Sociologist at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon, specialist in football supporters, Nicolas Hourcade is “surprised and concerned” by the incidents which punctuate the resumption of Ligue 1. An unpredictable and explosive situation which could be linked to several factors such as confinement and the closed doors which punctuated the life of the French for months.
Are you surprised by these repeated incidents?
Nicolas Hourcade: Of course we are surprised and concerned. However, it is difficult to know if we are on a cyclical phenomenon which would be linked to the return to the stadiums after months of closed doors and to an excitement, a frustration of some supporters which means that the stadium and its surroundings would become an outlet. or are we dealing with a more structural phenomenon of radicalization of a certain fringe of supporters. We expected that there might be problems with the resumption with the public but not at this level.
The frequency of these incidents since the start of the season, is this a new phenomenon?
Not all incidents are the same. Throwing a water bottle at a player is not the same as fighting with him, not the same as fighting between supporters or ambushing while traveling. We are faced with events that we all amalgamate in the box “violence on the sidelines of matches”. You have to be able to see that there are different phenomena and that there is not necessarily a single cause for all of these phenomena. Since 2010, it has already happened that there are periods with incidents but not so clearly with different events that involve very different supporters from different clubs.
Can the last months of confinement and closed doors explain these overflows?
We lack hindsight to make a clear diagnosis. What is certain is that this return to the stadiums aroused a lot of excitement and it gave very positive things with atmospheres that the players appreciated. We had the impression that it was even more intense than before the confinement. But on the other hand, a fringe of supporters has transformed this excitement in an extremely negative way into different forms of violence. There are underground disputes between supporters, which could not be resolved during the confinement that are resurfacing now. This excitement may also be partly linked to the general closed session and the fact that this period has been difficult for the whole population. This is a hypothesis to be conditional: some might be more edgy and react faster than they would have done before the crisis. For example in Lens-Lille it starts from very little and it spreads like wildfire. I admit that we are surprised by the scale of the phenomenon and that we struggle to measure its nature. You should know that it is not only in France. There have been incidents in England, in Germany.
Can there be a ripple effect between the supporters, some kind of rivalry in the incidents?
Supporters’ associations are aware that these repeated incidents damage their image and risk resulting in restrictions on them. I don’t think there is that ripple effect there. On the other hand, there were rivalries before the lockdown and they resurfaced in hot matches like the derbies, in a powerful and surprising way.
The dialogue between the League and the supporters was calming down, with these incidents, the Ultras are shooting themselves in the foot …
I agree with you. For a long time, from the 90s to the end of the 2000s, France had a policy of managing supporters on an ad hoc basis. There were important incidents, we created a repressive law and we moved on. There was no continuity. From 2010 a repressive zero tolerance policy was put in place which made it possible to attack the violence but which was very broad and was criticized for regularly restricting the movements of supporters even when the risks were limited. For a few years now, we have been committed to a more balanced policy with more dialogue to anticipate problems, a circular from the Ministry of the Interior even stipulated that travel bans should be the exception and not the rule. This positive dynamic is partly hampered by the current incidents. We can nevertheless hope that the dialogue, stable in recent years, will not be ruined by this violence and that we will rely on this work to find solutions collectively.
These solutions, what are they?
Already, there is no miracle solution to manage the violence against the supporters. On the other hand, foreign examples show that a global political response is needed: repression of serious incidents, better organization of matches, accountability of clubs and supporters. The legislative arsenal already makes it possible to sanction troublemakers. One of the challenges in the latest incidents is therefore to punish those who have committed violence, who are primarily responsible for their actions. But for a year and a half, we also lost the habit of organizing matches, the clubs are in a difficult economic situation and we may have to rethink the whole process of organization to avoid violence. Nice has already taken steps at its stadium to address these issues. Ditto for the stewards who need to regain their bearings after these months behind closed doors and a significant turnover. We must create all the conditions to avoid these overflows.