The death of a fan FC Nantes this Saturday night, as a result of an altercation before the game against the Nice, once again highlights the climate of violence that has reigned in French football for several months.
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“Unthinkable” drama according to the coach Nantes Jocelyn Gourvennec, The death of a member of the ultra group is by no means an isolated event in French football, where violent episodes inside and outside stadiums are frequently repeated. – “Mirror of society” – “Football is a mirror of society and there is a context of violence in society,” sociologist Dominique Bodin, a specialist in violence in sport, explained to AFP.
“The case is not new. In France, confrontations, fights or acts ‘hooligans’ They have existed since the 1980s, but now there is a death, it is something more,” highlights this specialist.
Shortly before the match, several chauffeur-driven tourist vehicles (VTC) “carrying Nice fans were attacked by FC Nantes fans” as they headed to the Beaujoire stadium and ““In circumstances yet to be determined, a 31-year-old man, a fan of FC Nantes, fainted” and “died on the spot,” explained Nantes prosecutor Renaud Gaudeul.
The fan would have been stabbed, probably by one of the VTC drivers attacked, indicated a source close to the case. The prosecutor later announced the arrest of a driver in connection with the case. FC Nantes expressed its “pain” and presented its condolences to the relatives of the deceased fan, while the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra He directed his “thoughts” to the family members, in a message published on X (formerly Twitter), adding that the investigation must “specify the exact circumstances of the events.” – Attacks and assaults – This attack occurs in a context of tension and recent incidents related to Ligue 1 matches.
Other acts of violence in French football
The postponed game will be played on Wednesday. At least one other coach of Lyon fans was also attacked and incidents were recorded in the stands of the Vélodrome, with chants and racist gestures, by Lyon fans towards their Marseille rivals. On October 8, the match Montpellier-Clermont was suspended after the throwing of a firecracker that exploded near the visiting goalkeeper Mory Diawwho had to be evacuated on a stretcher.
Among other violent episodes, last season there were incidents in the stands in an Ajaccio-Marseille match on June 3 and three fans of the Corsican team were sentenced in September to a year of suspended prison for the attack on Kenzo, a fan of eight years of cancer-stricken OM, and his family. – “Responsible, but not guilty” – The last death related to football in France dates back to 2010, with the death of Yann Lorence, PSG fan, in some incidents outside the Parc des Princes.
Marseille fans stoned the Lyon bus prior to the Ligue 1 duel. The coach of the visiting team, Fabio Grosso, suffered a blow to the eye and had to be treated. pic.twitter.com/5uQ98qzjbF
— VarskySports (@VarskySports) October 29, 2023
Four years earlier, another Parisian fan, Julien Quemener, He was fatally injured after a European Cup match in the French capital. Violence is not only limited to Ligue 1.
During the Euro 2016two Russian fans seriously attacked an Englishman in Marseille, for which they were sentenced to three and ten years in prison. “If there have not been more deaths before, it is almost by luck, taking into account the violence of these confrontations,” estimates Dominique Bodin. According to the sociologist, in recent years “the problem has moved location, further away from the states, and time, before or after the games.”
This was the case, for example, of the events that occurred on the occasion of the Marseille-Lyon, which occurred about two hours before the match and when the bus was still far from the stadium. This makes it even more difficult for sports authorities to find a solution. “Football is responsible, but not guilty,” says Bodin.
“He is responsible because he unleashes passions, because it is his fans who commit these acts, but he is not guilty of the episodes of public order,” he justified. According to this specialist, there are two actions that could improve the situation: “It is necessary that the laws (sanctions) be strictly applied and that football invest massively, even more than it has done, in prevention actions.”
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With information from AFP.
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