division for the Fight against Hooliganism (DNLH)
The map of hooligans in France, Street press, 29.09.2022