The French Football Federation rejected the appeal of Olympique Lyonnais which contested the decision taken by the Professional Football League not to sanction Marseille after the stone-throwing of the Gones coaches on October 29. The Federation argued that clubs cannot be responsible for incidents taking place outside a sports venue.
The appeals committee of the French Football Federation rejected Lyon’s appeal which contested the decision taken by the Professional Football League not to sanction OM for the stone-throwing of Lyon’s buses on October 29, it said. we learned on Friday. The championship meeting between the two teams could not be played that Sunday in Marseille, the Rhone team’s bus having been stoned near the Vélodrome stadium and OL coach Fabio Grosso injured at one point. eye after a projectile was thrown against the vehicle. The match was postponed to December 6 at the Stade Vélodrome by the LFP competitions committee.
Clubs cannot be responsible for incidents outside a sports venue.
The Federation, like the League, asserted the principle according to which clubs cannot be responsible for incidents which took place outside a sports venue. At OM, management had always been rather confident about the outcome of the case. Based on LFP regulations and case law, the Marseille club considered itself “responsible for welcoming opposing teams to the stadium and not beyond”. For the leaders, it was “not possible for OM to be held responsible for incidents which took place several hundred meters from the Vélodrome”.
The Marseille club had also noted that during the meeting of the LFP competitions commission, “even Lyon had recognized the exemplary attitude of OM” and of its president Pablo Longoria, who had quickly condemned the acts ” completely unacceptable.” Before the decision of the FFF appeal committee, Lyon had for its part castigated the lack of decision by the LFP. “It is a very serious thing not to have made a decision regarding this event,” declared Friday OL coach Fabio Grosso, on whose face twelve stitches had been placed following the stone crushing of the Lyon bus near the Vélodrome.