Paris (AFP)
End of collective sanctions like closings of stands, controlled use of smoke bombs, fewer stadium and travel bans: two MEPs call for a more flexible doctrine vis-à-vis supporters and ultra groups, in a report examined Wednesday in Parliament.
This fact-finding mission, led by former Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet (PCF) and Sacha Houlié (LREM), was launched several months before the Covid-19 was launched, which shut down several European football championships and forces the leagues to consider the resumption behind closed doors, without tifos or songs from the stands.
According to the two deputies, the current policy of banning smoke bombs is ineffective (2,000 to 3,000 uses of pyrotechnic devices per season) and "hypocritical".
Taking up a flagship claim from supporters' groups, they are calling for an end to "collective sanctions", such as the closings of the stands decreed by the disciplinary committee of the Professional Football League (LFP), which they say pose a "serious legal problem (...) by punishing supporters who have committed no fault ", and have perverse effects.
Thus, faced with the impossibility of preventing the introduction of smoke into stadiums - some devices hide very easily - clubs end up negotiating with their groups of supporters and ultras the number of smoke bombs they will crack a match, hoping to only be fined and not in camera.
The two parliamentarians call for an experimental phase for "supervised use of pyrotechnic devices", favoring "a dedicated area in the gallery" and "the continuation of studies on so-called" cold + "smoke bombs. According to them, the danger of smoke bombs results precisely "from their prohibition which leads the supporters to light them by hiding, in particular under tarpaulins which are not fireproofed".
The two deputies plead for a better dialogue between the authorities and the groups of supporters, to whom they want to give more confidence and responsibilities. Among their proposals, they also ask to "give back to the support and prohibition orders" for the movement of supporters "their exceptional character" and to better frame the "stadium administrative prohibitions" (IAS), a "useful tool" but overused and misused according to them.
© 2020 AFP