So it was the water bottle that broke the camel’s back. After the incident that occurred this Sunday during Lyon-Marseille, and this bottle sent by a spectator on the Marseillais Dimitri Payet, the governing bodies and decision-makers of French football had no other choice but to meet quickly. This Tuesday morning Place Beauvau, they were all there: Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, Roxana Maracineanu, Minister Delegate for Sports, Eric Dupont-Moretti, Keeper of the Seals, Vincent Labrune, President of the LFP, Noël Le Graët, president of the FFF, but also several club leaders and prefects of certain cities concerned by the excesses in the stadiums at the start of the season.
Four avenues for reflection and proposals within two weeks
After a big hour and a half of meeting in the secrecy of the Hotel de Beauvau, the five of them appeared in front of the cameras to announce a plan of action decided in unison. No major decision for the moment, but fifteen days to work on four avenues for reflection, explains the Minister of the Interior: the issue of stadium bans, security inside the enclosures – with in particular the avenues mentioned by nets in front of the stands, CCTV cameras or a nominative ticket office – security around the stadiums and the establishment of a better protocol for stopping matches in the event of overflows, and the distribution of responsibilities between the referee and the prefect who made a lot of talk during Lyon-Marseille.
The decisions that will be announced, at the end of a new meeting which should take place in the week of December 8, will be “why not legislative, certainly regulatory” specified Gérald Darmanin. “To be able very quickly to evacuate the active minority which pollutes the beautiful spectacle and allows the vast majority of football fans to be able to live their passion in complete safety (…) Maybe that will result in a hardening, perhaps to be through better information ”.
Vincent Labrune, president of the LFP who had been calling for this meeting for several months, for his part insisted on ensuring that French football and club representatives had presented themselves “united” to this meeting. Present, the presidents of Marseille Pablo Longoria, Lille Olivier Létang and Lyon Jean-Michel Aulas did not comment.
