Ligue 2 – The movement of DFCO supporters to Amiens will be very supervised

Necessary for the maintenance of public order for some, completely disproportionate for others. DFCO supporters, if you want to travel to Amiens on Saturday October 8, 2022 to attend the 11th day of Ligue 2 at the Stade de la Licorne, it will be under certain conditions. While the two groups of Dijon supporters, Lingon’s Boys and Téméraires, organize
a bus trip to Picardy, the Prefecture of the Somme took a stop
Tuesday, October 4, to supervise this trip. “If the supporters of the two clubs were to cross paths (…) provocations would be inevitable and a physical confrontation very likely”justifies the Prefect in this document.

Among the decisions, Dijon supporters banned from downtown Amiens

• From Amiens, Dijon supporters will only see the stadium car park : “It is forbidden for anyone claiming to be a supporter of Dijon Football Côte-d’Or or behaving as such to circulate and park” outside the defined scope, i.e. the “visitor car park at the Megacity PV1 site (adjoining the Stade de la Licorne)”.
• The convoy of supporters, “transported by bus, minibus and personal vehicle”will be supervised by the police from the toll station at exit 19 of the A16.
• The Prefecture also prohibits “the possession, transport and use of all pyrotechnic devices such as firecrackers or smoke”. Banners and flags “whose inscriptions call for provocation call for provocation, violence, or hatred” are also prohibited.

The Prefect of the Somme specifies that “access to the stadium will be forbidden to all supporters” of the DFCO “who would not comply” to these rules, exposing themselves to “a criminal sanction of six months’ imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros, in addition to an administrative sanction of stadium ban”.

The Prefecture lists precedents

How can these drastic measures and bans be justified? The decree of the Prefecture indicates “that there is a dispute between the Kops of the two teams, and that on four occasions disturbances to public order have been observed during the last meetings”, even drawing up a history of the confrontations.

• October 6, 20189th day of Ligue 1: “50 supporters of Kop Lingon’s Boys, alcoholic, set off three smoke bombs and an agricultural firecracker during their walk to the stadium (…) The Dijon and Amiens supporters tried to fight it out before the match and a police cordon arrived ultimately master them.
• April 12, 201932nd day of Ligue 1: “The match was interrupted for a few minutes following monkey cries emanating from the ultras group Lingon’s Boys, which targeted the captain of Amiens SC”. At the time, the ultra group had “condemned in the strongest way racism and discrimination” in a communicated
  released after the game.
• December 14, 2019, 18th day of Ligue 1: “56 supporters of Kop Lingon’s Boys went to the festive district of Saint-Leu in Amiens (…) to drink in the bars, that at the end while heading towards the stadium, a violent brawl broke out between Dijon supporters and Amiens”.
• October 16, 202112th day of Ligue 2: “about forty Amiens supporters traveling to Dijon were provoked by Dijon supporters”.

“The Amiens fans are waiting for the coming of the Dijon supporters to take revenge”

The Prefecture of the Somme seems pessimistic about the future attitude of the supporters of the two clubs. On the Dijon side, the Prefecture indicates that “ultras from Dijon from the Lingon’s Boys section (…) without it being possible to determine the exact number (…) have planned to arrive in Amiens at the start of the afternoon and gather in a drinking establishment (…) with the risk of excessive alcohol consumption before the match, leading them to adopt a provocative attitude or create incidents during and on the sidelines of the match”.

ASC supporters are not left out. We can read in the decree that “Amiens fans await the arrival of Dijon supporters to take revenge on the disappointment of the brawl of December 14, 2019” and that they “are determined and will seek to provoke the people of Dijon on the public highway and in the stands”with “banners” and “pyrotechnic devices”.

The entire decree of the Prefecture