At the judicial city of Nancy,
Sweater, jeans and black mask. Little puff. No mullet cut and windblown hair like during his best years on the pitch. Since Monday in Nancy, Tony Vairelles has been playing sobriety. It must be said that the stadiums which acclaimed him at the turn of the 2000s are a long way off: the former striker is being prosecuted for “aggravated violence” with three of his brothers and risks up to ten years in prison. For a case over ten years old.
This night from October 22 to 23, 2011 had been violent inside then outside the nightclub “Le 4 As”, in Essey-lès-Nancy. His two youngest, Giovan and Jimmy, unceremoniously expelled from the establishment by bouncers, the ex-footballer had been called in as reinforcements with his younger brother Fabrice. Result: many blows exchanged, barriers launched but also and above all firearms fire. Three of the men manning the entrance were shot and wounded, one of them seriously.
By who ? “We do not deny that they were hit but we did not shoot anyone,” assured the eldest of the Vairelles on Tuesday. “None of you fired?” “, then relaunched President Dupont against the three others behind him. Answer in chorus of “Tony Goal” and co: “No! “The man with 8 selections for the France team has continued to defend his family on Tuesday. With a clear guideline: his brothers were lynched by spotters after an altercation on the track and then he was called to the rescue.
“Giovan told me he was assaulted. He was in panic. I warned Fabrice […] I just wanted to get my little brother back, ”claimed the former RC Lens (1995-1999) scorer, before delivering his version of this famous night. “I didn’t know where this nightclub was because I don’t go out much. I made an appointment with him in the parking lot of a garden centre. When I got there, I brought up Giovan and Jimmy. They were well arranged, there was blood everywhere. »
The following ? Tony Vairelles explained that he sent his big brother to “4 As” “by mistake”. “I misunderstood his question. I showed him the place and he drove there. I followed him. “A few moments later, the siblings arrived in dispersed order in the parking lot of the nightclub, where the situation degenerated further. “I caught up with Fabrice and saw a bouncer come and pull out a telescopic baton. I said “Ho, I’m not okay” and that’s when another person behind him sprayed me with tear gas. His brothers all claim to have been “gassed” as well. Before describing a scene of great confusion where they “received barriers and blows” and… “heard” gunshots.
This version was notably undermined by a witness. “I saw a car coming, a man getting out and shooting […] I saw the man who shot. He was an old man, he was Father Vairelles (Guy). I know it’s him because I know the family a little, ”reported the president of the court. Without the Vairelles family jumping. “It’s not us,” replied the eldest of the siblings. The reaction was the same when the reading of the ballistic expertise revealed traces and residues of powder on the clothes of Giovan and Fabrice. Those of Tony, them, had not been analyzed.
“I have never been asked for them”, further justified the former player, taunted with his brothers by the public prosecutor who suspects them of “rewriting history”. This one, very confused until then, could clear up a little this Wednesday with the new passage at the bar of the bouncers. “Tony Goal” will follow all this sitting on a bench. More than ever on the sidelines.