The Girondins were tutoying their dream of accession, a year after their relegation, before the final day of the championship. But everything went wrong Friday, between the opening score of the low-ranked Rodez, the aggression of the striker by a Bordeaux spectator and the victory of Metz, competitor for the rise in the elite.

The interruption of the match plunges Ligue 2 into uncertainty at all levels. No one knows who from Metz or Bordeaux will accompany Le Havre to the top level next season, or who, Rodez or Annecy, will go down to the National.

The sporting issue also has a financial dimension of great importance for all the clubs concerned.

In this sensitive context, the disciplinary committee meets urgently, at midday in the offices of the Professional Football League (LFP), in Paris, to decide on the fate of this match.

Should we inflict a defeat on the green carpet on the Girondins? Should the club be deducted points for failing to prevent the assault? Does the game have to be replayed, for example behind closed doors?

Instruction?

The ten members of the disciplinary committee, around the president Sébastien Deneux, receive the leaders of Bordeaux to determine the degree of responsibility of the club and, ultimately, determine how the championship will end.

On such sensitive facts, an investigation of the file is not to be excluded, which would postpone the decision by at least two weeks. However, precautionary measures could also be taken.

After the opening score of the visitors, a supporter of the Girondins entered the pitch and jostled the striker Lucas Buades, who collapsed to the ground, "concussed" according to the referee.

The interruption of the match, at 1-0 in favor of Rodez, then had several consequences: the promotion to L1 of Metz, second, at the expense of Bordeaux, third, and the relegation of Annecy, seventeenth, doubled by Rodez, sixteenth.

Bordeaux fans after the final interruption of the match against Rodez on June 2, 2023 on the 38th and last day of Ligue 2. If Rodez's victory were to be ratified by the disciplinary bodies, or if Bordeaux were to receive a point withdrawal, the club would remain in the second division © THIBAUD MORITZ / AFP/Archives

Bordeaux intends to "assert all (its) rights, as well as its rights on appeal," said Friday President Gerard Lopez, expected Monday in Paris. Concretely, he will ask the authorities to replay the match "in the name of sporting fairness", as described by a source close to the club.

On this point, the Gironde leaders are joined by those of Annecy, who still hope to remain in L2 thanks to a defeat or a draw of Rodez.

'Elaborate cheating'

If "no violence on a field should therefore take place", on the other hand "take advantage of external events to profit such as the maintenance of his club, by betraying football, is also contrary to sporting ethics," said Sébastien Faraglia, president of Annecy, in a statement published Sunday.

The leader is against the hypothesis of a match won on the green carpet by Rodez Aveyron Football, "because it is the most elaborate form of cheating, which is very serious".

Openly and publicly suspecting the club is "a disgrace", replied the RAF. "These remarks are unacceptable, we cannot say in the same spirit that the violence is unacceptable and put the victim of these same acts of violence on trial."

For Bordeaux, the case law does not encourage optimism since the latest incidents involving fans and players have caused heavy sanctions for the host clubs.

For example, Nice received two penalty points (and one suspended) after excesses during the reception of OM in August 2021. Lyon lost one point after a bottle throw on Marseillais Dimitri Payet in November of the same year.

These two matches, both definitively stopped, have certainly been replayed. But the situation this time is more complex while the season is supposed to be over. For its part, Bordeaux has postponed the holidays of its players by a week in view of a possible match to be replayed.

© 2023 AFP