Paris (AFP)
"All attacks on referees must be firmly repressed," said the president of the French football federation Noël Le Graët on Wednesday, referring to the moody gesture by Monegasque midfielder Gelson Martins, examined by the League on Thursday.
"If the number of incidents on professional football fields has been broadly stable since the start of the season, and the number of strokes dropped quite sharply, we must deplore the increase in the number of violent assaults unacceptable to the against officials, both professional and amateur, "said the leader in a press release.
"All attacks on referees must be firmly punished according to the disciplinary scales and by legal actions alongside the victims for the most serious cases", he adds, recalling "all the players in football to their duty of respect and exemplarity essential towards the arbitrators ".
The boss of the FFF wanted to speak after the "events that occurred last weekend on certain matches in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, especially during the match Nîmes-Monaco," said the text.
In this match played on Saturday, the Portuguese midfielder from Monaco, Gelson Martins, jostled referee Mikaël Lesage twice; after the exclusion of his partner Tiémoué Bakayoko, whom he disputed, and after the red card which he received for this gesture of humor.
The file will be examined Thursday evening by the discipline committee of the Professional Football League. The "reference scale" of the FFF recommends, in the event of "voluntary jostling" of a referee by a player, a suspension of eight months.
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