“Serious incidents” : this is how the Professional Football League (LFP) summarized the events that occurred on the evening of Sunday, August 22, during the Ligue 1 match between Nice and Marseille (1-0) after the invasion of the field by the supporters of Nice.
After an hour and a half of interruption, the Marseillais refused to return to the lawn, judging that “The security of [leurs] players was not guaranteed “, as declared by the olympian president, Pablo Longoria. An investigation has since been opened by the Nice prosecutor’s office and the LFP’s disciplinary committee summoned the two clubs.
Sociologist at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon and member of the national supporterism body, Nicolas Hourcade looks back on the enthusiasm and excesses, sometimes, of some supporters after a year and a half away from the stands. According to him, it is now necessary to empower all actors to avoid reliving such scenes, while maintaining “The atmosphere that everyone asks for”.
How do you read the excesses that occurred on Sunday evening in Nice?
Nicolas Hourcade: It is a regrettable event. The matches resume in front of the public, everyone is happy to return to the stadium and incidents during the first days spoil this pleasure a bit.
There was an impatience, a very strong enthusiasm from the people to come back to the stadium. They had been without it for almost a year and a half. It was able to give the best, with very warm atmospheres, appreciated by the players, the managers and the commentators on several matches. With these closed doors, the role of supporters had finally been enhanced by their absence. We had seen that it completely changed things.
The return of the public to the stadiums has also shown, at certain times, that there are excesses. We have the impression that, in a difficult health and social context, the stadium was able to serve as an outlet even more than usual. There is an overflow of excitement that has expressed itself in both positive and negative ways. The challenge is to manage to regulate this so that incidents do not happen again in the next matches.
And how can we do it?
There are several levels of response. The first is to secure the speakers so that this kind of event does not happen again. Upstream, this can go through a device of nets, adapted security, stewards’ forces who avoid the invasion of the field.
The second answer: if there are troublemakers, people throwing projectiles or fighting on the lawn, identify them to personalize the sanction.
What can be the consequences, at the sporting level, after Marseille’s refusal to resume the match?
What is at stake now is what the league will decide for this game. It is not only a question of knowing if we sanction OGC Nice of matches behind closed doors, for example, but also what we do with the result of this meeting.
There is a very strong stake and a reflection: do we consider that the Marseillais lose on the green carpet because they did not respect the rules, or did the club and the players have good reasons to believe that their safety was not assured?
We know roughly what happened, but we do not necessarily have all the details: the point of view of the prefecture, the delegate of the league … Is it true that the referee did not want to resume? the match as some claim?
Before saying “here is what should be done”, it is important to investigate, to know precisely what happened so that the decision can be as fair as possible. For now, it is premature to know what the right decision would be and what its consequences would be.
Are these incidents likely to call into question the discussions that had been initiated on the place to be given to supporters?
The dialogue is firmly established between the Ministry of the Interior, the LFP and the National Association of Supporters, which brings together many groups of supporters. This dialogue is solid and structured. I don’t think he’s going to stop. The challenge of these spaces for dialogue is to find solutions so that the incidents of last night do not happen again.
There has been progress for three or four years since these discussions have existed and previous incidents have not called this into question. Rather, they made people want to go even further in order to keep both fervent and festive stadiums, while ensuring security. This is what is at stake, having both security and the atmosphere, and it is in this sense that the various partners are working.
Rather, I hope that these incidents set an example of what not to do to hold everyone accountable. That it is as well the associations of supporters, the clubs, the players, the coaches, because it is the whole of football which gave a bad image yesterday.
Are these incidents a French exception?
The championships have just resumed everywhere, but France has resumed a little before. There have been homophobic songs from Liverpool supporters. There have been minor alerts in several countries.
The stadiums resume their previous format with what is positive and also negative: insults, verbal violence, throwing projectiles and fights. Football is back to what it was before the Covid-19 crisis. Somewhere, no doubt, with even more excess because of this deprivation for a year and a half.
Now, the challenge is to manage to regulate that so that we keep the positive atmosphere that was so lacking and that we avoid as much as possible these excesses that sadden everyone.