The moratorium on fan travel will not go any further. Established following the death of Maxime, on December 2, a Canaries supporter on the sidelines of Nantes-Nice, it will not be extended, announced Sports Minister Amélie, Oudéa-Castéra, this Monday. “This moratorium probably did not unfold exactly in the way that everyone could have wished,” she regretted, after a meeting of the National Supporterism Authority (INS) in Paris. Because since it was established, the Council of State has suspended these decrees almost every time, citing “a serious and manifestly disproportionate attack on fundamental freedoms”.
Despite these decisions, the minister considered that it was necessary to send “an extremely strong signal of firmness, (…) a start, an electric shock. Even if there is legal damage, I prefer it to human damage,” she said. With an agenda which remains to be defined in January, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra underlined “the need to have an even firmer criminal policy”, in particular “with judicial bans on stadiums which must be in greater number and probably with firmer more important”.
Towards “more dissuasive” sanctions
The minister also announced a “first decision”, the signing in January with the Professional Football League (LFP) of a “new agreement which will allow us to once again clarify the role and responsibilities of each (…) in terms of spatial and (…) temporal”. It was “necessary” to return to this tool dating from 1999, “when we see the uncertainties, the lack of clarity which surrounded the elucidation of the issues during OM-OL on October 29”. The match, which was to be played at the Vélodrome, was postponed after the Lyon bus and that of Les Gones fans were stoned. The LFP then decided not to sanction Marseille, arguing that the incidents had occurred on public roads and therefore outside its responsibility.
As far as the LFP is concerned, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra also asked for “sanctions which could be more dissuasive when we can establish the nature of the breaches on the part of the clubs”. Recalling the steps forward towards supporters in recent months (experiment with standing stands, use of pyrotechnic devices), the minister expects from them “a clear and complete mobilization in the response to be provided for the resumption of the championship at the beginning of January” and called on associations to “condemn violence”.
Other avenues were mentioned: generalization of visiting supporter referent police officers, increase in commercial bans on stadiums decided by clubs, strengthening of the role of supporter referent. Seven months before the Paris Olympic Games, the minister also called for an end to the “over-demanding of the police”, highlighting the figure of a 47% increase in staff for securing the matches. football in two years.