The message is clear: we no longer procrastinate. Since the start of the season, the French championship – Ligue 1 – has been faced with an increase in violent acts in the stadiums. The throwing of a water bottle at the head of Marseille playmaker Dimitri Payet, during the match between Olympique Lyonnais (OL) and Olympique de Marseille (OM), Sunday, November 21, in Lyon, constituted the incident too.
The government unveiled, Thursday, December 16, a series of measures “Concrete” aimed at stemming this inflation of violence. From the 1er January 2022, a match will be like this “Systematically and definitively interrupted” if “A referee or a player is physically injured by a projectile coming from the stands”, noted the working group meeting on Thursday, Place Beauvau.
Composed of representatives of the Professional Football League (LFP), the French Football Federation (FFF), the Ministries of the Interior, Sports and Justice as well as referees and club presidents, this interministerial unit has also decided on the ban (from 1er July 2002) plastic bottles, the obligation for clubs to provide anti-splash devices and increased penalties against offending supporters.
Faster, clearer, and without the presidents
In Lyon, the match between OL and OM was cut short – interrupted in the 4e minute -, but the various actors of the meeting had discussed nearly two hours before confirming the final end of the meeting. This situation had highlighted the lack of clarity in the decision-making process..
“That the decision takes longer than the duration of a match is disturbing”, we recognize Place Beauvau. From 1er January, the crisis unit, set up in the event of violence in a stadium, will therefore have to integrate “A clear distribution of powers between the referee and the police authority in the interruption of matches”. With one objective: to take “A quick, informed and concerted decision” in thirty minutes maximum.
Wishing a “Technical cenacle” the operation revised so as not to relive the procrastination of November 21, the working group unanimously decided to exclude club presidents. To avoid “Potential conflict of interest situations”, we explain to the sports ministry.
Concerned by the result of the game and the relations with their supporters, the presidents find themselves in a situation of judges and parties in the event of incidents. During the OL-OM match, the Lyon president, Jean-Michel Aulas, demanded the resumption of the game, asserting his membership of the executive committee of the Federation to the referee Ruddy Buquet – who himself depends on the FFF. This behavior was sanctioned on Wednesday by the disciplinary committee of the LFP with ten games of suspension, including five games closed.
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