Homophobic songs continue to rot the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 matches. In the evening, Wednesday, August 28, the derby between Nice and Marseille was interrupted for a dozen minutes because of homophobic songs sung by the supporters
"Les Marseillais c'est des pé ..." sounded at the very moment when the Disciplinary Committee of the Professional Football League (LFP) was meeting in Paris to judge 18 cases of homophobic songs or banners in the stands of its championships professionals, the L1 and the L2.
First sanction
In this context, the club Nancy (L2) saw his Piantoni tribune suspended a match for "discriminatory songs" during the match against Le Mans on August 16. For the first time in French football, the referee had briefly interrupted this match on the grounds of homophobic songs. The other cases considered by the League on Wednesday night were "insulting remarks" and resulted in a simple call to order. The scale applied was therefore generally lenient, for the purpose of pedagogy and prevention.
While the government and the authorities make it a priority, the puzzle of the fight against homophobia in the stadiums is far from being solved, like Nice-Marseille referee Clément Turpin has interrupted at the 28th minute, after several alerts from the announcer.
From the 17th minute, the ultras of the People's South (former South Brigade), began to sing the song: "The Marseillais is p ...", followed by "The League, we bet you ... "The announcer made an announcement five minutes later:" We ask you to stop these insulting remarks, otherwise the match will be interrupted ".
He again intervened in the 25th minute, the referee spoke to the captains, Dante (Nice) and Steve Mandanda (Marseille). The stand still singing the same tune, Clément Turpin sent both teams to the locker room, which players have regained under the now famous song against the League.
Provocative banners towards the politics of the League
The South Brigade of Nice (BSN) started with banners in the second degree, playing on the words, first deploying a banner: "Welcome to the group Ineos, Nice also we love the pedal", this last word written in Rainbow letters as the flag of the LGBT community. This was an allusion to the cycling team of Ineos, the petrochemical group that has just bought the club. The new strongman of the club, Robert Ratcliffe, brother of billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, the new owner, was in the stands to attend this show. He was alongside former club president Jean-Pierre Rivère and his general manager, Julien Fournier. The new owners should also announce Thursday the return of the duo of business leaders.
A little later, the BSN unfolded another banner that reads: "LFP / Instance: full parking for gay stadiums", gay written in rainbow letters. This was again a provocation against the numerous travel bans regularly issued by the authorities.
At the end of the match, the grandstand of Nice released a third banner encouraging to support OM, "an LGBT club, to fight against homophobia".
Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Marlene Schiappa, reacted on Twitter congratulating Clement Turpin, "whose commitment to respect for football is known to have interrupted the match", and denounced "a homophobic banner (which) dirty the stands".
Congratulations to referee # ClémentTurpin, whose commitment to respect for football is known to have interrupted the match #OGCNOM #NiceOM, despite the fact that, despite several withdrawal requests, a homophobic banner dirtyed the stands.
The #foot is a matter of passion not hate! ⚽️
A recurring problem since the beginning of the season
"We will not stop every game whenever there are idiots who act, otherwise we will never play, it's anything", responded the Nice player Wylan Cyprien at the microphone of Canal Plus. "Since the dawn of time there are insults between the fans, it's part of the game," he added, adding that he was "against all discrimination whether it is gays, racists."
These facts are recurrent since the beginning of the season. Last weekend, Brest-Reims and Monaco-Nîmes were also briefly stopped. Wednesday late afternoon, supporters of Lille have sung: "The Stéphanois are p ...", briefly, without message from the speaker or intervention of the referee.
On this front homophobic songs, the war is open between the ultra movement and the authorities, as the song shows: "The League is on you".
For its part, the National Association of Supporters (ANS) believes that under the guise of fighting against homophobia, we seek above all to silence the ultras.
With AFP