Red Star coach Habib Beye is (fortunately) not the only one to speak out against “the monkey cries” of spectators who targeted three of his players, Wednesday evening during the National match between AS Nancy -Lorraine and Red Star (1-1). The disciplinary committee of the French Football Federation (FFF) has just announced, this Thursday in a press release, that it will open a procedure following the “alleged racist incidents” that occurred during this meeting. The FFF “also wishes to join the ASNL complaint procedure against the alleged troublemaker(s), specifies this press release.
Because a few hours earlier this Thursday, the Lorraine club also published a statement very clear on its website: “The ASNL wishes to condemn with the greatest firmness the unacceptable and intolerable behavior of a few people present in the stands of the Marcel-Picot stadium this Wednesday, as well as to provide its support and apologize to Red Star players. » On Wednesday evening, only Nancy coach Benoît Pedretti spoke, especially attacking Habib Beye and his “notoriety”, after the rapid intervention of the Red Star coach at the microphone of Canal +: “It’s all well and good to accuse, but you have to accuse with proof. I will take care of Nancy and the supporters, Habib takes care of his club. »
“We must condemn this person but not hit an entire stadium”
In this case, the ASNL confirms that viewing the video surveillance images during the night bore fruit: “The club identified an individual [mimant un singe], whose identity remains unknown for the moment. A procedure was immediately opened with the help of the police authorities present on site. We invite spectators who witnessed this scene to contact the club or the police in order to provide their testimony.”
The evolution of this affair has since pushed Benoît Pedretti to change his speech, in an interview given to The Team : “This person has no place in a football stadium. This is someone I don’t want to see in Nancy. I discussed it with the players during the clean-up. It affects the Red Star players, but it’s as if it affected us. We won’t let it pass. It’s impossible to mimic monkey gestures, there are no words. We must hit hard, condemn this person but not hit an entire stadium.”