Four months. 125 days since the supporters of the Greens have not returned to their Cauldron. After the penalties imposed following the play-off lost against AJ Auxerre and these four league games played behind closed doors, the public will once again be able to come and cheer on ASSE this Saturday. A long-awaited return, but also very watched.
Of the 30,500 places available at Geoffroy-Guichard (the Kop Sud is still closed for the next two matches), more than 21,000 tickets have already been sold. Proof, if one had to be provided, that green fervor is still present.
The imperative desire to be there, supporters who left Brittany last night: the report on the green fervor before Grenoble The silence of the camera replaced by the songs of the supporters, the players and the staff of ASSE had been waiting for this since the start of the season. To the point of having checked this date of the first of October in their calendar. “I can’t wait to be there, with the desire to fully experience this match with the supporters and I think that the players too, concedes the Saint-Etienne coach, Laurent Batlles. I think that people also want to live this encounter, we see it in our everyday life. People want to come back to the stadium. Will there be apprehension on our part? We will see it on D-Day. I was a player and I know that it is more interesting to play in a full stadium than in an empty stadium. There may be, for some, apprehension during the first five or ten minutes, but once on the pitch, once the match has started, you no longer think about the things that happen off the pitch..”
Impatience under close surveillance…
The invasion of the field, the incidents of last May against Auxerre are still there, in everyone’s mind. What attitude to expect from the supporters is the big question, just a few days after this major police operation (27 arrests, eleven people tried next November, prosecuted for the most serious acts during the dam). Four months later, this return of the public is therefore eagerly awaited by the supporters, but also by the police.
“Anyway, all the matches at Geoffroy-Guichard are sensitive, all of them, confided to us last week on France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire the Departmental Director of Public Security in the Loire, Cédric Esson. The next match will be an important match, with a sporting but also symbolic stake with the return of the public. Beyond all that, this meeting will also be an important meeting for us, the police. We will be extremely vigilant.”
At the start of this meeting, the supporters will be able to watch each other. Same for the police as well as for the club of Saint-Étienne. ASSE also asks the public to arrive at the stadium as soon as possible from 1:30 p.m. (1:30 a.m. before kick-off) so that entries can be made as smoothly as possible.
…and Saint-Etienne and Grenoble supporters who don’t like each other very much
On paper, an ASSE – Grenoble, it may not be the ideal poster for a return of the public without the slightest tension. The ultras of the two camps maintain a real animosity, with movements under tension. In 2010, for example, clashes broke out in the stands of the Stade des Alpes between Saint-Etienne supporters and the police. More recently, last November, the GF38 traveled to Andrézieux for a Coupe de France match. ASSE supporters then went there and at the end of the match, scuffles broke out with the Grenoble supporters (throwing of bottles, smoke bombs, etc.). The police had to intervene.
In view of this liability, the authorities have decided to take certain measures. The movement of Grenoble supporters is very supervised (500 supporters maximum in the car park) with a ban on them going to the city center of Saint-Etienne, but also to Etrat, Tour-en-Jarez and Saint-Priest- en-Jarez. In recent hours, Grenoble supporters have also denounced in a press release the conditions of their trip.
ASSE – Grenoble, 10th day of Ligue 2, to live in full from 2 p.m. with us this Saturday on France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire, with our partners from Evect.